Attorney Mary E. Schultzs corner office is filled with trophies, most of which are from her days of competitive karate. One exception is a motocross trophy, a sport in which she competed while growing up in Great Falls, Mont.


Classic music fills the office, but books about the late Doors frontman Jim Morrisona god, Schultz saystake up most of one shelf. Below it are books ranging in subject from industrialist J. Paul Gettys biography to travel books about Greece.


The 45-year-old trial attorneys law firm, Mary E. Schultz & Associates PS, takes on cases that are as eclectic as its principals interests.


Earlier this year, Schultz won a $4 million employment-discrimination suit against ABM Industries Inc., a San Francisco-based janitorial company, on behalf of a female Spokane manager. Previously, shed been part of a team defending British Petroleum PLC managers in a federal grand jury investigation surrounding an oil spill in Alaska. In between, shes worked on the firms bread-and-butter businessdivorce cases with complex financial elements, in which a couple owns one or more business entitieswhile taking on several other interesting cases.


Its a litany of cases that have piqued my interest, Schultz says. I take the cases I want to take. Weve never had a problem getting clients.


While taking on work that interests her, Schultz also is practicing where she likes. Inspired by her experiences with Seattle attorneys she worked with on the British Petroleum case, she opened a satellite office in Seattle earlier this year. That office has one attorney who works for Schultz on a contract basis.


It (Seattle) has a really electric legal community, Schultz says. Its not a comment on Spokane, but theres an electricity there that I find attractive.


Schultz says she hasnt been able to focus on that office due to a string of trials here. She hopes, however, to spend more time in that office in the coming months and generate more West Side business.


Also, after the ABM case, Schultz has received inquiries from other ABM managers, living in California, who believe they might have claims against the janitorial company. Schultz says some of those managers appear to have legitimate claims, and she is considering taking them on as clients.


Consequently, Schultz is planning to take the California state bar examination so she can practice law thereand file suit on behalf of the ABM managers.


Schultz says, however, she doesnt intend to open an office in California. Operating three offices likely would be difficult to manage, she says.


Are the judges here going to let me work my schedule so I can frisk around the West Coast? Schultz says. I dont know that there would be that kind of tolerance on the bench.


The firms Spokane office employs 10 people, including two associate attorneys who work exclusively for Schultzs clients. Schultz says she wants to hire a third associate later this year.


The firm made news earlier this year when it moved to the eighth floor of the Lincoln Building, at 818 W. Riverside downtown, from the buildings sixth floor. Its new space had been the location of the Empire Club, which once was an all-male, businessmens club. The club shut down in 2001.


All of Schultz & Associates employeesand the contracted attorney in Seattleare female, though Schultz says that isnt by design. She says, however, she is proud that the female-led practice has been as successful as it has.


Last year, the firm brought in $900,000 in revenue, and Schultz says she herself made roughly $420,000. During the last few years, the firm has had revenues consistently between $700,000 and $900,000.


Its been a source of pride that its been successful, Schultz says. In my experience, litigation is a male thing. If you go down to the courthouse and look at the docket, almost all of the attorneys are men.


She says that despite progress concerning women being acknowledged as mens equals in the workplaceand even though there are more women than men entering law schoola husband often still is the primary breadwinner for a family that includes a female lawyer, and women frequently put legal careers on hold while following a husband or while having and raising children.


Schultz says she respects such decisions, but adds that they dont mesh well with becoming a litigator.


Being a trial attorney is a lifestyle, she says. It has a realistic impact on the ability to do both (work and family).


Having children never entered into the equation for Schultz, although her significant other has four children whom shes helping to raise. She says it doesnt bother her that she doesnt have children, nor does it bother her to be asked questions that likely wouldnt be asked of a successful male attorney.


Schultz graduated from Gonzaga School of Law in 1983. She worked for two years for the Spokane Countys prosecuting attorneys office, then left to start her own firm in 1985.


Thats where the karate trophies come in. Schultz decided shed like to start a martial arts-instruction school to supplement her income while getting her law practice up and running.


Every karate school shed seen, however, had trophies in the window, so she decided to compete for a couple of years to build up her trophy inventory. By the time Schultz had garnered a good supply of trophies, she was too busy with her law practice to instruct karate.


Early in her career, she focused on criminal defense and divorce law. While divorce cases still make up nearly 50 percent of the firms workload, she doesnt take on criminal defense cases anymoreunless its white-collar criminal defense, which she says is rare in Spokane.


The clients she accepts dont fall under any particular category, she says. Divorce clients are split evenly between men and women, and she brings on board as many plaintiffs as she does defendants.


In general, however, she says she likes to take on plaintiffs cases, because the work often is more challengingand provides greater rewards.