Lawyer, prolific WSBA volunteer, baseball afficionado—now Kari Petrasek can add WSBA president to her bio.
As WSBA president, Petrasek plans to focus on advancing and implementing the WSBA’s strategic goals, and she is especially passionate about continuing to find ways to support rural practitioners and to strengthen public trust and confidence in the legal system. Her theme for the year is near to her heart.
“Over the course of my career, I have volunteered on many different WSBA committees, boards, councils, and sections as well as local and national boards and councils … ,” Petrasek said. “This year, my theme is to recognize, celebrate, empower, and foster a thriving volunteer community made up of over 1,500 WSBA volunteers whose dedication makes our organization’s work possible and enriches the resources we provide to members of the legal community. I also want all volunteers to know the Board and the WSBA support you and are here to help you.”
You can learn all about it by reading the in-depth interview with Petrasek in the newest issue of Washington State Bar News. Petrasek is not the only new member of the WSBA’s governing body. As the Bar enters a new fiscal year, we have several fresh faces on the Board of Governors, and in this issue you can meet them all.
Recently, hundreds of WSBA members volunteered their time to help young people in their communities better understand the importance of the rule of law. As part of the WSBA’s Rule of Law Ambassadors Program and Washington courts’ Lawyers in the Classroom program, more than 350 legal professionals signed up to visit a classroom on or around Constitution Day, Sept. 17, with visits stretching from Spokane to Camano Island. WSBA members throughout the state taught curious students lessons about the Constitution and shared their own stories about the daily life of a legal professional. In this issue of Bar News, find out what happened on Constitution Day, see pictures of legal professionals visiting classrooms, and—even more importantly—learn how you can get involved in a local classroom.
Check out the rest of the issue to learn more about the current state of public defense resources in Washington. As authors Robert C. Boruchowitz and Molly Gilbert explain, “The Washington Supreme Court’s rule drastically reducing the caseload limit for public defense attorneys has generated hope among defenders, their clients, and others. It also has led to serious concern among local governments that without major increases in state funding, they will not be able to employ enough lawyers to meet the new standards.”
In this issue you can also find an exploration of psychological biases in legal decision-making such as “predecisional information distortion;” a Q&A with a legal advocate turned fiction writer Hillary Behrman about her latest book; information about WSBA Advisory Opinion 202601, which addresses lawyers’ ethical obligations when working with interpreters and translators; thoughts from the coordinators of the Benton Franklin Legal Aid’s hybrid pro bono Domestic Violence Attorney Program; and much more.
Additionally, the WSBA’s Editorial Advisory Committee recently approved a new policy governing the use of generative AI in Bar News. Read the Editor’s Note for more background, and read the full policy at www.wabarnews.org/about-us/.
