After completing a four year term as Lewis County Prosecuting Attorney, Brian M. Baker, and Arlan O. Lund, the county’s civil deputy, founded the present firm in January 1975.  The offices were located at 271 NW Chehalis Avenue in Chehalis.  

 

Mr. Baker served as the chief labor negotiator for Lewis County, and served as legal counsel to a number of Lewis County school districts.  Mr. Lund specialized in the areas of family law and real estate.  Richard A. Paroutaud joined the firm as its third attorney in August 1976, after clerking for Charles Horowitz at the Washington Supreme Court.  Mr. Paroutaud’s practice focuses on elder law (estate planning, guardianship and probate) and civil litigation.

 

In 1977, the firm moved into its present offices at 20 SW 12th Street in Chehalis, renting space from Production Credit Association.  Joseph M. Mano, Jr. joined the firm that year, coming from the Lewis County Prosecutor’s Office, where he held the position of Senior Trial Attorney.  Joe became active in the Washington State Trial Lawyer’s Association, and served as Centralia Municipal Court Judge.  His practice focuses on personal injury, insurance law and criminal defense.  

 

When Arlan O. Lund left the firm in 1978 to relocate to Seattle, John A. McKerricher joined the firm from the Renton City Attorney’s Office, and developed a specialty in family law.  The firm name became Baker, Paroutaud, Mano & McKerricher.  

 

In 1993, Brian M. Baker left the firm to relocate to Olympia where he opened up a solo legal practice. In November 1995, Nelson E. Hunt joined the firm, as a partner after nearly 15 years in the Lewis County Prosecutor’s Office. The firm name became Mano, McKerricher, Paroutaud & Hunt. Shortly afterwards, Kendra Sprague joined the firm after graduating from Willamette Law School in Oregon, and then when she became partner, the firm name became Mano, McKerricher, Paroutaud, Hunt & Sprague. Ms. Sprague left the firm at the end of 1998 when her husband took a position with the Cowlitz County Economic Development Commission in Longview, WA.

 

Nelson left the firm in September 2004 after his election as Lewis County Superior Court Judge. The firm then became Mano, McKerricher, & Paroutaud, Inc., P.C. John A. McKerricher retired from the firm in 2014. Richard A. Paroutaud retired from the firm in 2021.

 

Jennifer Groberg joined the firm in 2007, after graduating from Willamette Law School in Oregon. She became a partner in 2015. She was followed by her husband, Samuel L. Groberg in July 2008, coming over from the firm of Olson, Althauser & Rayan in Centralia.  He also became a partner in 2015. Bart Ricks, a graduate of the University of Idaho College of Law, joined the firm in 2011 after clerking for the Idaho Court of Appeals. He became a partner in 2015.

 

In 2016, the firm reached an important milestone, when its 20,000th client came into the office. In January 2018, the firm name became Mano, Paroutaud, Groberg & Ricks.