“Oftentimes things happen that make the prospect of success in your work seem dimmer. Every so often something happens that is unexpected that makes it seem easier, and this was one of those rare moments.” This was how Lisa Daugaard, said about earning an award so prestigious it’s often called the “genius grant”—reacting not by basking in the praise, but praying for enough of a windfall to help take her program off financial life support.
Daugaard, director of the Public Defender Association in Seattle, recently earned a 2019 MacArthur Foundation Fellowship grant for founding the innovative and effective Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD) program. She is one of only 20 Washington residents to be named a MacArthur fellow in the past four decades, and the first ever WSBA member to receive such accolade. Despite the praise heaped on LEAD and support from cops, prosecutors, caseworkers, and more, funding shortages have hampered its ability to keep pace with the work and in the worst-case scenario threaten to undo the program entirely. Learn more about Daugaard’s story and LEAD, which is featured on the cover of the latest NWLawyer.
In this issue, we also take a trip around the world in nine ways with a global selection of WSBA members sharing their experiences practicing law in everywhere from the Czech Republic to Nigeria and beyond. There’s more on the international front from the viewpoint of an IP lawyer describing his experiences navigating the legal, political, and cultural quirks of chasing down counterfeits in China. And a local corporate/business law attorney shares her insights on the cultural nuances required to effectively navigate a globalized professional world. Back home, an immigration attorney lays out the tumultuous legal landscape of Washington’s “vulnerable youth guardianship” statute and the impact on immigrant children who have been abused, neglected, or abandoned by their parents.
Plaintiffs attorney and NWLawyer Editorial Advisory Committee member Benjamin Gould pokes around the legislative and court history of Washington vaccine law, ethics expert Mark Fucile looks at dispute resolution provisions in law firm fee agreements, WSBA Treasurer Daniel D. Clark and Chief Financial Officer Jorge A. Perez talk budget and fiscal policy, along with much more news and information for WSBA members.
