At the start of this year of service as KCBA President, I am humbled by the opportunity the membership has given me, and the entire Board of Trustees, to lead this organization. I am also aware of both the successes and challenges we face as a voluntary bar association, as lawyers, and as a society.

When I started my term a year ago, I certainly did not anticipate that we would be called upon to offer statements of support and join amicus briefs for law firms in our community, pushing back against sanctions from Executive Orders directed at these firms. I knew I would be attending the ceremonies where our newest members of the Washington bar take their oath, led by our Presiding Judge, Ketu Shah. The oath ceremony is one of the best events I get invited to as a member of the KCBA Board. Our new members exude such positive energy, and it’s really very exciting to think about all the contributions they will make in years to come. I definitely did not predict how these events would ultimately be linked, but it turned out to be a high point of my term.

As this edition of the Bar Bulletin is published, the presiding judge will administer the oath to the newest members of our Washington Bar. Admittees recite a number of affirmations, including two promises that seem particularly important in 2025.

As crocus poke their heads, daffodils supply a ray of sunshine, and cherry blossoms pop, there is no question that spring is on its way. For many of us, these harbingers of spring also signal the time when our legal colleagues gather for inspiration and community at the King County Bar Foundation’s Annual Breakfast With Champions!

So much has happened in the last 30 days that impacts the entire community and requires attorneys and jurists to step up. There have been multiple complaints filed across the country seeking relief for those entitled to birthright citizenship and for court protection of funding previously approved and earmarked for all manner of public concerns—public safety, public health, environmental protection, and many other projects and programs. DOJ Prosecutors have chosen to resign, rather than take part in using that agency and their professional standing, to dismiss a multi-count case against New York’s Mayor Eric Adams—not based on evidence of criminal conduct, but because the mayor can better assist the Administration in implementing federal immigration policy if he is not distracted by criminal prosecution and potential incarceration.²

For those who were not able to join us for the KCBA Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Lunch on January 17, 2025, you missed an inspiring presentation by our keynote speaker, Dr. Marsha Currin McGriff. She flew across the country to share details of how and why her work as the Senior Advisor to the President and Chief Diversity Officer at the University of Florida ended. In short, her job became a violation of the law championed by Florida Governor Ron Desantis, in 2023. The law1 made it illegal to “expend any state or federal funds to promote, support, or maintain any programs or campus activities that: …[a]dvocate for diversity, equity, and inclusion”. With a stroke of a pen, Dr. McGriff and her staff became unemployed because their jobs violated the new Florida law.

As we bid farewell to 2024 and think about the challenges that we face in 2025, I do think the readers of this Bulletin are especially poised to address those challenges. 

With Thanksgiving leftovers still taking up some real estate in the refrigerator, I am in the mindset of considering all that I have to be thankful for. For me, the national election did not go way that I hoped it would, which initially led to tossing and turning at night. However, when I consider the leadership and structure of our county and state, I am thankful to live and practice in King County Washington. I work every day in a community that continues to value the rule of law, protects the rights of immigrants, reproductive rights and medical choice, embraces a code of ethics and does so with the support of leaders devoted to promoting diversity and inclusion.

This November we vote. Or to be more exact, many of us already voted—as early as October 18, 2024. I have been putting off writing on this important topic because I feel especially clear this election season about what is important for us as a country, for us as a State, and even for the City of Seattle, where I live and vote. I feel like the stakes are so high. The notion that others feel differently than I do and might support someone else for President, for Governor, or for King County Superior Court bench is hard to bear this year. It feels terribly important because these are important decisions. Thinking about the possibility that someone I do not support could win these significant elections is simply hard to fathom. So, I have tried to avoid contemplating a result I disagree with.

One hallmark of our democracy is the peaceful transfer of power, dating all the way back to George Washington. For over 200 years, even bitter political opponents have yielded their authority to the candidate who receives the necessary votes to claim victory.