2023 January Hearsay

THE

HearSay

January 2023

OFFICIAL MAGAZINE OF THE CLARK COUNTY BAR ASSOCIATION

JACOBS DON JACOBS

January Hearsay Contributors

Commissioner Jill H. Sasser

Clark County Superior Court

Commissioner Jill H. Sasser began serving as a judical officer for Clark County Superior Court in 2021.

Jesse Jacobs

NW Injury Law Center

Jesse Jacobs is a trial attorney representing personal injury clients in Southwest Washington. He is the immediate past president of the CBBA.

Grant Gehrmann

Gehrmann Injury Law

Grant A. Gehrmann has been a practicing attorney in Vancouver since 1992. He’s proud to fight for injured victims and their families against insurance companies and corporations.

New Year, New Me?

Another holiday season has come and gone and all of a sudden it is 2023. I have spent the last few weeks doing some reflecting about the beginning of a new year and what I would like to accomplish. I have never been one for New Year’s resolutions, as I hate setting myself up for failure or putting undue pressure on myself. But for some reason this year felt different, and I felt compelled to set some goals for myself. I think part of this is due to the fact that I now have a baby, and everything in my life constantly seems to be in a state of chaos balancing motherhood, work, and other obligations. Setting goals feels like a way to subdue the chaos just a little bit.

My husband, John, and I were able to go to a lovely New Year’s eve dinner at Nostrana (highly recommend if you like Italian food), and during dinner we had a discussion about what we wanted to accomplish over the next year. I wanted to make a concerted effort realistic and achievable goals so that I wasn’t just making myself feel bad throughout the year for not

Mom and Dad’s Night Out: John and I at our New Year’s Eve dinner at Nostrana.

doing what I set out to do. At the top of my list, was to reduce waste, particularly food waste. I constantly feel guilty about throwing away leftovers that have gone uneaten or produce that has gone bad, and I think with efficient meal planning and commitment to using everything in my refrigerator, I can significantly reduce the amount of food that is going to waste.

I also set a goal for myself to read 12 books over the next year. I know for some people, 12 books is a breeze, but for me, 12 books is a lot. I typically only read for fun when I am on vacation laying by a pool or on the beach. When I am home immersed in normal life, I have a hard time carving out time for reading or other hobbies. When the day is done, the baby is asleep, and the house is clean, I usually climb in bed, watch some bad reality TV, and fall asleep. I enjoy reading, but rarely make it a priority. So I am making the commitment to try (try being the operative word), to read one book per month. To be honest, if I can make it to 6 books I will feel like I accomplished something. And that is it. Two simple goals that can make me feel a tad more accomplished and centered throughout the year. I reached out to a few board members to see if they had any New Years Resolutions, as here is what they had to say:

-Ben Melnick (Treasurer): “1. Read 25 books for fun. 2. If my opinion doesn’t add anything, don’t share it. 3. Even if my opinion does add something, as long as other people don’t affect me or harm anyone else, don’t yuck their yum.”

-Whitney Hawke (Vice President): “My goal is to workout at least three times a week. My kid just turned 1 and I’m finally feeling less ‘frantic new mom chaos,’ so three workouts seems reasonable.”

-Jesse Jacobs (Immediate Past President): “Spend more time with my cute daughter.” (I can attest that she is VERY cute).

Happy 2023 everyone! I hope all of your New Year’s Resolutions get accomplished over the next 12 months and help make this your best year yet!

The CCBA CLE Committee needs your help!

As a part of our wildly popular Trial Skills series, we will be holding a full day "Mock Trial" experience on March 4, 2023. In order to provide participants with constructive feedback we are looking for 10 - 15 volunteers to serve as witnesses, jurists, and mentors. This is a great opportunity for attorneys, paralegals, office staff, law school students, or high school students to get a behind the scenes look at all the aspects of a trial. We will provide all kinds of food and will be applying for CLE credits where appropriate! The day promises to be a fun learning experience for all involved! If you are available or have any questions please email Lisa - ccbamanager@ccbawashington.org. Thank you in advance for considering our request and we look forward to hearing from you!

Mock Trial is coming!

-The Mock Trial committee is seeking volunteer attorney raters for the 2023 Clark County High School Mock Trial tournament. The tournament will be in-person this year at the Clark County Courthouse.

-The tournament will be held on Wednesday, February 15th (rounds will begin at 12:30pm, 3pm, and 5:30pm) and Thursday, February 16th (rounds will begin at 12:30pm, 3pm, and 5:30pm).

-Each round lasts about 2 hours. You will need to watch the trial, fill out a scoresheet and offer brief and positive feedback to the participants. You do not need any specific experience to participate.

-In exchange for your time we can offer our gratitude, food and drinks, and the enjoyable experience of watching students participate in this program.

Please email tammy@gevurtzmenashe.com or jill.sasser@clark.wa.gov if you are able to volunteer this year, and let us know what round(s) you are available.

Clark County Bar Association

CLARK COUNTY BAR ASSOCIATION BOARD MEETING

December 6, 2022

Minutes for the CCBA Board of Trustees Meeting December 6, 2022

Called to order 12:10 p.m. Phelan, Hawke, Melnick, Larson, Aquadro, Jacobs, Sutanto, and Executive Director Darco

November 2022 board meeting minutes: Motion to Approve (Melnick/Sutanto) Approved

Treasurer’s Report (Melnick): Reviewed financials. If you haven’t paid your dues yet, please get it done.

The CCBA is In a better financial position than last year at this time, but dues are still down.

Ongoing Action Items

Committee Reports:

Hearsay Committee: (Hawke): great articles are coming in

Social Committee:(Jacobs) The holiday party is on 12/15/22. Planning is underway for the 3/11/23 Barristers Ball.

CLE Committee: (Aquadro) The December ethics CLE is coming up. The trial skills series is underway through March. CLEs are being planned for 2023.

DEI Committee:(Aquadro) The next committee meeting is in January. Possible Pride CLE in the works. There are teachers at two VSD high schools interested in the Street Law program.

Membership Committee (Sutanto) Owen will schedule a meeting soon. Possible membership survey will be on the agenda.

Previous Action Items:

Judicial Survey: (Phelan) A workgroup will be formed

CCBA Bar Poll Re-evaluation (Phelan) Subcommittee met and suggests continuing the poll, always holding a candi date forum, and distributing a candidate pamphlet with bios to aid in voting.

Van Vista Gift Drive: “Gifters” have signed up for all of the requested gifts. Thank you for your generosity!

Current Action Items:

Membership Update (Darco) 2022/2023: 325 members (for comparision, we had 383 members on 1/3/22), Nonre newed: 120, New Members: 24, 2021/2022: 409 members; CCBA board members will begin reaching out to those who haven’t renewed their memberships.

Lunch CLEs (Phelan) Idea for monthly brown bag CLEs that are free to CCBA members. CLEs could be held down town in the Park West community room (where the Coffee with Colleagues event was held). Will discuss with the CLE committee at the next meeting in December.

Nonmember Participation on CCBA Committees (Phelan) Board discussed and agreed that one must be a CCBA member to be on a CCBA committee. Suggestion to have the membership committeediscuss scholarships to help people become CCBA members should dues be a barrier.

CCBA Bylaws & March General Meeting (Phelan) A general membership meeting will be scheduled for March. A few bylaws matters will be on the agenda. The board will propose removing the Superior Court Bench Bar and District Court Bench Bar committees from the CCBA bylaws. Presently these are listed as standing CCBA committees. While these started as CCBA committees, over time they have be come independent of the CCBA. Removal of the committees from the bylaws will more accurately reflect their current status. It will also be proposed to add the DEI Committee to the CCBA Bylaws standing committees.

Discontinuing CCBA PO Box (Darco) PO Box will be closed.

Next meeting January 3, 2023

Adjourned 1:07