Stoel Rives Elects Nine Attorneys to 2026 Partner Class

PORTLAND, Ore.—Stoel Rives LLP, an Am Law 200 firm, announces the election of nine attorneys to the firm’s partnership, effective Jan. 1, 2026. The new partners represent four practice groups—Corporate, Energy, Environmental, and Litigation—and are located in five offices spanning the firm’s geographic footprint—Anchorage, Alaska; Boise, Idaho; Minneapolis, Minn.; Seattle, Wash.; and Portland, Ore.

“Our new partners have emerged as leaders at the firm and in their practice areas through their exceptional legal skill, dedication to client service, and consistent strong contributions to Stoel’s culture and future growth,” said Melissa Jones, firmwide managing partner. “The high caliber of their work enhances the reputation of our firm’s broad range of litigation, transactional, and regulatory compliance services in key industries, and their high-impact pro bono work reinforces our community bonds and commitment to public service.”

Stoel’s new partners are:

Shannon Bleicher (Anchorage)—Bleicher is a natural resources attorney in the firm’s Environment, Land Use & Natural Resources practice group. She represents natural resource developers and regulated utilities on land, mineral, and regulatory matters, including all stages of transactions related to the development of subsurface natural resources. Her practice includes advising clients on leasing, buying, and selling subsurface natural resources, dispute resolution, financing, permitting at the state and local levels, and navigating complex regulatory processes. She is a member of the firm’s Inclusion Committee. Bleicher was selected as one of “America’s Leading Lawyers for Business” (Nationwide) by Chambers USA (Mining & Metals), Associates to Watch, 2025, and among the Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch^® in America (Environmental Law), 2025–present. She has been listed in the “Alaska Business Legal Elite” since 2023. She authors articles on Alaska legal topics for The Foundation for Natural Resources and Energy Law’s Mineral and Energy Law Newsletter and Water Law Newsletter. Bleicher is co-chair of the Alaska Bar Association’s Arctic Law Section and a board member of Alaska Legal Services Corporation, which she also serves as a pro bono attorney.  She earned her J.D., cum laude, from Creighton University School of Law and served as Student Article Editor of Creighton Law Review. While attending law school, she earned her M.S. in Negotiation and Conflict Resolution from Creighton University Werner Institute. She received her B.A., magna cum laude, in Political Science from Creighton University, was on the Dean’s List, and graduated with Distinction in Political Science.

David Brandon (Boise)—Brandon is a tax attorney in Stoel’s Corporate practice with broad experience in domestic and international transactional tax matters. He advises clients on cross-border mergers and acquisitions, investment structures, and joint ventures, and provides counsel on strategies for tax efficiencies and limiting transactional risk. He also counsels nonprofit and tax-exempt organizations in obtaining and maintaining tax-exempt status. Brandon is a member of the International Tax Committee Steering Group for the International Law Section of the American Bar Association (ABA), previously served as vice-chair of the Foreign & U.S. Taxation (Individuals and Passthroughs) committee for the ABA’s Taxation Section, and is Executive Committee chair for the Oregon State Bar’s Taxation Section. Brandon has taught International Tax, Advanced Federal Income Tax, and Mergers & Acquisitions at Boise State University and the University of Idaho College of Law and is a frequent speaker on transactional tax topics. He was included in The Best Lawyers in America^® (Tax Law), 2024, Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch^® in America (2021–2023) and named among Oregon Super Lawyers^® Rising Stars (Tax, International), 2017–2023. He maintains an active pro bono practice and received Stoel Rives’s “Andrew Guy Pro Bono Award” in 2024. Brandon earned his J.D. and LL.M, Taxation, from the University of Washington School of Law and his B.B.A., magna cum laude, in Economics from Gonzaga University. He recently received an Advanced Professional Certificate in Transfer Pricing (APCTP) from the International Bureau of Fiscal Documentation.

Whitney Brown (Anchorage)—Brown is an attorney in Stoel’s Litigation practice and chairs the firm’s Appellate  Critical Motions Group. She returned to Stoel Rives after serving as a law clerk to Justice Sonia Sotomayor of the U.S. Supreme Court. She specializes in litigating complex commercial disputes at the administrative, trial, and appellate levels in state and federal tribunals. She maintains an active pro bono practice focusing on protecting and advancing civil rights, for which she received Stoel Rives’ “Andrew Guy Pro Bono Award” in 2023 and 2024. Brown serves as a Ninth Circuit Lawyer Representative to the U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska, President of the Anchorage Association of Women Lawyers, member of the Alaska Bar Association’s Pro Bono Committee, and board member of Alaska Behavioral Health. Before joining Stoel Rives, Brown clerked for Judge Morgan Christen of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, Justice Goodwin Liu of the California Supreme Court, and Judge Guido Calabresi of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. She is included among the Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch^® in America (Appellate Practice, Commercial Litigation), 2026, and has been listed among the “Alaska Business Legal Elite” since 2023. Brown received her J.D. from UCLA School of Law, where she was inducted into the Order of the Coif and served as Editor-in-Chief of UCLA Law Review. She received her A.B. in Anthropology, with honors, from University of Chicago.

Amber Lee (Minneapolis)—Lee is a regulatory attorney in Stoel’s Energy Development practice, representing energy clients in a wide range of matters. She advises clients appearing before state and federal agencies and in legislative tribunals, including gas and electric utility rate cases, and in resource planning, mergers and acquisitions, project development and energy and privacy standards proceedings. Lee is a frequent contributor to the firm’s “Energy Regulatory Update” alerts, which inform clients about developments at state and federal energy regulatory agencies and independent system operators and regional transmission organizations. She is a board member and former chair of Minnesota State Bar Association’s Administrative Law Section, and chair of the Steering Committee for Women Empowered. Prior to joining Stoel Rives, Lee was president and CEO of Alias Energy Consulting, previously served as director of regulatory affairs for CenterPoint Energy, and directed regulatory and legislative affairs for two public utilities in Minnesota. She began her legal career as an attorney for the state of Minnesota’s Office of Administrative Hearings. Lee received her J.D., cum laude, from University of Minnesota Law School and her B.A from University of Minnesota.

Alex Pearson (Seattle)—Pearson is an attorney in Stoel’s Corporate practice group and a member of the Energy Industry Group. In his energy-focused practice, he advises renewable energy sponsors and developers in project finance matters for the financing of renewable energy projects across the country, including structuring and negotiating construction, bridge and term debt facilities, letter of credit facilities, tax credit transfers, note purchase agreements, equipment loan facilities and tax equity investments. He also counsels clients on the acquisition, development, and sale of renewable energy projects. Pearson is listed among the Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch^® in America (Corporate Law, Project Finance Law), 2023–present. He also serves on the firm’s Seattle office Coaching & Mentoring Committee. Pearson earned his J.D., with honors, from University of Washington School of Law, served as Editor-in Chief of Washington Law Review and was a Legal Writing Fellow. He received his B.A. in English Literature, with honors, from Whitman College, and is a member of the Order of Waiilatpu honor society.

Bradley Prowant (Minneapolis/Boise)—Prowant is a commercial litigator in the firm’s litigation practice group, representing a wide range of clients in complex commercial litigation and appellate advocacy across the country. Substantively, his practice is focused on the agribusiness and food and beverage industries, as well as insurance coverage litigation representing policyholders. In addition, he advises on complex agricultural regulations and advocates for clients in proceedings before regulatory agencies. He is a member of the firm’s Agribusiness Industry Group and Insurance Recovery practice group and has served in roles for the firm’s Inclusion Committee and Associates Committee. Based in Minneapolis, he also spends time in the Boise office. Prowant was included in Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch^® in America (Appellate Practice, Commercial Litigation), 2024–2025 and was named a Minnesota Lawyer “Up & Coming Attorney” in 2023. In recognition of his pro bono service focused on protecting civil liberties, Minnesota Lawyer named him a 2023 Pro Bono “Lawyer of the Year,” he received the firm’s “Andrew Guy Pro Bono Award” in 2022 and 2024, and he has been listed as a Minnesota State Bar Association “North Star Lawyer” since 2021. Prior to joining the firm, he worked for a litigation boutique and served as a judicial clerk in the Second Judicial District of Minnesota. Prowant received his J.D., cum laude, from the University of Minnesota Law School and his B.A. from the University of Iowa.

Connor Smith (Anchorage)—Smith is a trial attorney in the firm’s Litigation practice group with a focus on general commercial litigation, tax litigation, and fiduciary litigation. He represents clients in the commercial fishing, energy, mining, and oil and gas industries and works frequently with Alaska Native Corporations and their subsidiaries on a broad range of matters. Smith is an experienced trial attorney who regularly represents clients in state and federal court and before administrative agencies. He is included in Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch^® in America (Commercial Litigation), 2026, and has been listed among the “Alaska Business Legal Elite” since 2023. Dedicated to pro bono service, Smith has worked on pro bono matters for many local organizations supporting his community, including Alaska Immigration Justice Project, Alaska Legal Services Corporation, Alaska Network on Domestic Violence & Sexual Assault (ANDVSA), and the Federal Pro Bono Project. He received Stoel Rives’s “Andrew Guy Pro Bono Award” in 2021 and 2022. Prior to joining the firm, Smith served as a law clerk for Justice Craig Stowers of the Alaska Supreme Court and as a judicial extern to Judge Morgan Christen of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. He received his J.D., summa cum laude, from Seattle University School of Law, was on the Dean’s List, and graduated first in his class. He also served as Executive Editor of the law school’s American Indian Law Journal. Smith earned his B.A. in Political Science from California Polytechnic State University and was on the Dean’s List.

Ariel Stavitsky (Portland, Ore.)—Stavitsky is an energy and environmental attorney in the Environment, Land Use & Natural Resources practice group. She represents clients across multiple industries, including energy development, natural resource production, and manufacturing, with focuses in environmental and natural resource-related litigation and energy facility permitting. Stavitsky is listed among the Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch^® in America (Litigation—Environmental), 2022–present. She has been selected as an “Emerging Leader” by Environmental Law Institute’s Emerging Leaders Initiative since 2021 and serves on the Executive Committee for the Oregon State Bar’s Energy, Telecom, and Utility Law Section. Stavitsky received the firm’s “Andrew Guy Pro Bono Award” in 2020 and 2023 for her work helping asylum seekers. A dedicated advocate for new lawyers, she received the firm’s 2024 Portland “Mentor of the Year” award and coaches mock trial teams at Jefferson High School. Prior to joining Stoe Rives, she served as judicial law clerk to Judge John V. Acosta of the U.S. District Court, District of Oregon. Stavitsky received her J.D. from University of Oregon School of Law, graduating first in her class, a member of Order of the Coif, and a Bowerman Fellow with the Environmental and Natural Resources Law Center’s Energy Law and Policy Project. She earned her B.A., summa cum laude, in Environmental Studies from Tulane University, and is a member of the Phi Beta Kappa honor society.

Michael Such (Portland, Ore.)—Such is a tax attorney in the Corporate practice group. In his practice, he primarily represents renewable energy clients in all tax matters related to project development nationwide, including tax credit qualification, M&A transactions, tax equity investment structuring and negotiation, debt financing, and tax credit transfers. He also advises real estate developers and other clients on property tax incentives and opportunity zone matters and assists clients across a wide range of industries with tax issues at each stage of the business life cycle. Such is co-author of the “Tax Issues” chapters in the current editions of Stoel Rives’s The Law of Solar and The Law of Wind legal handbooks. He is listed among the Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch^® in America (Tax Law), 2023–2025, and Oregon Super Lawyers^® Rising Stars (Tax), 2025, and serves on the board of the Portland Tax Forum.  Such received his J.D., cum laude, from Lewis & Clark Law School, and his B.A. in English from University of California, Santa Barbara.