The Clark County Bar Association is a professional organization that serves to support our local attorney community through providing education and networking opportunities designed to enhance and foster better relationships within the local legal community.
All business, commercial & family law appeals.
Kurt Greg Greg Cheney: 14+ years experience. Dedicated. Meticulous. Strategic.
Kurt Rylander: 30+ years. All levels of appeal including before the Supreme Court of the United States of America.
Contact us today.
Rylander & Associates PC (360) 750-9931 www.RylanderLaw.com Rylander@RylanderLaw.com
September Hearsay Contributors
Bennett Brandenberg
Brandenburg Law Firm
As an associate at Brandenburg Law Firm, Bennett continues to litigate criminal and personal injury cases. Bennett also serves as a criminal defense attorney for participants in Clark County’s Superior
Jean McCoy
Landerholm, P.S.
Jean McCoy’s practice focus is real estae transactions and conflict resolution, landlord/ tenant and creditors’ rights
Lisa Darco
Clark County Bar Association
Lisa Darco has served as the Executive Director of the Clark County Bar Association since 2011. In 2021, she was honored with the Professionalism in Practice Award by the WSBA.
Courtney Mendoza
Petersen Rothermel Law Firm
Courtney Mendoza’s practice focuses on criminal defense and family law, including dissolutions, parenting plans, and child support
Left to right: Steven Hogue, Amy Price, Erik Selden (Team Leader), Bryan Dent, Phil Czajka
Come ready to rage and ready to give
Local lawyer bands let loose and pay tribute to the movement that gave the joy of punk rage to feminists everywhere.
Funds support equitable access to civil legal aid in Clark County.
Family friendly, free admission. vote with your dollar.
“I’ve known Sal for years and he has been a true champion for access to justice. I am giving him my complete support to be elected to our state supreme court I hope you will give him your support as well ”
LOREN ETENGOFF, FORMER WSBA GOVERNOR AND FORMER TRUSTEE LEGAL FOUNDATION OF WASHINGTON
“Sal, like I am, is a past president of the WSBA. In his 38 years of private practice he has tried complex civil lawsuits and he has argued appeals at every level of state and federal appellate courts He will make a great addition to our state supreme court. Sal has my full support.”
KYLE SCIUCHETTI, MILLER NASH LLP, PAST PRESIDENT WSBA
Clark County Bar Association
CLARK COUNTY BAR ASSOCIATION BOARD MEETING
August 6, 2024
Minutes for the CCBA Board of Trustees Meeting August 6, 2024
Called to order 12:05 p.m.; Hawke, Wechselblatt, Melnick, Larson, Busby, Phelan, and Executive Director Darco
July 9, 2024 board meeting minutes: Motion to Approve (Wechselblatt/Hawke) Approved
Treasurer’s Report (Melnick): Financials prepared for board to review. August is the last month of the fiscal year. It’s going to be tight. Waiting for last invoice from the Summer Soiree, which so far is in the black for the event. The Hawke Administration wants no deficit for the year.
Ongoing Action Items
Committee Reports:
Hearsay Committee (Hawke): The committee met last week. A Summer Soiree article and great pics are ready. The September issue is lined up.
Social Committee (Phelan, Darco): The Summer Soiree was a blast and an extra hour of fun was rented as the gathering did not end at the stated time. The band was great! Thank you to our planning committee and especially to Christina Phelan, who put in a great amount of event planning work and was unable to attend due to last minute illness. There is a possibility of a corn hole tournament in September.
CLE Committee (Busby/Darco): The CLE calendar is nearly full.
DEI Committee (Wechselblatt): 152 people registered for the CLE last month. It was a great success. Will be looking to add a better donation option for free CLE offerings in the future.
Membership Committee (Darco): It’s that time of year to renew your membership! Ben will track you down if you don’t renew soon. Darco may organize a coffee cart to kick off the membership drive.
Current Action Items
Goal Setting and tracking: roundtable discussion of goals
CLE Fees for the Upcoming Year: discussion of present fees for CLEs. Difference between fee for Nuts and Bolts series CLEs ($30 credit hour for members) versus General CLEs ($40 credit hour for members). Decision to make all credits $40 per hour for members so both have same cost. Will need to review the fees for the lawyer referral service to evaluate if change is needed.
Nominating Committee (Hawke): Working on slate of officers to present for vote by the membership at the September General Meeting. Current slate: Pres: Wechselblatt, VP: Petersen, Treasurer: Melnick, Secretary: Larson, Trustee: Sutanto (year 3 of 3), Trustee: Busby (year 2 of 3), Trustee: vacant 3 year term, Past Pres: Hawke. The committee will meet to nominate a trustee for the vacant position.
Annual Meeting: Will be held September 16th 1:00 at Fort Vancouver Artillery Barracks. Catered lunch. 2:00 CLE, View from the Bench.
Family Law Section Board for the Upcoming Year: President: Chelsey Butchard, Vice President: Roxana Manesh, Secretary: Caitlin Dennis, Treasurer: Eric Hoffman, Membership Chair: Courtney Himes
Young Lawyers Section Board for the Upcoming Year: President: Adin Johnson, Vice President: Heather Van Ness, Secretary: Chelsey Butchard, Treasurer: Matthew Swisher, Social Chair: Roxana Manesh
Upcoming Meetings/ Events
Golf Tournament 8/9/24; 74 people registered as of today, looking at 20 teams Barrister’s Ball 3/8/25; contract signed, deposit to be paid in September
Adjourned 12:54
Clark County Superior Court
BENCH/BAR COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES
September 10, 2024
- Persons in attendance: Nicholas Alexander (nick@vancouverwillsandtrusts.com) Jessi Anderson (jessi@ccvlp.org) Jeffrey Keddie (jeffreyk@nwjustice.org) Leslie Lopez (Leslie.Lopez@clark.wa.gov) Judge Retsinas (nancy.retsinas@ clark.wa.gov) and Judge Fairgrieve (John.Fairgrieve@clark.wa.gov) Pamela Hartman Beyer Pamela Hartman Beyer (Pamela.HartmanBeyer@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 above-mentioned members of the committee.
I. OLD BUSINESS:
Chair for Bench/Bar is available! Contact Nick Alexander if interested.
II. NEW BUSINESS:
Judge Fairgrieve: --
o Pamela Hartman Beyer has been hired as our new Superior Court Administrator. She has been an administrator in other courts within Washington and in the federal system.
o Judge Hayes’ investiture is on 9/20 at 4 pm in Judge Vanderwood’s courtroom. Judge Hayes will be assigned to the criminal division and will be assigned department 7’s caseload. Those duties will begin October 7th. Until then, she will continue to preside over the commissioner dockets she previously presided over.
o Judge Snider will be rotating out of criminal division into a newly created hybrid judge position, where she will be drug court judge, and available for short cases at the beginning of the week, along with other duties. That change over will begin October 7th. It is hard to determine criminal trial docket, some weeks could be no trials, other weeks up to three. If one the heavier side, then we need to find other judges from different divisions, which creates stress. This hybrid will then allow for 4 criminal trials per week.
o Mr. Swaby (Clark County’s first director of public defense and chief public defender) Is beginning to hire into Public Defenders office. Having a small issue with current contractors getting their max contracts this early in the year. Not having a huge problem with felony work, but district court is having issues because they do not have conflict counsel. Good volume in the system, still some cases from COVID that trials can last more than a week. Moving forward well.
o Our criminal case filings are back to about what we were in 2019. About 2,100 pending. About 50% are over 9 months old, which is a problem for us.
Judge Retsinas: –
o Interviews are being scheduled for the Superior Court Commissioner position vacated by Judge Hayes’ ap pointment to department 12. There is a large pool of candidates. We hope the selected candidate can begin around November 1st.
o Heather Kahl (whose background includes being a Title-26 GAL, being an educator for 13 years, and being a staff member in group homes) has been hired as Family Services Coordinator beginning September 23rd.
o Judge Retsinas will be rotating out of civil division and probate department and into family division beginning October 7th. Judge Banfieldwill be rotating out of family division and drug court and into civil division beginning October 7th. Generally speaking, these two departments will swap caseloads. Some additional rebalancing of caseloads will take place due to the creation of the hybrid judge position, which removes the specialty court from each of these roles.
o Judge Snider will be rotating into Probate Department beginning October 7th. As Judge Fairgrieve noted, she is rotating out of criminal division and into the newly created hybrid judge position that also includes drug court and overflow trials from all divisions.
o Probate Department Ex Parte: Judge Snider will handle all probate department ex parte. No process changes at this time.
o Civil Division Duty Week: Judge Vanderwood, Judge Banfield, and Judge Sheldrick will each have a Duty Week every 3rd week. During their Duty Week, each judge will handle:
- Unlawful detainer matters (“UD”) ex parte and dockets. No process changes at this time.
- Civil Division Ex Parte (other than probate): No process changes at this time.
o The Clerk’s Office will be closed beginning at noon on September 27th for an all-staff training. Similarly, Superior Court afternoon dockets will be closed, as all Superior Court administration and court staff will be participating in their own training that afternoon. Exception: mandatory criminal dockets will be held, and a judge will be available for emergency ex parte matters.
o Comparing Jan-Aug 2023 and 2024 Superior Court jury trials, there has been a 20% increase in jury trials (civil and criminal). This put some strain on the system, which we intend for Judge Snider’s hybrid judge position to help alleviate.
Jessi Anderson: LatinX will be held Saturday October 13th – All volunteers needed! 9 am– noon. Battle of the Lawyer Bands, a CCVLP event, and great way to show support for pro bono community. One our main goals is to increase attendance of the bench at CCVLP events. We want to show importance of volunteer work.
Judge Retsinas – Individual comfort of the judges to accommodate participation. Not sure if the bench is invited to certain events. Would be appreciated if we got email to tell us we are invited. A judge only table is not necessary.
Lesie Lopez: Nothing today.
Jeffrey Keddie: NWJP got two new staff members – Alex Reaganson (he/him) and brand-new attorney Rily Gavigan (They/them) now in the Art’s Building, same as CCVLP.
Pamela Hartman Beyer: Joined the meeting to introduce herself and observe.
Judge Sheldrick: Updated rules adopted by Washington Supreme Court:
Order 25700-A-1592 [CR 26-General Provisions Governing Discovery]
Order 25700-A-1593 [CrR 4.7 Discovery] https://www.courts.wa.gov/court_rule_related_ orders/orders/25700-A-1593.pdf
Order 25700-A-1602 [CR 30-Depositions Upon Oral Examination]
