Hillis Clark Martin & Peterson P.S. has announced that land use attorney Abigail Pearl DeWeese and business attorney Michael Edwards have been appointed principals of the firm. 

“Abbey and Michael bring a high level of experience and insight to our land use, business, and real estate practices,” said Ryan Durkan, HCMP’s managing principal. “We are immensely proud of their expertise, and how quickly they have risen to be recognized leaders in their respective fields. Our clients are well served by their counsel.”

Abigail’s practice focuses on providing critical insight and advice to residential, commercial, and institutional developers. She has devoted her career to understanding the challenges faced by developers, landowners, and architects throughout Washington in all aspects of land acquisition and development, from initial due diligence to full entitlement and defending appeals. Abigail takes great pride in offering an integrated suite of services, including providing land use, environmental, and real estate advice.

With a depth of experience in the Puget Sound Region, including in Seattle, Bellevue, Redmond, Kirkland, and Renton, clients benefit from Abigail’s solution-oriented approach and deep insight into their business challenges. Abigail’s practice has been particularly active in Bellevue since the Downtown zoning code update. Since then, she’s been involved with projects in Bellevue that total over 2.9 million square feet of commercial development and provide over 1000 residential units, with more in the pipeline. 

Abigail is also a board member of the Ballard Boys & Girls Club. She received her J.D. from the University of Washington School of Law and B.S. from the University of Washington. 

Michael’s practice focuses on assisting clients in business and real estate transactions. Leveraging his experience of serving as outside counsel and acting general counsel to a real estate tech startup, Michael has a unique understanding of the challenges businesses face. He recognizes clients’ need for dynamic legal counsel focused on solving problems with effective—and often creative—solutions. He is a trusted advisor to a variety of company leaders and board members, assisting with fundraising strategy, investor relations, and policy concerns. He also advises businesses on compliance with a wide range of laws and regulations, from employment, data privacy, and data security laws to local landlord-tenant laws and short-term rental regulations. 

Harnessing his firsthand experience in the business sector, Michael has a keen understanding of helping businesses navigate risk to enable them to strike the delicate balance between acting quickly to take advantage opportunities while managing the associated legal concerns.  

Michael has a depth of experience in commercial and residential real estate that enables him to provide the custom-tailored guidance necessary in complicated real estate transactions. In the commercial context, he has counseled clients on the purchase, sale, development, financing, and leasing of large commercial properties. In the residential context, Michael’s experience in-house put him at the cutting edge of short-term rental regulations and their interaction with landlord-tenant laws and fair housing laws nationwide. Michael drafted consumer-facing program documents, including supply-side master leases subleases, and related documents designed to comply with rapidly changing regulatory requirements.

Through his work, Michael has collaborated closely with lawmakers and policy advocates to participate in state and local discussions on short-term rental laws to help shape sensible regulations beneficial to all stakeholders.

Michael received his J.D., with honors, from the University of Washington School of law, and B.A. from Brigham Young University.