It should go without saying that good communication is essential to a successful mediation. If, for example, a defendant does not understand a plaintiff’s demand, whether that involves a complex commercial negotiation, a labor dispute, or a personal injury claim, there is little hope that the dispute will be resolved. The parties need to communicate, in both directions, what it is that they need and even better, why they need it. Hopefully, your mediator also serves as your interpreter for the what and the why.

Does AI get SAD?

In the Pacific Northwest we are no strangers to the mood-altering effects of The Big Dark. While some of us embrace the gray skies and rain, others hunker down with our books, coffee, and happy lights to chase the SAD (seasonal affective disorder) away. In what would seem to be more suited to a movie plot or an Onion article, in November people began to comment on tech & social media platforms that ChatGPT4 was getting lazy. Come again? Users reported that ChatGPT4 was refusing to do work and giving much less finished/ detailed responses than previously. Conspiracy theories abound. Is it possible that AI has become so self-aware that it too, falls prey to seasonal affective disorder? The timing is suspicious!

I remember as a young teen reading Black Like Me by John Howard Griffin in the mid-’60s. The author, a white journalist from Texas, recounted his experiment of temporarily changing his skin color for six weeks and traveling throughout the Deep South to record and share his experiences. As a white Jewish idealistic youth I felt sad, angry, and inspired to “do good.”

Greetings, I am writing my first column as King County Superior Court Presiding Judge. First, I want to thank Judge Oishi as our former Presiding Judge. He led our Court as we came out of the pandemic and led us through many twists and turns. We ramped back up to deal with the backlog of cases but also pivoted during flare ups of the virus. He worked with KCBA to get us back to doing in-person swearing in ceremonies for new attorneys and our first in-person bench-bar conference since the pandemic. His December column discussed all that was accomplished during his tenure, so I won’t duplicate that, but what I am most appreciative of is how inclusive he was with me and our entire Court. For that, I am very grateful and I know our Court is very grateful for all that he has done.

Now is the time to wake up. Both history and posterity demand you take action to defeat the continued rise of an American dictator.

The following are highlights from the KCBA Board of Trustees meetings held on November 15, convened by KCBA President Karen Orehoski.

Office Spaces available in SEATTLE, WA.

We continue to encourage others to support Maui in its time of need, mainly by going over there and dining out as tourists.

This year’s reception was hosted by KCBF President, Vanessa Power at Stoel Rives. KCBF Minority Law Scholarship recipients, law school faculty, and KCBF Board members all gathered to honor this year’s crop of future legal professionals.

In the first of a series of collaborations with other King County advocacy organizations, December’s From the Executive Director’s Desk features Michele Storms, ACLU of Washington’s Executive Director, who encourages members to shake off the blindness of privilege.