Monday, February 6, 2012

Women of NCDD Profiles: Linda Callahan (Washington)

I’m beginning my “Women of NCDD” series with my good pal, Linda Callahan. There are so many things I admire about Linda that I don’t even know where to start.

She’s smart. She’s fearless. She’s everything you would want in a lawyer if you were charged with a crime.

Linda was my lab partner when we both went through GC school at Axion Labs in Chicago with Dr. Lee Polite and Dr. Harold McNair. I am unaware of any other Washington attorney who has a certificate in GC from the American Chemical Society.  That makes Linda a Forensic Lawyer.

If you are charged with an intoxication-related offense in Washington, pick up the phone and call Linda Callahan.

From her website:

If you’re like most of clients of Callahan Law, this is your first experience with the criminal justice system – and you want to be sure you hire a lawyer who is right for you. You want a lawyer with confidence and credentials who really cares about you and your case. You want a lawyer who is intelligent, trained, experienced and has earned the respect of peers, prosecutors and judges.

In 1992, Ms. Callahan, Principal of the successful Callahan Law, graduated with the highest honors, Summa Cum Laude, from Hawaii Pacific University, earning two degrees: a Bachelor of Science and a Bachelor of Arts. Her GPA at graduation was 3.98. While at Hawaii Pacific University, she was President of Delta Mu Delta Honor Society and a member of Alpha Chi Honor Society. She was selected as the Harry S. Truman Scholar for the State of Hawaii in 1990.

The University of Notre Dame School of Law offered Ms. Callahan scholarships to attend their law school. She received her J.D. with honors, Cum Laude, from the University of Notre Dame Law School in 1996. While there she made the Dean’s Honor List, was Production Editor for the Journal of Law, Ethics and Public Policy and was active in the Women's Legal Forum. While studying at Notre Dame, Ms. Callahan was a single parent raising two children.

Ms. Callahan has the respect of her peers, having been voted “Super Lawyer Rising Star” in 2006. She authored, along with her colleague Ted Vosk, a constitutional challenge to the DUI law that resulted in widespread suppression of breath tests for two years. She has argued before every level of court in the state, from the smallest municipal court to the State Supreme Court, and she is admitted to practice in the United States Supreme Court.

Ms. Callahan is a published author in the DWI Journal of Law & Science, and has authored a book for non-lawyers on DUI, called the DUI Book, Washington Edition, which should be released soon. She trains other lawyers how to defend DUI cases.

Ms. Callahan is a member of the National College for DUI Defense, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the Washington Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, and a founding member of the Washington Alliance of DUI Trial Lawyers.


She is one of very few lawyers in the state who has learned the science and mechanics of breath testing from the DataMaster manufacturer, National Patent Analytical Systems (NPAS). NPAS manufactures all evidential breath test machines for the State of Washington. She owns her own DataMaster and conducts experiments for clients on it to determine whether certain substances could have artificially raised the breath test result. She is certified to administer Standardized Field Sobriety Tests, having been taught by NHTSA Certified Instructors.

Formerly, Ms. Callahan served as Session Attorney to the Senate Caucus in the State Legislature, and as deputy prosecuting attorney before turning to private practice. Her current practice focuses strictly on DUI defense.

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