The typical route to becoming a lawyer is well established: go to law school, graduate law school, pass the bar, start lawyering. The problems with that model are also fairly well-established: the average cost of law school, according to the Education Data Initiative, is $217,480, and in the state of Washington there are only three law schools in its two largest cities.
In the new issue of Washington State Bar News, we share the experiences of two people who participated in an alternative path to becoming a lawyer: the WSBA’s APR 6 Law Clerk Program. Overseen by the WSBA’s Law Clerk Board, participants in the program forego traditional classroom time, instead gaining supervised practical experience under a lawyer or judge with at least 10 years of experience.
When Nettie Dionne, one of the APR 6 law clerks featured in this issue of Bar News, heard about the program she remembers thinking “wow, that is really amazing. I can become an attorney without having to uproot my life and leave my community? There’s an alternative route to that?”
As WSBA Law Clerk Program Lead Katherine Skinner explained, “There’s not a lot of law schools out in rural Washington, so, yeah, it’s a great benefit for these participants, and it’s a great way for them to give back. Once they become licensed, they can give back to their rural community.”
But even the most rural of communities seemingly cannot escape the crash of the technological wave barreling down on the law. Fortunately, in late 2025 more than 500 WSBA members responded to a survey by the WSBA’s Legal Technology Task Force. Having reviewed those results and consulted with experts in the field in the time since then, the Task Force now has its report ready, along with a set of 10 key recommendations. In this issue, we have the highlights from the Legal Technology Task Force Report.
Also in this issue, find out what changes were made to Washington’s Foreclosure Mediation Program, meet the five winners of the 2025 Washington New Members Committee’s Public Service and Leadership Awards, learn more about the U.S. Military Victims’ Counsel Program, and check out all our regular columns and WSBA news.
