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What’s in Store for Well-Being Week at the WSBA

Over the past five years, there has been a steady and growing change in how we as a profession address the mental health of attorneys. And over the next five days, the WSBA is joining other organizations around the nation in a rallying cry to further end stigma, support one another, and promote changes leading toward a healthier profession and, in doing so, better representation for clients. From May 3 to 7, the WSBA is joining other bars, firms, and organizations in recognizing Well-Being Week in Law.

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The History and Mechanics of Qualified Immunity and Police Accountability

Among the many issues at the center of debates over police-involved killings, particularly killings of people of color, few are as impactful as qualified immunity. But for as often as qualified immunity is pulled into wider debates, the concept itself is idiosyncratic and opaque, perhaps even among legal professionals. It is not a law but a precedent, not an act of government but a judicially created doctrine. King County Superior Court Judge David Whedbee is one of the organizers behind a planned full-day event aimed at examining qualified immunity. On May 7, Whedbee and Washington Supreme Court Justice Mary I. Yu will cohost “Qualified Immunity 360,” sponsored by the Washington State Minority and Justice Commission and featuring panelist presentations and discussion “to educate practitioners, judges, law students, and the public on the mechanics, history, and public policy behind the doctrine.”

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Take It from a WSBA Volunteer: A Q&A With Francis Adewale

Meet Francis Adewale. All this week, the WSBA is joining others around the country during National Volunteer Week to recognize and celebrate the many invaluable volunteers who devote their time and expertise to carry out the WSBA mission of serving the public, ensuring the integrity of the legal profession, and championing justice.

by NWSidebar

Take It from a WSBA Volunteer: A Q&A With Andrea Jarmon

Meet Andrea Jarmon. All this week, the WSBA is joining others around the country during National Volunteer Week to recognize and celebrate the many invaluable volunteers who devote their time and expertise to carry out the WSBA mission of serving the public, ensuring the integrity of the legal profession, and championing justice.

by NWSidebar

Take It from a WSBA Volunteer: A Q&A With Nicholas Larson

Meet Nicholas Larson. All this week, the WSBA is joining others around the country during National Volunteer Week to recognize and celebrate the many invaluable volunteers who devote their time and expertise to carry out the WSBA mission of serving the public, ensuring the integrity of the legal profession, and championing justice.

by NWSidebar

Take It from a WSBA Volunteer: A Q&A With Stacey L. Romberg

Meet Stacey Romberg. All this week, the WSBA is joining others around the country during National Volunteer Week to recognize and celebrate the many invaluable volunteers who devote their time and expertise to carry out the WSBA mission of serving the public, ensuring the integrity of the legal profession, and championing justice.

by NWSidebar

Take It from a WSBA Volunteer: A Q&A With Kristina Larry

Meet Kristina Larry. All this week, the WSBA is joining others around the country during National Volunteer Week to recognize and celebrate the many invaluable volunteers who devote their time and expertise to carry out the WSBA mission of serving the public, ensuring the integrity of the legal profession, and championing justice.

by NWSidebar

Take It from a WSBA Volunteer: A Q&A with Michele Carney

Meet WSBA volunteer Michele Carney. All this week, the WSBA is joining others around the country during National Volunteer Week to recognize and celebrate the many invaluable volunteers who devote their time and expertise to carry out the WSBA mission of serving the public, ensuring the integrity of the legal profession, and championing justice.

by NWSidebar

Take It from a WSBA Volunteer: A Q&A With Kari Petrasek

Meet WSBA volunteer Kari Petrasek. All this week, the WSBA is joining others around the country during National Volunteer Week to recognize and celebrate the many invaluable volunteers who devote their time and expertise to carry out the WSBA mission of serving the public, ensuring the integrity of the legal profession, and championing justice.

by NWSidebar

Paid Leave and COVID: Answers to 5 Pressing Questions in Employment Law

Addressing some of the emerging issues regarding Emergency Paid Sick Leave, the Family and Medical Leave Act, the Family First Coronavirus Response Act, the American Rescue Plan Act, and Paid Family and Medical Leave.

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Take Our Quiz: Which Type of Legal Volunteer Are You?

There are many available volunteer opportunities at the WSBA. Use this quiz to get some ideas for which roles align with your interests, skills, and professional goals. Please note that certain eligibility requirements may apply for a given volunteer role. To learn more and see all available roles, check WSBA Volunteer Opportunities and read the […]

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Philanthropic Giving in Estate Plans

Thirty years ago, I left my position as VP of a bank to become VP of advancement at a liberal arts college. Fast forward to 2021 and, having flunked retirement three times to date, I continue to work some hours in the field of development and specifically planned giving. Through my experience in these roles, I’ve become convinced that individually you, professionals in the legal community, don’t always realize the important role you’ve played in strengthening our communities. Consider that at Northwest Harvest, a nonprofit organization supporting food banks in Washington state, the largest single endowment gift came largely as a result of the recommendation of an allied professional like you.

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The Derek Chauvin Trial: Early Insights from WSBA President-Elect’s Judicial Perspective

Very little about the trial against former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin is standard. The mere fact that there is a trial is somewhat unusual. Police-involved deaths rarely result in prosecutions, let alone convictions of the officers involved. (Despite about 1,000 police-involved deaths per year, since 2015 only 121 officers have been arrested on charges of murder or manslaughter resulting in 44 convictions, according to the New York Times.) Few police-involved deaths are as widely well-known as the summer day in 2020 and the now-infamous video showing Chauvin kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, ending in Floyd’s death. And certainly, never before has such an intensely high-profile criminal case taken place amid the unprecedented courtroom restrictions to amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

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Court of Appeals Issues Rare Decision on Revoking Consent to Conflict Waiver

Earlier this year, Division I of the Washington Court of Appeals issued a decision touching on an area of the Rules of Professional Conduct (RPC) that is rarely litigated: revoking consent to conflict waivers. The decision was “unpublished” under General Rule 14.1, but is instructive nonetheless—both for its illumination of this comparatively “unplumbed” area of conflicts law and as an illustration of the result.

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Our Pandemic Movie Picks for Lawyers

For cinephiles, the past year has been the aphoristic blessing and curse: watch brand new titles from home, but find yourself yearning for the sticky floors caked in overpriced movie-theater foodstuff. Oddly enough for legal professionals, the past year has resulted in a plethora of movies, series, and shows based on the law, the people who practice it, and the lives affected by it. Here are a few of the top recommended things to view, compiled by the WSBA’s resident silver-and small-screen buffs.

by NWSidebar

Statewide Electronic Filing is on the Way to Washington Courts

The Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) will soon begin rolling out a new electronic system for case management and electronic filing (e-filing) for Washington’s district and municipal courts and probation offices. The AOC is trying to spread the word about the e-filing component of its Courts of Limited Jurisdiction Case Management System (CLJ-CMS) project, also known as Odyssey File & Serve (OFS).