2023 March Hearsay

HearSay

March 2023

THE OFFICIAL MAGAZINE OF THE CLARK COUNTY BAR ASSOCIATION

JACOBS DON JACOBS

March Hearsay Contributors

Nathan Petersen

Petersen Rothermel Law Firm

Nathan Petersen is a partner at Petersen Rothermel Law Firm. His practice focuses mostly on Family Law and Estate Planning.

Judge John Fairgrieve

Clark County Superior Court

The Honorable John Fairgrieve was appointed to the Clark County Superior Court in March of 2015.

Angela Avery

Angela Avery Law, PLLC

Angela Avery is a solo practitioner in Clark County whose practice focuses on Criminal defense handing primarily indigent defense cases.

It is now officially halfway through my term as President of the CCBA (only six more President’s Messages to go, thank goodness…), so I wanted to spend some time this month talking about the accomplishments the Board has had this year thus far, and the exciting things we have in the works coming up.

Spearheaded by Trustees Deb Wechselblatt and Erica Aquadro, the CCBA’s newly formed Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee has made some great strides over the past year. In October, the DEI Committee hosted its inaugural event, Coffee with Colleagues, which aimed to expand participation and socialization amongst local attorneys and to bring attorneys and judicial officers together. The Committee has also been working tirelessly to implement a Street Law program in local VPS high schools and as of the beginning of this month, volunteers have started teaching in a few pilot classes. Finally, the DEI Committee is working on a Judicial Mentorship Program that is slated to hopefully begin in the Fall. Thank you to all the DEI Committee members for the hard work you have done over the past year.

Our Membership Committee, led by Trustee Owen Sutanto, has been working on ways to expand our membership in the future. We are happy to report we have reached about the same number of members we had last year, but would like to increase membership even further in the future. One idea that the Committee developed, which is now in the works with the help of Erica Aquadro and our CLE Committee, is to offer a free brown bag lunch CLE to our members a handful of times a year. Our first free CLE will be held in late May, so stay tuned! Finally, I am happy to report that thanks to our Social Committee and former President Christie Emrich, our social events are all finally back up and running. We successfully held the Summer Soiree in July, which was one of our first big in-person events since COVID. Our first Barrister’s Ball since 2020 was on March 11th. We projected about 150 people for this event and sold out so quickly that we had to open up more tables to accommodate the over 200 people who wanted to attend.

We have some more exciting events and ideas for the CCBA and its members in the works for the upcoming next six months, including some new workgroups we are forming to explore additional benefits we can offer our members in the years to come. If you have anything you would like to see offered as a member benefit, or any ideas for the CCBA in the future, please reach out to me and share. We are here to serve our members and are always looking for input.

Volunteer of the Month

February 2023 Courtney Himes

As she builds up her brand new solo practice, Courtney has graciously decided to share her time with the CCVLP and has signed up to do two family law clinics per week while her schedule allows for it.

Why do you volunteer with the CCVLP?

For me, volunteering with the VLP is an essential part of my mission as a lawyer. I founded Keystone Family Law with the goal of bringing affordable legal services to more people, and working with the VLP is a natural extension of that work. By volunteering my time, I'm able to reach those who might not otherwise have access to legal guidance. Many of the cases I work on involve domestic violence and substance abuse, issues that can profoundly impact people's lives. I'm honored to assist them in navigating the legal system and finding a way forward.

Some words from staff about Courtney:

Courtney jumped right into volunteering with us, and quickly proved herself as an amazing addition to our volunteer team. She has a very kind and gentle disposition that translates into a wonderful way with clients, obviously taking her time to listen and understand their needs

Clients have been so appreciative of their time with her.

Courtney is amazing! Due to her, we are able to offer 14 more family law appointments per month, which has made a big difference in our program. Courtney takes a deliberate and thoughtful approach to every client, she takes fantastic case notes, she is so sweet and nice to communicate with, she is sensitive to the needs of folks who have experienced/are experiencing DV; I mean, what more could we ask for in a volunteer?

February 2023 Attorney Volunteers:

Samantha Balmes, Rachel Brooks, Sharon Cousineau, Ed Dawson, Chelsie Elliott, Philip Foster, Moloy Good, Marlene Hansen, Lincoln Harvey, Josh Hawkins, Courtney Himes, Scott Horenstein, Jennifer Joslin, Jeff Keddie, Juliet Laycoe, Beatrice Lucas, Jeffrey Peterson, Mercedes Riggs, Zaida Rivera, Amber Rushbanks, Jordan Taylor, Michael Trotter, Mark Tyler, Josh Volvovic, Marisa Nelson, Michelle Prosser, and thank you to support staff at Stahancyk, Kent & Hook.

Congratulations to the CCVLP's very own Marla Rapp for winning the 2023 Dean Langsdorf Family Law Attorney of the Year!

Marla began practicing family law in Washington in 2017, where she soon started volunteering with the CCVLP. In August of 2022, she officially joined the organization as a staff attorney in our Survivor Support program, where she works with survivors of domestic violence to obtain civil protection order relief and personal and family safety and stability through family law proceedings.

We are so, so proud of you, Marla.

Here are a few small excerpts from her nomination:

Her tremendous legal skill and willingness to approach novel family law arguments cannot be overstated, but what makes Marla a truly outstanding family law attorney is her overwhelming generosity.

Marla consistently rises to new challenges in representing her clients and does so with a characteristic energy and enthusiasm that succeeds in uplifting those working alongside her She regularly reminds us that we can be better advocates when we make a strong effort to personally connect with our clients, and we are so thankful to have her as an addition to our team and to our community as a whole.

Some CCVLP staff at Barrister's Ball! We had a blast (or, you could say, a ball).

NEW RULES - CLARK COUNTY SUPERIOR COURT EDITION

By Nathan Petersen

There have been a lot of changes to the local court rules recently. Navigating the changes can be difficult, but noting changes rather than looking at the rules as an entirely new document helps. Hearsay will provide snapshot summaries here and in future articles to help simplify the process. The attempt will be to provide summaries of the most significant or impactful changes first.

New Rules – Clark County Superior Cour t Edition Rule Change

CCLR30 and GR17– Electronic Signatures

● No need to submit a GR17 Declaration confir ming receipt of signature.

● Rule has a broader reading that previous indication that discussed via facsimile and not necessarily email or digital signature through an app

CCLR 19 – Remote appearance

CCLR 0.4(a)

CCLR 0.4(b)(4)

CCLR 0.4(d)

● Authorized if per mitted by other cour t r ule, cour t order, or ag reement of par ties with judg e’s approval.

● Details reg arding inappropriate attire added –“Any attir e that is distracting or detrimental to the seriousness of the pr oceedings or disrupti ve of decorum should be avoided. The par ties should wear clean and neat appearing clothing , and to a void such items as sandals, clogs, spor t togs, sw eatshirts, tee-shirts, body-exposing gar ments or anything that contains emblaz oned figur es or w ords.”

● T he cour t str uck the following provision, as some judg es are accepting electronic cour tesy copies now -

“Ser vice of working copies and pleadings. Absent prior per mission of the court, e-mail may not be used to pr ovide w orking copies of legal pleadings, including jur y instr uctions. Absent agr eement of counsel/opposing par ty or expr ess per mission of the court, e-mail may not be used for ser vice of pleadings on opposing par ties, even in those situations wher e the court has agr eed to accept w orking copies by e-mail.”

● A common “best practice” measure of checking in with the clerk’s when an attor ney has multiple documents has been adopted under this r ule, which reads:

“A ppearances on Multiple Dockets. If a cour t par ticipant is scheduled to appear on mor e than one co-occur ring docket, the court par ticipant must check in with the judicial assistant for each docket prior to the star t of the docket, or with the in-court clerk at the start of the docket.”

Clark County Bar Association

CLARK COUNTY BAR ASSOCIATION BOARD MEETING

February 7, 2023

Minutes for the CCBA Board of Trustees Meeting

February 7, 2023

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

January 2023 board meeting minutes: Motion to Approve (Phelan/Wechselblatt) Approved

Treasurer’s Report (Melnick): Reviewed financials. We are about even with this time last year as to dues revenues. Barrister’s Ball will result in increased expenses. CLEs have been successful.

Ongoing Action Items

Committee Reports:

Hearsay Committee: (Hawke): disussed upcoming articles

Social Committee:(Phelan) Barrister’s Ball planning is in full swing. They are touring the venue, finalizing sponsors, and have selected the awards.

CLE Committee: (Aquadro) getting ready for 3/4/23 practical skills day in the trial skills series; 3/8/23 Nuts and Bolts: Bankruptcy; 4/12/23 Nuts and Bolts: Trusts and Estates; the first brown bag CLE (free for members) is being planned for May.

DEI Committee: (Wechselblatt) Vancouver Public Schools representatives have given the greenlight for a Street Law program. Could have a March start date, but the details are being worked out. Pride CLE in development for June. Topics are being discussed.

Membership Committee (Sutanto) No updates

Previous Action Items:

Judicial Survey: (Phelan) workgroup will meet in the end of February

Current Action Items

Membership Update (Darco) 2022/2023: 396 members, Nonrenewed: 55, New Members: 34, 2021/2022: 409 members

Pro Tem Training (Phelan) WSBA is doing a pro tem training on 3/17 and 3/18.

CCBA March General Meeting (Phelan) March 13th. The board decided to hold the General Meeting via Zoom and the fall Annual Meeting in person. Will move to amend CCBA Bylaws to add the DEI Committee and remove Bench/Bar from the CCBA standing committees.

Adjourned

Super Lawyers Honoree 2022

Super Lawyers Honoree 2018–2022

TOP 10

Super Lawyers Honoree 2017–2022 Super Lawyers Honoree 2001–2022

HEADER (CHANGE ON MASTER B)

Clark County Superior Court

BENCH/BAR COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES

February 14, 2023

Persons in attendance: Nicholas Alexander (nick@vancouverwillsandtrusts.com) Leann Larson (LeAnn. Larson@clark.wa.gov) Rachel brooks (rachel@guardianship-law.com) Dan Lloyd (Dan.Lloyd@cityofvancouver.us) Jessi Anderson (jessi@ccvlp.org) Leslie Lopez (Leslie.Lopez@clark.wa.gov), Megan Harney, Judge Fairgrieve (John.Fairgrieve@clark.wa.gov) and Judge Retsinas (nancy.retsinas@clark.wa.gov)

If you have matters that you would like to bring to the attention of the Bench/Bar, you are welcome to contact the abovementioned members of the committee.

OLD BUSINESS:

No old business to report.

NEW BUSINESS:

NEW BUSINESS:

Judge Fairgrieve: In criminal world: During the pandemic, out of custody pleas, were set up to work remotely, defendants and attorneys would appear remotely. Downside was that after sentencing there was no one there to go over Judgment and Sentencing with defendant, so defense bar brought this challenge for their clients to our attention. Judges (working in our small group) is addressed problem. Now, starting this week, criminal defendants (in superior court) with felony clients now need to be in- person, no remote participation with attorneys. Other issues related to remote hearings, not uncommon to have attorney (for defendant) for in another courtroom so still possible issue even without remote hearings, remote only hear ings same issue with district court. We could do it like before, have prisoners in jail and bring them to court; but shackling issue, etc. Putting together workgroup to iron-out, but have not yet met.

Collateral to that: need a broader conversation about remote hearings, what is appropriate? in-person of remote. Will be doing that in the context for criminal vs. civil because of different rights and rules, etc. We recognize remote hearings have been beneficial in some areas of law, like family law. Also, in the civil context so attorneys don’t need to travel from Seattle or Portland (save money for litigants). What is the best way to do the hearings will be focus.

Mock trial begins at 12:30 tomorrow. About 150 students so plan accordingly. 11 teams. Interesting facts in this case.

Megan Harney: Civil generalist – at NWJP. Nothing to add.

Dan Lloyd: Body cam project being rolled out this month. At the end of the month every officer will have it equipped and will go live.

Jessi Anderson: We had community partner reach out about patterns of pro tem judges on civil protection order dockets docket. Who would be a good channel to address concerns?

Judge Vanderwood, who is the broad supervisor, who works closely with Court Admin Ms. Stone and Judge Snider would be a good place to address concerning patterns of pro tem judges. We are limited in how much we can observe (when the pro tems are on the bench), so we want partners to approach us.

Retsinas –Most proper to contact PJ and APJ first before contacting pro tem judge directly. The pro tem judges have a mentor assigned to them to also help.

Leslie Lopez: Nothing today.

Judge Retsinas: Civil division continuing to work on formalizing ex parte plan, bin or drop box, to assist civil attorney with their filings. More details coming soon. Attorneys with minor settlement receipts, please set to my morning civil docket, not afternoon probate/guardianship docket.

Le Ann Larson: GR 40 Informal Family Law Trials (IFLT)– allows an informal trial as an alternative to a formal trial, if all parties consent and the court approves. There is a Family Law Informal Trial Selection form to request an informal trial. Supposed to file request at least 30 days before trial date. Family law judges will likely bring up this type of trial to parties. Attorneys should be aware of new rule effective 1/1/23.

Rachel Brooks: Nothing today.

Commissioner Sasser: I can always use a few more Mock Trial volunteers (tournament Weds and Thurs this week). Please email me if you are interested in volunteering. Barristers Ball is back—scheduled for March 11th at the AC Marriott on the waterfront. New family law schedule starts March 6th.

MEETING ADORNED 12:26 pm.

Respectfully Submitted,

Nicholas Alexander