- Address: 2270 NW Aviation Dr. Ste. 4, Roseburg, OR 97470
- Hours: 8am - 5pm M-F
- Address: 2270 NW Aviation Dr. Ste. 4, Roseburg OR 97470
- Give us a call: 541-677-7185
Menu
We are a team with tremendous experience in business law and estate planning–but before that, we are people. If we need to deal with some pretty heavy topics, we try to handle them with a sense of humor and empathy. Bring your smile, if you can, and if you cannot, we will try to help you find one.
At Simmons Law, P.C, we specialize in negotiating, drafting, and reviewing contracts, forming and maintaining corporations and LLCs, purchasing businesses, real estate transactions, and navigating regulatory issues, employment law, and business sales–cradle to retirement.
Our attorneys represent individuals in the same areas–LLCs, corporations, business sales and purchases, and real estate transactions, as well as estate planning (including wills and trusts and powers of attorney).
We do not practice criminal defense, workers compensation, family law, tax law, or bankruptcy. We are very good at the things we do, but we will send you elsewhere if it is not in our wheelhouse.
Shared pain is lessened, and shared joy is increased.
Attorney
Strategic Thinker
Derek D. Simmons is the founding shareholder of Simmons Law, P.C. He was reared in Dodge City, Kansas, which leads him to joke that he is the original guy who “got the hell out of Dodge.” He obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in Journalism–as well as a borderline obsessive passion for college basketball–from the University of Kansas (Rock Chalk Jayhawk!).
Derek earned his Juris Doctorate degree and most of his table tennis skills at Northwestern School of Law of Lewis & Clark College (now known as Lewis & Clark Law School), where he served as Editor in Chief of the Journal of Small & Emerging Business Law, which totally rocked during his time at the helm, and which later merged into the Lewis and Clark Law Review.
He began his legal career as a clerk at the Oregon Court of Appeals, where he worked with one of his role models, Judge David V. Brewer. He then joined a Eugene law firm where he was mentored by Donald R. Laird, who taught him the importance of responding quickly to clients (among other things).
Derek lives in Roseburg with his spouse and their four children. He is active in Rotary, serves as a member of the Board of the Umpqua Community College Foundation, and is passionate about supporting the Boys & Girls Club of the Umpqua Valley. He religiously observes St. James Day, the holiday honoring James Naismith, inventor of basketball. In his other spare time he hikes, reads, and schemes to get the lawn mowed without actually mowing it himself.
Administrator
Derek's Boss
Jannie Prawitz began working with Derek as a paralegal in 2009. At Simmons Law, P.C., she serves as paralegal, bookkeeper, administrator, and generally, Derek’s boss. Jannie has lived in Roseburg for the past 20 years with her husband, three daughters, son-in-law, four dogs, and a cat. (We pushed for her to have either two or five cats, just to make the numbers line up better, but she would not go for it.)
Jannie earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in History from the University of Montana (go Grizzlies!) and pursued paralegal studies at Umpqua Community College (go River Hawks!).
Although her favorite pastime is poking Derek with a cattle prod, Jannie also serves the Umpqua Actors Community Theatre (UACT) as a director, actor, and all-around theatre lackey. She loves to spend time with her friends sipping wine on the patio, reading, traveling, and camping near any body of water. Jannie is far too young for a bucket list, but one item she is working on is to attend every major sporting event – from the Olympics to the Super Bowl to the Final Four to the World Series and even the curling world championships. The only variable is time.
Goddess of Warchel
Marchel Ferriera (pronounced “Mar-shell the Mag-nif-i-cent“) joined the team in 2026 as director of first impressions. (For the record, her first impression was Tina Fey doing Derek, impersonating Richard Nixon. It was a long way to go for a joke, but once we heard it, we HAD to hire her.)
She hails from California by way of Ohio and New Mexico. We checked, and there were no warrants outstanding … from any of those particular states … on the day we checked.
These days, she lives in Roseburg with her husband, two children, two dogs, four cats, and an imaginary horse named Spirit.
In preparation for joining Simmons Law, she worked as an Optometric Technician, a job in which she helped people see reality, and then for Adapt Integrated Health Care, where she helped therapists navigate paperwork–the PERFECT preparation for working with Derek, whose view of reality can be subject to a certain amount of slippage.
On the rare occasions when she escapes the menagerie at home, Marchel enjoys playing video games and Dungeons and Dragons and serving Umpqua Actors Community Theatre as actor, director, and creature wrangler. The next role she is angling for: Donna in Mamma Mia! We can confirm that she already rocks the overalls, so we expect it is just a matter of time.
Summer Associate
Padawan
Kevin Beery hails from rural Indiana, and he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Agricultural Economics from Purdue University (Boiler Up!). He currently is enrolled at the University of Oregon Law School, and if all goes well (fingers crossed!) he will graduate in 2026. His business cards say that he is Derek’s Jedi apprentice (padawan), but scientists have determined that his personality is more like that of R2-D2. (True story. Make of that what you will.)
Kevin has served in the Army for more than a decade in various roles. Currently, he is a Senior Paralegal NCO in the Army Reserves’ JAG Corps. Before entering law school, Kevin worked in the agricultural and telecommunications industries, as well as for city and county governments as a special assistant to Ron Swanson.
Kevin loves being tortured by the athletic programs of the institutions he has attended. He maintains that he is a bigger college basketball fan than Derek, but he has nothing to show for it (Purdue Basketball = 0 National Titles). EDITOR’S NOTE: Kansas has 6, but who’s counting.
In his free time, Kevin enjoys, in allegedly no particular order: golfing, outdoor activities—specifically those occurring on or near a body of water—complaining about the Cincinnati Reds’ ownership, spending time with his two huskies, Arya and Pete, collecting records, and getting crushed on long-distance runs by his wife, Katie.
Maestra of Mayhem
Ashley Chitwood joined the team in 2025 as office manager. She brings extensive experience in bloodletting, Star Wars trivia, and herding cats–all of which can be useful in dealing with Derek. Also music—Ashley has the voice of an angel, which she uses to sing lullabies to Derek when he gets cranky. It doesn’t help, but it is really amusing.
She is a native of Roseburg, where she and her husband live with their two rambunctious daughters (codenamed Shaak Ti and Yaddle) who are still developing their fearsome Jedi powers.
When she is not in the office, Ashley often can be found at Umpqua Actors Community Theatre suspending people’s disbelief over vast chasms of drama and comedy. She loves glamping (from the Latin, meaning “five-star outdoor living”) and kayaking (from the Greek, meaning “falling sideways into the water at high speed”). God only knows why.
If you are interested in working with us, please drop us a line. We would love to hear from you.
Hours
8am to 5 pm Monday through Thursday
Call Us Today
541-677-7185
Email
info@SeriousBusiness.law