Faculty Bios

Richard Gabriel is President of Decision Analysis, a national trial consulting firm. He has participated in almost 2,000 trials in both the civil and criminal arenas across the country. Mr. Gabriel has assisted counsel in the high profile trials of A$AP Rocky, O.J. Simpson, Casey Anthony, Aaron Hernandez, Phil Spector, Enron, Whitewater, Kwame Kilpatrick, and three cases he has participated in have resulted in United States Supreme Court decisions. Mr. Gabriel is the author of Acquittal: An Insider Reveals the Stories and Strategies Behind Today’s Most Infamous Verdicts about his high-profile trial work, which was optioned by Warner Brothers and CBS and developed into a network television drama. He is also the coauthor of Jury Selection, Strategy and Science and author and co-editor of the American Bar Association book: The Online Courtroom: The Future of Remote Technology in the Litigation Process. He is the Founder of the Online Courtroom Project and developed the Trust in Justice Project, which has assisted judges, counsel, court personnel, and clients to improve justice system access, diversity, representation, and efficiency in the courts.  He is a former President of the American Society of Trial Consultants and worked with numerous legal associations on national recommendations for implementing Expedited, Summary, and Short Jury Trials. He was a committee member on the American Bar Association’s Achieving an Impartial Jury Advisory Group and is an advisor to the Civil Jury Project at NYU Law School. Mr. Gabriel has written dozens of articles on the art and science of jury trials and has trained thousands of lawyers in the skills and story needed to persuade a judge or jury. Through developing innovative practices such as Jury Mediation and Strategic Litigation Systems, he has consistently sought to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of litigation while increasing the quality of information that clients use to resolve or try cases. Mr. Gabriel has also written opinion pieces for CNN.com on political and justice issues and has served as an expert commentator for CNN and most major news outlets on high profile trials. He is also a playright and is now working on his first novel. 
 

Judge George Fearing began service as a Judge of Division III of the Court of Appeals in June 2013. He succeeded Judge Dennis Sweeney, his former law partner, as the sole member of the court in position 2, which covers nine southeastern Washington counties. Voters retained Judge Fearing in contested elections in 2013 and 2016. Before joining the court, George Fearing practiced law in the Tri-Cities with the same law firm for 31 years. Fearing was a trial lawyer, who specialized in representing municipal corporations and law enforcement officers in civil litigation. He also handled commercial and employment litigation. Despite his reputation as being a trial lawyer, George loved legal research and writing and handled over 90 appeals as a litigator. Judge Fearing served his church in various capacities, including adult and child teacher, religious liberty director, and local church board member. He served on the Board of Directors of Tri-City Junior Academy. He graduated from Walla Walla University in 1979 and served as his alma mater’s Alumni President. In 2013 he was honored as the University’s Alumnus of the Decade for the 1970s. Fearing graduated from the University of Washington law school in 1982. Five others from his class have served on the Court of Appeals. George Fearing has served as a presidential elector. His hobbies include reading history and listening to classical and new age music. He has written four unpublished history books: See George Run, Water Gate, My Year with Bush, and How We Die. He has also authored short stories and a timeline for religious liberty events. George’s lawyer wife and he have three grown sons, none of whom thankfully pursued law as a career.

 
Edwin Aralica has been a public defender at the King County Department of Public Defense (ACA) since 2004.  He has experience with all facets of criminal defense practice—misdemeanor, juvenile, felony practice, and appeals. He was qualified by the Washington State Supreme Court to represent clients facing the death penalty—SPRC 2 qualification. And he is currently a Felony Unit Supervising Attorney; a position he has been in since 2016.  He serves on the Washington State Supreme Court’s WPIC (jury instruction) committee, and he has been on the committee since 2012. He was a long-time member of the Executive Committee of the Criminal Law Section for the WSBA, and he served on the WACDL Board Governors. He has a LLM (Masters of Law) in Trial Advocacy from California Western School of Law San Diego, CA, and he earned a Juris Doctorate, Magna Cum Laude, from Gonzaga University School of Law Spokane, WA.



Sara Ayoubi attended undergrad at St. Mary’s University. She earned her Law Degree and LLM in Asian and Comparative Law from the University of Washington School of Law (UWLS). She previously worked at the Snohomish County Public Defender Association (SCPDA) from 2007-2012 before joining UWLS’ Legal Education Support Program- Afghanistan, where she served as the program’s Assistant Director.  Sara rejoined SCPDA in 2019 as an Attorney Administrator where she consults with attorneys on ethics questions and ensures SCPDA’s compliance with the RPCs. In addition, Sara is a member of the Washington State Bar Association Committee on Professional Ethics and is a previous WACDL presenter.




Corey Endo has worked for the Federal Defender for the Western District of Washington for 20 years, as a Research and Writing Attorney, an Assistant Federal Defender, and now as the First Assistant. She serves on the executive committee for DREAM, a federal therapeutic court for people with substance use disorders, and helped to create PATHWAY, a similar court for people with mental health challenges. Many years ago, Corey worked as a Rule 9 Intern at The Defender Association and started her public defender career with the Washington Appellate Project. One of her greatest accomplishments is convincing her parents and brother to move from the east coast to Seattle.


Robert Flennaugh II has represented clients in Washington State and Federal courts for over twenty-nine years.  He is a fellow in both the American College for Trial Lawyers and the Litigation Counsel of America.  He began his career as a public defender then later then joined a private Seattle firm specializing in criminal defense.  In 2005, Robert opened his own criminal defense practice, Law Office of Robert Flennaugh II, PLLC. Currently, he is the immediate past president of the M3 Federal Bar Association.  Additionally, he has been voted a Top 100 Super Lawyer and has been voted a "Super Lawyer" by his peers every year since 2010 (Washington Law & Politics Magazine).  Lastly, Robert is a “Double Dawg” graduating from both University of Washington’s undergraduate and law school.

 
Jason Lantz is a criminal defense attorney with the Law Offices of Burg and Lantz, LLC.  Jason has extensive trial experience with a "winning" record.  He defends those accused of all types of state criminal offenses but has become particularly known for his work in impaired driving and other criminal traffic offenses.  He is an author, along with Jon Fox and Alex Uskoski, of Defending DUI's in Washington published by LexisNexis. Jason has been a leader in the effort to research and challenge the Draeger Alcotest 9510 breath test machine and his work was recently featured on the New York Times television news program "The Weekly" on Fx and Hulu.  Jason has been nominated to the WACDL Board and is on the WACDL legislative and CLE committees. Jason has a bachelors of science in life sciences, a general science degree, from Kansas State University and graduated from the Seattle University School of Law.


 
Mark Middaugh knew he wanted to be a criminal defense lawyer from the time he was 10 years old. Inspired by his father, a former King County Public Defender, he attended Stanford Law School, clerked on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and then started working as a PD--first in Santa Clara County, then in Seattle. He's tried dozens of cases to verdict, including charges of homicide, rape, wire fraud, and tax evasion. Mark is also a seasoned appellate lawyer, having handled cases in the Washington Court of Appeals, the Washington Supreme Court, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and the United States Supreme Court. Mark currently serves as the Chairman of the WACDL Amicus Committee. He is on the trial advocacy faculty of the University of Washington School of Law, and he regularly guest lectures at both UW and Gonzaga Law School on evidence, criminal procedure, and appellate advocacy. He also serves as a member of the Board of Visitors of Stanford Law School. Mark graduated summa cum laude from Duke University. Prior to attending law school, he worked for several years as a congressional aide in Washington D.C. and earned a Master's Degree in Strategic Security Studies and Counter-Terrorism from the National Defense University.

 

Nicole Owens is a graduate of the University of Idaho College of Law. She began her career in the Capital Litigation Unit at Idaho’s State Appellate Public Defender’s Office, defending clients on death row. From there, she became a Trial Attorney with the Ada County Public Defender’s Office, where she handled many jury trials. She joined the Federal Defender Service of Idaho (FDSI) as an Assistant Federal Defender in 2018.  In 2021, she was appointed as the Executive Director of FDSI which is a nonprofit, Community Defender Organization for the District of Idaho with trial units in Boise and Pocatello and a Capital Habeas Unit in Boise. She is currently the president of the Idaho Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.