Jeff A.O. Freimund
Founding Partner, Retired
Jeff was born in Portland, Oregon and was raised in locations throughout the United States and its territories following his father’s career as a corrections professional. After attending Virginia Tech, Jeff graduated Western Washington University in 1982 with a degree in philosophy. He worked for two years as a corrections officer at the Monroe Reformatory before planting his roots in the legal field, attending Willamette Law School and graduating in 1987 with his Juris Doctor.
Jeff began a decades long career serving the people of Washington as Assistant Attorney General for the Department of Social and Health Services Division. After over 20 jury trials in three years, Jeff transferred to the Torts Division, specializing in complex, high exposure civil rights, employment, and personal injury cases defending the State of Washington. Jeff played a key role in the growth of the Torts Division after promoting to Assistant Division Chief in 1999, a time when the division had only 36
attorneys and 100 professional staff. Jeff’s leadership and professional skills built a strong division, respected as one of the most valuable divisions of the Washington State Attorney General’s Office.
In 2002, Jeff was appointed Senior Counsel by then Attorney General Christine Gregoire, celebrating his years of service to Washingtonians.
In 2007, Jeff became a founding partner in Freimund Jackson & Tardif, PLLC, which was restructured in 2020 to become Freimund Tardif, PLLC, and in 2022, the firm restructured to become Simmons Sweeney Freimund Smith Tardif, PLLC. He continues to defend a variety of governmental and private entities in tort, civil rights, employment, school law, public records, regulatory, and administrative law matters in federal and state courts throughout Washington.
He also represents health care agencies and professionals in various administrative and judicial proceedings regarding Certificates of Need, licensure, and credentialing involving hospitals, hospice agencies, home health agencies, kidney dialysis centers, and ambulatory surgery centers.
As a highly respected litigator, Jeff continues his dedication to Washington defending the State as a Special Assistant Attorney General. Jeff was the lead attorney defending a Wenatchee sex abuse case that resulted in a defense verdict following a three-month jury trial in 1998, which was recognized by the National Law Journal as one of the top 15 defense wins in the nation that year.
Jeff’s dedication to defending Washington is recognized throughout his career having received the 1998 Steward of Justice Award from then Attorney General Christine Gregoire. The same year, he was given the Secretary’s Award, regarded as the Department of Social and Health Services’ highest honor.
Since 2002, Jeff has received the peer reviewed rating of “AV Preeminent” from Martindale-Hubbell, which places him among a select group of lawyers nationwide who have been recognized by their peers as consistently performing at the highest level for both their legal ability and highest ethical standards.
Over the years, Jeff has been a speaker and the author of material for dozens of Continuing Legal Education programs concerning governmental tort liability, risk management, discovery, trial practice, appellate practice, and a variety of other topics.
In 2023, Jeff has entered retirement life to enjoy golf and time with his family. SSFST offers our sincere gratitude for his years of dedicated service to the people of Washington State and his guidance and leadership in developing our new firm.