In her final President’s Column, Sidney Tribe reflects on the shared mission that connects KCBA’s diverse legal community. She emphasizes that solidarity does not require uniformity, but instead grows stronger when people with different perspectives work toward common goals. The column highlights KCBA’s work over the past year to protect the rule of law, expand access to justice, support students, and serve vulnerable community members. Tribe closes by encouraging members to carry that spirit of common cause forward in service of positive change.

Despite this institution having existed since 1886, structurally, KCBA is a relatively small, local organization. But the Association has an outsized impact. Over the decades, when our staff, membership and Board have seen a need in our membership, community, and state, we have worked collectively to fill that need as our mission demands. We have built new programs under the auspices of KCBA that would, for other nonprofits, be their entire organizational mission. KCBA is, and I mean this in the most loving sense, like Wyoming’s Smith Mansion.[1]
 

As our long Seattle winter turns to spring, our community begins to feel a familiar sense of renewal. For those of us in the legal profession, this season offers a natural opportunity to reflect on our shared responsibility—not just to our clients, but to the broader community we serve. Each year, that reflection comes into focus when we gather for the King County Bar Foundation’s Breakfast With Champions on Tuesday, May 5, 2026, at the Sheraton Grand Seattle.
 

“The best public policy is made when you are listening to people who are going to be impacted.”
— Senator Elizabeth Dole

When the Board retooled KCBA’s mission statement recently, we contended with an issue that surely challenged past boards: trying to create a sleek, concise statement reflecting KCBA’s tri-faceted mission of professional development for members, pro bono service to the community, and public policy advocacy to improve our laws and systems. The exercise was a good reminder that although KCBA’s member services and pro bono programs are more high-profile aspects of our mission, public policy advocacy is also a critical facet of KCBA. In fact, public policy engagement enhances KCBA’s ability to meet our other two missions: improving the legal profession and providing legal services.

In the aftermath of the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, several news reports identified them as “legal observers.” Fox News Channel entertainer Sean Hannity took issue with this label being applied to Good, arguing it was unlikely she was a legal observer because she did not have a law degree.

Kathleen Jensen, our wonderful Executive Director, wrote her column for this month trumpeting KCBA’s good work in 2025. Please don’t miss her piece, where you can read about all of the incredible achievements your membership has supported.

For this 2025 review, I’d like to focus specifically on KCBA’s appellate efforts. Although KCBA lawyers’ arguments did not always prevail, that is not the point. Theirs is the fight to develop the law in a positive direction and lend a voice to important issues. Their work is crucial.
 

“The most important thing an institution does is not to prepare a student for a career but for a life as a citizen.”
— Frank Newman, American education reformer

“We cannot sustain a democratic republic with a citizenry that is completely uninformed about, and basically estranged from, our Constitution and our institutions.”
— Judge Douglas H. Ginsburg of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit

A few weeks ago, I was honored once again to attend KCBA’s fall swearing-in ceremony for new bar admittees. This is a wonderful, inspiring event that always makes me reflect. 

KCBA’s 2025 Bench-Bar Conference is fast approaching, a wonderful annual event that I hope members plan to attend. It is a chance to gather and learn about a wide range of topics relating to our judicial system and the practice of law in our state and federal courts. This year you will have the chance to hear from the Litigator’s Roundtable about the use of AI, trial readiness, and sanctions orders. We will have a Tribal Law update from the Seattle University Northwest Center for Indigenous Law. None other than Washington Supreme Court Chief Justice Debra Stephens will provide a Supreme Court update. A panel of distinguished federal district court and Washington state court judges will talk about our federal courts, state courts, and courts of limited jurisdiction. The program will conclude with a session about ethics and the rule of law.
 

The glorious Pacific Northwest summer is in full swing, and people are out and about. I hope you are getting a chance to be outside and enjoy events and gatherings, taking an occasional break from the day-to-day grind.