Practice Areas
Commercial Litigation
Employment & Labor Law
Health Care Law
Insurance Defense
Mediation & Arbitration
Education
J.D., University of Denver College of Law, Order of St. Ives, 1964
A.B., Harvard University, magna cum laude, 1952
Admissions/Memberships
American Arbitration Association Panels
American Bar Association – Labor and Employment, Health Care, and Litigation Sections
Idaho State Bar – Professionalism and Ethics, Employment Law, Health Care Law, and Litigation Sections
U.S. District Court Mediation and Arbitration Panels
Professional Profile
With more than 46 years’ experience in litigation and dispute resolution, Mr. Fields focuses his practice in the areas of labor and employment, health care, insurance, and general commercial litigation, as well as alternative dispute resolution. Mr. Fields has tried over 150 cases in state and federal courts throughout the Mountain States and the Pacific Northwest, as well as resolving hundreds of other cases short of trial. He has arbitrated insurance coverage, contract and construction disputes and mediated cases involving personal injury, products liability, wrongful discharge, discrimination, insurance claims, and general commercial disputes. Mr. Fields also served for many years as general counsel for the state’s largest health care provider. Mr. Fields has been recently selected by his peers for inclusion in the 2012 edition of The Best Lawyers in America® in the practice areas of Commercial Litigation, Employment & Labor Law, and Health Care Law. Prior to joining Moffatt Thomas in 1966, he served several years as a staff attorney with the National Labor Relations Board.
Some examples of Mr. Fields' experience include:
· Managing the judicial confirmation proceeding that validated an agreement between two regional hospital entities to build and operate a new hospital to replace two outdated community hospitals.
· Successfully representing a large corporation in an arbitration proceeding in which the employees' union challenged the company's incentive compensation system.
· Successfully defending both individual and corporate defendants in wrongful death, personal injury, professional malpractice, products liability, breach of contract, and insurance bad faith lawsuits.
· Representing employers in wrongful termination and discrimination litigation, collective bargaining, union prevention, employment policy development, employee benefit counseling, supervisor training, employee handbook preparation, and corporate downsizing.
Mr. Fields is a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, serving as the state chairman from 1993-1995. Mr. Fields is an active member and has served as past president of the Idaho State Bar, the Idaho Association of Defense Counsel, the Idaho chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates, Western States Bar Conference and Jackrabbit States Bar, and as membership chairman for the Idaho Chapter of the Federal Bar Association. He also participated as a member of the American Employment Law Council and the American Academy of Healthcare Attorneys. He is admitted to the Colorado State Bar, the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals, the Idaho State Bar, the U.S. District Court for the District of Idaho, and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. He served a three-year term as lawyer representative to the Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference and was a member of the U.S. District Court’s Civil Justice Reform Act Advisory Committee. In addition, Mr. Fields is an active member and past president of the Boise Rotary Club, the Boise Philharmonic Association for which he served as president from 1994-1996, the Salvation Army Advisory Board, and other professional, civic, and community organizations. He was Rotary district governor from 1999‑2000.
He is the initial chairman of the Advisory Council for the Concordia University School of Law and past chairman of the Ada County EMS Advisory Board, which set up the state’s first paramedic service. He is also past president of the Learning Lab, an adult and family literacy program. Mr. Fields is the recipient of professional awards, including the Idaho State Bar’s Outstanding Service Award (1990), Professionalism Award (1992), and Distinguished Lawyer Award (2000), as well as an Exemplary Service Award from the Federal Bar Association (2008). He has also received the Citation for Meritorious Service from the Rotary Foundation at Rotary International and the William Booth Award from the Salvation Army.