Contact

The Law Offices of Robert A. Bohrer, PLLC
15600 N.E. 8th Street, Suite B1-614
Bellevue, WA 98008

E-mail: RAB@robertbohrer.com

Telephone: (425) 451-4759
Facsimile: (425) 451-0489

Fundamental Values

There are basic principles of life and work which apply to advising benefit plan trustees and business leaders, whether they are responsible for large benefit plans, commercial businesses, or relatively small family trusts and estates. These are the primary values I have learned during 40 years of representing fiduciaries and business interests and they derive from my Christian faith.

These core values have arisen out of my representation of the unique entities of US law called “joint labor and management” employee benefit trust funds, created and administered by Federal law, and managed jointly by labor and business representatives. These unique trust funds require fiduciaries and their advisors to be scrupulously honest, fully accountable to fund beneficiaries, and dedicated to doing the hard work necessary to manage and oversee complex administrative and legal subjects. These same principles are applied by the most successful business leaders in managing complex business and family enterprises. This is the crucible of daily legal practice that has molded my core beliefs.

Personal integrity and honesty are foundational principles of life and work. The best operations of joint labor and management trusts are built on fundamental personal trustee and advisor honesty and integrity. It is a daily battle to confront and overcome the expeditious in favor of the right. Genuine professional loyalty is forged out of personal integrity and dedicated to commonly understood institutional goals.

Successful trustees and advisors accept the core principle of accountability to each other, to their beneficiaries, members and employees, professionals, and to other supervising authorities. Genuine leadership accepts personal responsibility both to those above and below one’s institutional position and authority. Leaders model, teach, encourage and discipline appropriately. For the trusted lawyer and advisor, this mindset of openness and service is tempered with judgment to honor client confidences. This balance of judging between the spoken and unspoken is fundamental to earning personal trust by clients and colleagues.

Ultimately, timely work on assigned duties is premised upon one’s daily work ethic. Consistent and reliable attention to assigned work enhances all other commitments to integrity, honesty and accountability. Focusing one’s daily attentions on fulfilling obligations for others fosters quality and accuracy of work. Leading by example encourages trustees and colleagues to work together and to cooperate to attain the highest standards of institutional best practices.

These primary values have been forged out of the crucible of daily client work and arise out of my Christian faith. The daily work entrusted to me is an assignment of personal stewardship over client interests to be protected and nurtured. Nevertheless, the primary purpose of my life is to worship and serve my risen Lord Jesus Christ and to thereby give honor to my Heavenly Father. The gifts of life, family, and stewardship of client work proceed out of this faith and have not been earned by me nor have I been in any way entitled to them. Ephesians 2:4-10. These are all gifts of God.
I take as confirmation of my Christian faith and the Lord’s continuing daily care over me the following statement written by Believers over 500 years ago. These words speak for me:

“My only comfort, in life and in death, is that I belong – body and soul, in life and in death – not to myself but to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ, who at the cost of His own blood has fully paid for all my sins and has completely freed me from the dominion of the devil; that He protects me so well that without the will of my Father in heaven not a hair can fall from my head; indeed, everything must fit His purpose for my salvation. Therefore, by the Holy Spirit, He assures me of eternal life, and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready from now on to live for Him.”
(From the Heidelberg Catechism,
Question and Answer No. 1, 1563)
I do hereby affirm the accuracy and truth of this statement both in my own life and as that hope and comfort which are available to any person. That which I have not attained, I aspire to, mindful that I can do nothing without His providential care and oversight.

Robert A. Bohrer
Proverbs 3:5-6