Justia Legal Services & Lawyers Directory

Tom has worked both as a public defender and in private practice. He has appeared in Oregon courts from the Oregon Supreme Court down to the local Justice courts. He has had a litigation based practice for more than three decades.

Tom has two main interests in the law--aggressive defense of adults and children charged with crimes and zealous representation of children and adults in the juvenile dependency system. Tom is often asked to speak about his experiences and provide trainings to attorneys and to groups such as CASA, caseworkers, mental health providers, foster parents and others.

Tom is an avid reader, proud father and grandfather and a long suffering fan of the Detroit Lions, the latter fact proving he has an affection for underdogs and under achievers.

Since 1992 Mr. Harrell’s principal area of practice has been family law, including
divorce, annulment, prenuptial agreements, paternity establishment and disestablishment,
filiation, dissolution of domestic partnerships, step parent and grandparents rights,
step parent adoption, juvenile court, Family Abuse prevention Act restraining orders,
stalking orders, and establishing, modifying and enforcing child custody, parenting
time, child support and spousal support.
His practice also includes a wide variety of law, such as bankruptcy, consumer protection,
creditor/debtor rights and remedies, employee rights, wrongful termination, statutory
wage penalty claims, general employment law and employment contracts, unlawful trade
practices, civil fraud, conversion, defamation, libel and slander, landlord-tenant
rights and remedies, residential real property foreclosure, real property contracts
and litigation, and general civil litigation which itself spans many areas of law.

Mr. Harrell practices out of his home and prefers to be informal with his clients.
It is important that you feel comfortable and taken care of. He encourages his clients
to bring a tape recorder if they so wish so they can review his advice. Legal matters
are often confusing and difficult to understand, and many of his clients come to
him in trouble, needing help, and upset about what’s happening to them.
Mr. Harrell’s practice in Los Angeles largely consisted of legal malpractice defense.
From this experience he learned the most common complaints about lawyers. As a consequence,
he and his staff make sure they return all telephone messages within 24 hours of
receiving them. Mr. Harrell also makes sure he is accessible to his clients if they
need to meet with him to discuss their case or other legal matters. Mr. Harrell charges
$180 per hour for his time, but his attitude and philosophy are that he works for
his clients, not the other way around, so he is as available as he can be when clients
needs his time.
In the plus quarter century Mr. Harrell has been licensed to practice law, he has
primarily been a trial lawyer, aggressive, tenacious, and yet reasonable whenever
it is possible to reach a resolution by settlement on terms acceptable to his clients.
He urges clients to settle whenever they can do so on acceptable terms because, as
he puts it, often going to court means that only the lawyers win, and reaching an
acceptable settlement eliminates the risk attending the decision being made by a
judge who may not fully appreciate the client’s situation and rights. However, there
is no question when it comes to having to go to court. Bruce Harrell does not approach
trial by half measures. His clients expect a full commitment to their cause, and
they have a right to expect it.