Summer is here and as July begins, we bring a close to our current membership year and start transitioning to working with new leaders in all areas of the Bar. It is easy to look forward to new things. However, I would be remiss if I did not take this opportunity to look back and shine a light on the outstanding work our Sections and Committees accomplished this year.
Before I begin highlighting the activities, I would like to recognize Jordan Brock, KCBA Member Services Coordinator who stepped into a new position in November and became responsible for coordinating most section and committee activities. Jordan quickly developed partnerships with each section and committee chair(s), assisting them and their teams to create positive engagement opportunities for our members. Thank you, Jordan, for your service and providing me with the details for this article!
It is no small feat that our Section Chairs and other members of the Section Executive Committees were able to coordinate 87 one-hour CLEs in the 2022–2023 KCBA membership year! Many of these Section Chairs stepped in to present their own CLEs. I am excited to share this highlight reel of the past year’s section activities:
- ADR: Thank you will never be enough for all that Paula Emery has brought to our ADR Section! We are excited to have her return as Section Chair for the upcoming year. This year, the section hosted eight CLE programs. One of those programs was led by the Youth Development team from the Dispute Resolution Center of King County including a High School Student Peer Mediator to teach the section about the DRC’s mission to disrupt the school-to-prison pipeline through youth peer mediation and restorative justice.
- Appellate Practice: Under Tori Ainsworth’s leadership, the section hosted nine CLE programs this year. In addition, they hosted the annual Division One Judicial Reception honoring Judges Beth Andrus and James Verellen.
- Aviation Law: Under the guidance of Nate Bingham, the section had their first in-person CLE and Happy Hour. Thank you to Stokes Lawrence for their sponsorship of the event. The section is currently planning the return of their Annual Aviation Conference in the fall at Suncadia.
- Bankruptcy Law: Brian Peterson facilitated seven CLE programs this year. In addition, the section sponsored the annual KCBA all-day CLE, “Collection of Judgments,” at the Seattle Convention Center in which over 100 attendees, both virtual and in-person, were able to participate.
- Business Law: Jeffrey Wheat reprised his role as Section Chair for the first half of the year, and in November, Matthew Macklin graciously accepted the role. Under their leadership, the section hosted five CLE programs. In addition, they co-hosted a CLE with the New Lawyers Division on, “Ethics Lessons from HBO’s Succession,” which is available in our CLE video library on the new KCBA website.
- Collaborative Law: In 10 months, this section never missed a beat by hosting 10 CLEs. An incredible success by the leadership team: Wil Miller, Ariella Shuster, and Mihaella Bayla! This section saw its highest attendance to date for Karen Bonnell’s presentation on, “Teenagers, Parenting Time, and Refuse/Resist Dynamics.”
- Environmental and Land Use: This section was without leadership for the first part of the membership year. Thank you to Michael Mahoney and Fabio Dworschak for volunteering to “revive” this section in March 2023. They coordinated four wonderful CLE programs AND hosted a Happy Hour event at Schwabe, Williamson, & Wyatt. We are excited to continue working with Mike and Fabio in the upcoming year.
- Family Law: This section embraced the “new normal” by adapting to the hybrid-format of meetings. In February, we kicked off the return of in-person meetings with a pizza party. Thanks to the new and improved technology at the KCBA office, virtual attendees are able to interact with in-person attendees and vice versa. We thank Amir John Showrai for facilitating eight CLE programs this past year and for leading the charge on returning to in-person meetings. We look forward to hosting other sections in the hybrid format in the new year!
- Guardianship & Elder Law: Under Matthew Parker’s leadership, this section hosted nine CLE programs, coordinated the all-day CLE, “Hot Topics in Guardianship and Elder Law,” and played a major role in the Title 11 GAL/Court Visitor Training.
- In House Counsel: We are thrilled to announce that this section after being vacant of leadership for over a decade will be led by Peter Noone and Tina Scott in the coming year.
- Intellectual Property: Under Maha Jafarey’s leadership, this section hosted nine CLE programs. One of those programs was presented by a longstanding KCBA member, Sarterus Rowe, “Tattoos and IP Rights in the Age of Social Media and Video Games.”
- Labor & Employment Law: Section Chair Shannon Lawless and Munia Jabbar, Vice-Chair and conference organizer, with the help of the planning committee, organized another outstanding Annual Pacific Coast Labor & Employment Conference in person at the Seattle Convention Center. Planning for the 57th conference will begin soon so join the section if you are interested in helping to plan this annual conference.
- Real Property, Probate, and Trust Law: Under Jacque St. Romain’s leadership, this section hosted nine CLE programs. Consistently hosting an average of 90 attendees at each section meeting, with the most well-attended CLE being, “Estate Planning for Modern Families: Planning for Diversity and Flexibility,” by Wendy Goffe. This CLE is available on our website.
- Solo/Small Firms: Under Lauren Burgon’s leadership, this section hosted nine CLE programs. Lauren will continue to work with the section for planning the return of the section’s Holiday Luncheon in December 2023.
In addition to our section activities, our committees were just as active and it’s an honor to share what a few of them have been doing this past year:
Under the leadership of Co-Chairs Mary Sakaguchi and Judge Maureen McKee, the committee requested and the Board approved a name change to better align with their goals and intentions from Diversity Committee to Anti-Racism and Equity Committee. The committee also wrote the organization’s Anti-Racism Statement and facilitated the LSAT Prep Grant Program.
As Public Policy Committee Chair, Rory O’Sullivan coordinated the annual Lawyer Legislator Forum in January in a hybrid format. In attendance were Rep. Jamila Taylor, Rep. Jesse Salomon, Rep. Roger Goodman, Sen. Patty Kuderer, Sen. Jamie Pedersen, and Sen. Manka Dhingra. The committee also held two meetings with Edmund Witter to discuss housing legislation and is developing a new legislative agenda policy for consideration by the Board.
KCBA works closely with our Judiciary and this year was no different. Under the leadership of Co-chairs Colin Mieling and Heather Barker the Judicial Evaluation Committee completed 25 evaluations this year. Co-Chairs Kinnon Williams and Raegan Rasnic restarted our Judicial Conferencing Committee this year to provide performance feedback to self-selected Superior Court Judges. Our Judiciary and Litigation Committee Co-Chairs Katie Comstock and Bob Wayne have been busy working on proposed rules from the BJA Joint Task Force Committee and representing KCBA at meetings with the judiciary.
As I come to a close, I would like to also extend a thank you to Tom Lockyear, KCBA Member Services – Membership Program Manager, for staffing our Judicial Evaluation Committee and the Aviation and Labor & Employment Law Sections. His willingness to handle these more complex activities is greatly appreciated.
As I shine the light on this past year it is amazing how much we have accomplished even though it was a year of transition. We are so grateful for all our section and committee chairs and their understanding, grace and time and dedication to this work. They fostered supportive environments where our members could come together, collaborate, and grow both personally and professionally. Thank you!
Kathleen Jensen is KCBA’s Interim Executive Director. She can be reached by email at (kathleenj@kcba.org) or phone (206.267.7053).
