The Experience Machine: How Our Minds Predict and Shape Reality, by professor of cognitive philosophy Andy Clark, was recognized as one of the best social science books released in 2023. In it, Clark highlights the changing views of how our brain experiences and interpret the world around us, drawing on extensive neuroscientific research to show us how our experiences of reality are quite different than what we tend to think.

As a new voice addressing the broader KCBA community, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Alyssa Nevala, and I am the Chair of the KCBA New Lawyers Division. I’m grateful for this opportunity to highlight the KCBA New Lawyers Division (NLD), and importantly, the NLD’s Spring Soirée happening next month on April 4, 2024.

This month, on March 21st and 22nd, the Washington State Bar Association hosts the 26th Annual Northwest Dispute Resolution Conference.

The KCBA Labor & Employment Law Section is proud to present the 57th Annual Pacific Coast Labor & Employment Law Conference at the Seattle Convention Center on April 18 & 19, 2024. 

KCBA received dozens of comments from members, nonmembers and community partners regarding the publication and subsequent decision to remove Ms. Abudiab’s article. We received many expressing hurt, sadness, and anger for publishing the article, and others from people hurt and angry that we had taken the article down from the KCBA website. While we do not have space to print all the comments and letters received, we believe it is important to provide a sample.

What happens when a rule and a procedural statute conflict? Generally, when “a court rule and a statute appear to conflict on a procedural matter related to court administration, the rule controls.”¹ This is in recognition of our State’s constitution, which provides that the “administration and procedures of the court of appeals shall be as provided by rules issued by the supreme court.”² In other words, the Supreme Court, rather than the Legislature, establishes rules of procedure. “Where a rule of court is inconsistent with a procedural statute, the court’s rulemaking power is supreme.”³

On the lighter side, 2024 marks fifty years since Happy Days debuted on ABC, introducing Americans to the unforgettable Fonzie, and brilliant comic Mel Brooks was actually able to release (wouldn’t happen now) “Blazing Saddles” and “Young Frankenstein.”

“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”
– Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., 1963

There has been a lot of coming and going of restaurants in recent months. And, with those dry January restrictions behind us, we set out to try some of the new and interesting restaurants that have been opening up.
 

Greetings, I hope as you transition to spring, you enjoy some last moments of snow (as little as we have received this year!). We have two judicial colleagues to introduce and are excited for them to join our bench. We have also received new data on last year’s cases and what we can look forward to.