Long-time San Juan County attorney Carla J. Higginson has formed a partnership with attorney Garrett J. Beyer. 
After 31 years in solo practice, Higginson Law Offices is now Higginson Beyer, a professional services corporation, with offices in both Friday Harbor and downtown Seattle. 
Beyer has been an attorney for the past 17 years handling international business, taxation, and domestic and international estate planning.  He received his MBA from Gonzaga University in 1989, his law degree from Gonzaga Law School in 1993, and his masters in taxation from the University of Washington School of Law in 1997. 
Beyer is a near-native of Western Washington, having grown up in Federal Way just south of Seattle.  He has two children, ages 4 and 7.  He is primarily based in the firm’s Seattle office located on the 55th floor of the Columbia Tower Building in downtown, but is in the Friday Harbor office regularly.  Beyer has been active in the College Club of Seattle for many years, serving as that organization’s president and legal advisor.  He enjoys boating and is an avid fly-fisherman. 
Higginson is a fifth-generation islander on both sides of her family.  Her maternal great-great-grandfather Christopher Rosler was an American soldier in the Pig War, and after the dispute was resolved, he married Anna Pike, a native woman from the Tshimshian tribe, and homesteaded at the south end of San Juan Island.  Higginson continues to own the family farm that her great-great-grandparents established. Her paternal great-great-grandparents, the Nichols, homesteaded on Lopez Island. 
Higginson received her law degree from the University of Washington School of Law in 1979 and began her own law practice in Friday Harbor in 1980. She has the oldest continuously owned law practice in the county and recently completed her fifth term as San Juan County Bar Association president.  Among other activities, she was a municipal court judge in Friday Harbor for eight years, served on the San Juan County Planning Commission for five and half years, founded the San Juan Pilots Association 25 years ago (which remains an active organization with over 130 members), served for 25 years as the volunteer attorney for the Animal Protection Society-Friday Harbor, and currently serves as the volunteer attorney for various non-profit organizations, including Hospice of San Juan, San Juan Historical Society, and Pigs Peace Sanctuary in Stanwood. 
Friday Harbor High School students know Carla as the judge for their annual mock trials, held in the Superior Courtroom. She also studied classical voice with Elizabeth Burton for nine years and has sung in the Presbyterian Church choir and San Juan Singers.
Beyer will continue his practice in domestic and international business transactions, taxation and estate planning. Higginson will continue to practice in the areas of civil litigation, family law, small business corporate matters, elder law, estate planning, guardianships and probate, real estate, land use, and criminal defense.