George Telquist
Attorney
George was born in Bellevue, Washington to Bud and Kathy Telquist. His parents were hard working, his dad a truck driver and his mom working in a convenience store. He spent most of his youth in Woodinville, Washington where he was an active member on school activities and sports. A strong family value in his home growing up was work ethic. He had his first job at 14, working the full-service gas pumps at the convenience store his mom worked. This was the beginning of his core value of a strong work ethic and also convinced him that he enjoyed working with people.
After graduating from Woodinville High School, he attended Washington State University, graduating in 1993. Although raised in the shadows of the University of Washington, George often says that he was in Pullman for 10 minutes and was a life-long Coug. He also fell in love with the Eastern Washington lifestyle and values.
While at WSU, George considered multiple professions, all of which included helping people in times of need. He ultimately decided to attend law school, attending Gonzaga University School of Law. George served on Law Review as an Associate Editor and had the honor of serving as the chairperson of the William O. Douglass Committee.
Upon graduating from Gonzaga, George had opportunities to move to larger cities to practice. However, his love for Eastern Washington kept him in the area and he accepted a job in Kennewick, Washington. As a young associate lawyer, he quickly found his passion – trial work. He further found that he enjoyed helping those injured by others. He decided he wanted to be a personal injury trial lawyer.
Within a couple years George experience success as a personal injury lawyer. As an associate level attorney, he collected millions of dollars for injured people. His first "big" case was helping a young woman recover $750,000 for a broken femur in an accident. To this day he discusses how fulfilling it was to assist a young woman who felt that she had nobody to trust or to turn to.
After becoming a partner in 2001 George continued to help people in personal injury cases. He began to expand his practice beyond car accident cases to medical malpractice cases. With the birth of his kids in 2004 and 2006 George began exploring how he could continue to pursue significant results for his clients while raising children. He decided to create what is now Telaré Law in 2007.
Telaré Law has been a significant and preeminent leader in personal injury cases in Eastern Washington since 2007. Telaré has the fortune of jury verdicts and settlements on behalf of its clients more than $50 million dollars. In addition to practicing in Superior Court, George has practiced in the Washington State Court of Appeals, State Supreme Court, Eastern District of Washington, Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and has petition for certiorari to the US Supreme Court.
While collecting tens of millions of dollars has been a source of pride for George, he would tell you his most significant moment was when he changed the law for kids of the State of Washington in medical malpractice claims by taking a case to the Supreme Court. Through George's efforts the Supreme Court agreed that the law that limited the time that kids could bring claims was unconstitutional. As a result of George's efforts kids of Washington State who are harmed by doctors have equal rights of adults.
The case helping kids was not a large monetary case. But it was for the good of the people of Washington. George has a strong sense of community service as evidenced by his award of the Gene Schuster Pro Bono Award in 2014, awarded to the local attorney who provides exceptional free legal services to the needy.
George takes exceptional pride in his legal successes. He also focuses on the people that immediately impact his life. He has raised two thriving children who are active and responsible members of the community. In 2005 George met his current partner Andrea, a local lawyer. In 2014 Andrea joined Telaré Law. Together they have obtained significant judgments and settlements for Telaré Law clients. They have adopted a team approach to better serve clients and to get the best results.
Since becoming business partners George and Andrea have created the greatest partnership and decided to marry. They enjoy being trial lawyers together but also raising their collective 5 kids in an environment of hard work, fun and exploration.
Admitted
- Washington
- Washington State Superior Courts
- Washington Supreme Court
- Washington State Court of Appeals
- Eastern District of Washington
- U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit
- Supreme Court of the United States
Practice Areas
- Personal Injury
- Medical Malpractice
Professional Associations
- Washington State Bar Association
- Benton-Franklin Counties Bar Association
Honors & Awards
- Top 10 Personal Injury Attorney, Attorney and Practice Magazine, 2020
- Gene Schuster Award for Outstanding Service, Benton-Franklin Legal Aid Society, 2014
- Rising Star, Washington Law & Politics Magazine, 2005
- The National Trial Lawyers: Top 100 Trial Lawyers