Congratulations all on getting through the first month of 2023. It has been a rocky entry into the new year for me. I hope it has been good for you.
In January, we held our annual MLK luncheon celebrating the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. After a few years of having the event online, we were finally able to gather in person, for which I am so thankful. Thank you to all of you that joined us at this sold-out event. Thank you to our KCBA staff for the usual excellence in organizing a beautiful event with attention to all the small details.
And thank you to our fantastic MLK committee members1 for their tireless year-round work in planning and organizing this special annual luncheon.
I want to acknowledge and thank our outgoing MLK Committee Chair, Honorable Richard Jones. While I knew he had been chairing this committee for some time, I didn’t realize he had served in this role for two decades! Judge Jones’s dedication, commitment, and hard work inspire us all. Thank you for your service, Judge Jones, all of us at KCBA are grateful and honored to have been the beneficiary of your dedication and passion.
Judge Jones passed the baton to chair the MLK Luncheon Committee to David Hsieh, who has no doubt learned from the best. Thank you in advance, David!
At the luncheon, I mentioned my experiment of practicing love as an action item inspired by Dr. King. Here is the title I referred to: Love is Boomerang.2
Our keynote speaker Bakari Sellers delivered a moving and thought-provoking speech that asked us to question how far we have come and where we go from here. He beautifully weaved stories of his father’s activism, civil rights activist Cleveland Sellers, and the activism of many others who were part of the civil rights movement. His remarks were informative, educational, and inspiring. I hope you view the video recording of this event.
In KCBA business: the Executive Director Search Committee continues to work hard and is narrowing in on hiring a firm to help with this process. I thank the committee for its continued hard work.
In addition, the Board of Trustees passed a notable resolution this month. The resolution holds that the justices of the Supreme Court of the United States must adopt a binding code of ethics comparable to the code of ethics imposed on federal judges. As you may know, every judge and lawyer is subject to such ethical codes, but not the justices of the Supreme Court. Our KCBA delegate to the American Bar Association, Kathleen Hopkins, led this effort. Kathleen worked closely with Tom Fitzpatrick and other legal ethics experts from around America to draft a similar resolution that will be presented at the ABA mid-year conference in February 2023. KCBA Trustee Neal Black will present the resolution on behalf of KCBA, and James Williams, the ABA delegate for Washington, will deliver a supporting speech. Should the ABA adopt this resolution, it will result in actionable steps to hold Supreme Court justices accountable to a code of ethics. KCBA is taking the lead on a pressing issue that imperils the judicial system and restoring public confidence in the rule of law. The board is proud to have been able to work on this resolution. Thank you to Kathleen Hopkins, Tom Fitzpatrick, and their collaborators for drafting and the Board for passing this profound resolution. Look here for future updates.
In other news, it might be helpful to share some insights on what I have seen with massive layoffs in our city and around the country. Both U.S. citizens and non-citizens are affected by these layoffs. If you didn’t know, any non-citizen in the U.S. working on a visa loses immigration status if they are not working. They are entitled to a 60-days grace period when terminated either to find a new job or leave the country. I wrote a visa-by-visa guide3 for those laid-off that might be useful for anyone dealing with these difficult situations. From recent graduates to very experienced skilled workers waiting in the backlogged green card line — all are affected.4 I am advocating for policy changes to increase the 60 days to 120 days of grace period and for Congress to create a startup visa.5 We’ll see what happens.
Meanwhile, I continue to think about how we can all help those laid-off. Thousands are affected and the numbers continue to grow. There must be a way for us all to come together and provide help in some meaningful way. I am providing pro bono consultations to immigrant workers and have created some low-cost workshops to share as much information as quickly as possible. Some businesses and employer clients have contacted me asking to be connected to laid-off workers. There’s undoubtedly a talent pool waiting to be hired. But these people need legal advice regarding employment, social security, and even corporations and tax. Many startups were born out of the last recession, and something similar could happen again. Could we do something collectively to assist our affected community members during this unprecedented time in our country? If you have ideas, let me know.
1 https://www.kcba.org/For-Lawyers/Bar-Bulletin/PostId/1893/a-new-year-with-new-hope
2 https://abovethelaw.com/2023/01/love-is-a-boomerang/.
3 https://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/news/2022/09/03/opinion-startup-layoffs-impact-non-immigrant-visas.html.
4 https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/09/us/tech-immigrant-workers-visas.html.
5 https://abovethelaw.com/2022/12/the-biden-administration-should-extend-the-60-day-grace-period-for-laid-off-skilled-immigrant-workers/.
