By Brian D. Todd

The KCBA Young Lawyers Division is honored to present its Outstanding Young Lawyer Award for 2004 to Cristobal Joshua Alex. Josh stood out from an impressive list of nominees due to his leadership, initiative, and commitment and because of how much he has accomplished in so little time.

A 1998 graduate of Southern Methodist University in Texas, the local community has benefited tremendously since Josh’s arrival later that year to attend the UW School of Law. Josh exhibits a deep commitment to advancing the legal rights and dignity of low-income immigrants across the state, particularly in the Latino community.

As a UW law student, Josh spent three years developing and raising money to fund a Farm Workers Rights Clinic that would enable law students to spend summers working on civil rights, health, safety, and immigration issues in Eastern and Western Washington. The Clinic, open to law students across the county, is now thriving, and after graduating from UW, Josh has remained committed to the Clinic and is currently chairing its steering committee.

Josh has also dedicated considerable energy to fostering diversity in the legal profession and countering the effects of I-200. Josh currently chairs the KCBA’s Ethnic Diversity in the Legal Profession Committee, and he brings to that position a broad range of experience. Since 1999, Josh has volunteered with the Latino Educational Achievement Project and, since 2001, has mentored minority law students through the UW Alumni Ambassador program.

Josh also participates in the KCBF’s Future of the Law Institute and, through that program, has mentored minority high school students interested in legal careers. His support for mentorship has driven the Ethnic Diversity Committee to create a law mentorship program at Seattle Central Community College. In recognition of his dynamism and service to the Latino community, Josh was a recipient of El Centro de la Raza’s 30th Anniversary Award for Leadership.

His dedication to the Bar is also exemplary. Josh has been very active in reinvigorating the Latino Bar Association of Washington, which, under his leadership, is developing voter registration and mentorship programs. A former recipient of a KCBF scholarship, Josh has already given back to that program by helping to found the King County Bar Scholars Alumni Association, which motivates past Bar Scholars to contribute to strengthening the KCBF’s mission.

Josh’s legal practice has been as accomplished and diverse as his contributions to the community. After working in law school as both a Rule Nine county

prosecutor and public defender, Josh completed a clerkship with the Honor-able William W. Baker at the Washington State Court of Appeals. Now a first-year associate at MacDonald Hoague & Bay-less, Josh applies his experiences to his civil rights litigation practice. According to one of his nominators, in his practice Josh has been “widely respected and admired for his integrity, honesty, collaborative spirit, and kindness.”

Josh has been a dedicated leader and a dynamic force behind every activity and organization with which he is involved. The KCBA and the greater community are sure to continue to benefit from his energy and initiative for years to come. Accordingly, the YLD Board is honored to name Cristobal Josh Alex as this year’s Outstanding Young Lawyer.