HearSay
THE OFFICIAL MAGAZINE OF THE CLARK COUNTY BAR ASSOCIATION
JESSE JACOBS
Past President, Clark County, WA Bar Association
OTLA Guardian
WSAJ Eagle
DON JACOBS
Trial Lawyer of the Year, Clark County (2015)
Past President, Oregon Trial Lawyers Association
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
October 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.
Marla Rapp
Clark County Volunteer Lawyers Program
Marla Rapp is a Staff Attorney at the CCVLP, specializing in family law. In 2023 she won the Dean Langsdorf Family Law Attorney of the Year award.
Josh
Sherman
Jane Clark Legal
Josh Sherman dedicates his practice to medical malpractice cases. Josh is admitted to practice law in Washington and Oregon, and he regularly litigates cases in both states.
Courtney Mendoza
Petersen Rothermel Law Firm
Courtney Mendoza’s practice focuses on criminal defense and family law, including dissolutions, parenting plans, and child support
HISPANIC HERITAGE MONTH
B y C o u r t n e y M e n d o z a ( s h e / h e r )
H a p p y N a t i o n a l H i s p a n i c H e r i t a g e M o n t h ! N a t i o n a l H i s p a n i c H e r i t a g e M o n t h o c c u r s
e v e r y y e a r f r o m S e p t e m b e r 1 5 t h t h r o u g h O c t o b e r 1 5 t h t o c e l e b r a t e H i s p a n i c a n d
L a t i n x h i s t o r y , c u l t u r e , l i v e d e x p e r i e n c e s , i m p a c t s , a n d c o n t r i b u t i o n s t o t h e U n i t e d
S t a t e s . L a s t m o n t h , o n S e p t e m b e r 1 1 , 2 0 2 4 , W a s h i n g t o n S t a t e G o v e r n o r J a y I n s l e e
o f f i c i a l l y p r o c l a i m e d S e p t e m b e r 1 5 t h – O c t o b e r 1 5 t h a s H i s p a n i c H e r i t a g e M o n t h f o r
W a s h i n g t o n i a n s a s w e l l !
A s e x p l a i n e d b y t h e W a s h i n g t o n S t a t e C o m m i s s i o n o n H i s p a n i c A f f a i r s , N a t i o n a l
H i s p a n i c H e r i t a g e M o n t h b e g a n “ i n 1 9 6 8 b y C o n g r e s s a s H i s p a n i c H e r i t a g e W e e k , i t
w a s e x p a n d e d t o a m o n t h i n 1 9 8 8 . T h e c e l e b r a t i o n b e g i n s i n t h e m i d d l e r a t h e r t h a n
t h e s t a r t o f S e p t e m b e r b e c a u s e i t c o i n c i d e s w i t h n a t i o n a l i n d e p e n d e n c e d a y s i n
s e v e r a l L a t i n A m e r i c a n c o u n t r i e s : G u a t e m a l a , H o n d u r a s , E l S a l v a d o r , N i c a r a g u a a n d
C o s t a R i c a c e l e b r a t e t h e i r s o n S e p t 1 5 , f o l l o w e d b y M e x i c o o n S e p t 1 6 , C h i l e o n S e p t
1 8 a n d B e l i z e o n S e p t 2 1 A n d o n O c t o b e r 1 2 , D i a d e l a R a z a ( R a c e D a y ) i s a l s o
c e l e b r a t e d . I t ’ s c e l e b r a t e d t h i s d a y b e c a u s e i t i s a l s o C o l u m b u s D a y , a n d i t r e c o g n i z e s
t h e m i x e d i n d i g e n o u s a n d E u r o p e a n h e r i t a g e o f M e x i c o . ”
T h e C o m m i s s i o n f u r t h e r i n v i t e s W a s h i n g t o n i a n s t o h o n o r a n d c e l e b r a t e o u r b l e n d e d
c o m m u n i t y a s o n e l a r g e r f a m i l y , h i g h l i g h t i n g t h a t “ H i s p a n i c a n d L a t i n o c u l t u r e
e n r i c h e s t h e A m e r i c a n t a p e s t r y w i t h v i b r a n t t r a d i t i o n s , v a l u e s , a n d c o n t r i b u t i o n s .
D u r i n g H i s p a n i c H e r i t a g e M o n t h , w e h o n o r t h e i r p r o f o u n d i m p a c t o n s o c i e t y , f r o m
t h e i r c o m m i t m e n t t o f a m i l y a n d c o m m u n i t y t o t h e i r e c o n o m i c i n f l u e n c e a n d
o p t i m i s t i c o u t l o o k L e t ’ s c o n t i n u e t o c e l e b r a t e t h e i n v a l u a b l e r o l e o f H i s p a n i c a n d
L a t i n o A m e r i c a n s i n s h a p i n g a d i v e r s e a n d d y n a m i c U n i t e d S t a t e s , w h e r e w i t h
L a t i n o s , e v e r y t h i n g i s p o s s i b l e . ”
F o l k s c a n f i n d m o r e i n f o r m a t i o n a b o u t G o v e r n o r I n s l e e ’ s P r o c l a m a t i o n a n d t h e
W a s h i n g t o n S t a t e C o m m i s s i o n o n H i s p a n i c A f f a i r s h e r e : h t t p s : / / w w w c h a w a g o v /
Left to right: Steven Hogue, Amy Price, Erik Selden (Team Leader), Bryan Dent, Phil Czajka
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Clark County Bar Association
CLARK COUNTY BAR ASSOCIATION BOARD MEETING
September 3, 2024
Minutes for the CCBA Board of Trustees Meeting September 3, 2024
Called to order 12:10 p.m.; Hawke, Wechselblatt, Melnick, Larson, Petersen, Sutanto, Phelan, and Executive Director Darco
August 6, 2024 board meeting minutes: Motion to Approve (Wechselblatt/Petersen) Approved
Treasurer’s Report (Melnick): Financials prepared for board to review. If an outstanding bill is paid then we will be in the black for the fiscal year. The CCBA has needed to dip into reserves in the budget years since the 2017/2018 fiscal year. (Not to worry, we have healthy reserves but needed to reverse that trend) So this year was great! Thank you Lisa Darco, Ben Melnick, all of our fabulous event sponsors, our great Hearsay advertisers, all who attend CLEs and social events, the volunteers who work on the committees and sections, and to you for being a CCBA member. Please renew your membership, sign up your staff for staff memberships, and recruit our nonmember colleagues to join the fun.
Ongoing Action Items
Committee Reports:
Hearsay Committee (Hawke): August issue is coming out soon. The committee is meeting this week. As usual, expect good content.
Social Committee (Phelan, Darco): Next up is the Coffee Cart Social. Pumpkin Patch event is in the works.
CLE Committee (Darco): The CLE schedule is full.
DEI Committee (Wechselblatt): The next meeting is 9/23/24 and they are working on a chairperson transition for the committee.
Membership Committee (Darco, Petersen): Membership drive will be kicked off with the Coffee Cart Social.
Previous Action Items
Membership Update: 2023/2024 Attorney members:439, Non Renewed: 38, New Members: 48, Staff: 37. Attorney members 410 for 2022/2023. We need to get 450 members for this fiscal year to meet our budget projections.
Current Action Items
Goal Setting and tracking: roundtable discussion of goals
Honorary Membership for Judges and Commissioners (Hawke) Bylaws section 2d. Will send email requesting donations in lieu of dues. Motion to approve honorary memberships for judges and commissioners for the 2024/2025 year (Hawke/Phelan) Approved
Bylaw Amendments (Hawke, Wechselblatt) Discussion about suggested bylaw amendments. Article 2: add staff as a classification of membership. Section 3.02 Composition: 3 or 4 regular members (trustees). Section 3.10 regular meetings the first Tuesday of each month. Motion to approve the proposed bylaw amendments for vote by the membership at the Annual Meeting (Phelan/Petersen) Approved
Nominating Committee (Hawke): Proposed Slate for 2024/2025: Pres: Deb Wechselblatt, VP: Nathan Petersen, Treasurer: Ben Melnick, Secretary: Le Ann Larson, Trustee: Owen Sutanto (year 3 of 3), Trustee: Ryan Busby (year 2 of 3), Trustee: Marla Rapp (3 year term), Trustee: Courtney Mendoza (3 year term), Past Pres: Whitney Hawke. Motion to approve slate for vote at the Annual Meeting (Phelan/Melnick) Approved
Farewell/Welcome lunch (Wechselblatt) the board will meet for lunch on 9/18/24 to welcome new board members and thank Christina who is exiting. Christina you are always welcome to attend the monthly meeting, you won’t have a vote but also cannot be assigned any projects.
Volunteer Lawyer Program Resolution (Hawke) motion to approve the resolution supporting the VLP (Phelan/ Sutanto) Approved. Resolution signed.
Upcoming Meetings/ Events
Annual Meeting: September 16th, noon, CLE to follow at 1:00 View From the Bench presented by Judge Sheldrick and Judge Sleight
Membership Drive Coffee Cart Social: 9/24/24 at the West Park room. Thank you to our sponsors, Ryan Busby and Theresa Springer.
Barrister’s Ball 3/8/25
Adjourned
Clark County Bar Association
CLARK COUNTY BAR ASSOCIATION ANNUAL MEETING
September 16, 2024
Minutes of the CCBA Annual Membership Meeting 9/16/2024
In Person at the Red Cross Building
CCBA President Whitney Hawke
Called to order, Opening remarks and welcome REPORTS
A. Bylaw Amendments, Whitney Hawke
1. Section 2.01 - Add staff membership as official membership classification
1. Staff: Paralegals, Legal Assistants, and Office staff are invited to join the Association as Staff Members.
Motion to approve amendment (Phelan/Mendoza) Approved
2. Article 3 section 3.02 Composition of the Board
1. Original language: The Board of Trustees shall consist of the Association’s president, vice president, treasurer, secretary, immediate past president, and three regular members.
2. Proposed language: The Board of Trustees shall consist of the Association's president, vice president, treasurer, secretary, immediate past president, and three or four regular members.
Motion to approve amendment (Melnick/Price) Approved
3. Article 3 section 3.10 Regular meetings of the Board of Trustees
1. Original language: Regular meetings of the Board of Trustees shall be held at 12:00 p.m. on the first Wednesday of each month or at such times as may otherwise be determined by the president
2. Proposed language: Regular meetings of the Board of Trustees shall be held at 12:00 p.m. on the first Tuesday of each month or at such times as may otherwise be determined by the president.
Motion to approve amendment (Phelan/Schauerman) Approved
B. Treasurer’s Report, Ben Melnick
Presented the 2024/2025 Proposed Budget. Motion to approve the budget (Phelan/ Price) Approved
C. Annual Report Of Superior Court, Judge Derek Vanderwood
Discussed indigent defense changes and case filing trends. The new Superior Court Administrator, Pamela Hartman Beyer, started in August. Judge Christine Hayes’ investiture will be held September 20th. Superior Court judicial assignment rotations will occur October 7th. Remote proceedings via Zoom continue, except for criminal change of plea. There will be facilities movement to consolidate most of Superior Court in the courthouse; completion could be a year plus out. The
courthouse elevator repair work is expected to start in mid October. There have been local rule and forms changes so make sure you are up to date.
D. Annual Report Of District Court, Judge Chad Sleight
Commissioner Todd George’s last day is today. The commissioner opening is posted. Discussed case filing stats. The City of Vancouver may add additional police positions which would affect case filings. District Court is hiring a pretrial manager and a court services division manager, but otherwise is fully staffed for the first time since 2017. Judge Sleight discussed grants for GPS victim notification (to pay fees for indigent defendants who require it) and DUI offender grants (for indigent defendants). Discussed the 5 District Court specialty courts: Veterans Court, DUI Court, Treatment Alternative Court, Mental Health Court (combined Superior Court and District Court), and Community Court. The probation office will move from the basement of the jail to the first floor of the PSC building in early 2025. In the first quarter 2026, District Court will be moving to the old city hall building at 210 E. 13th Street.
E. Clerk’s Report, Scott Weber
Discussed various statistics from the Clerk’s Office. The average length of employment in the Clerk’s Office is two years; the office remains short staffed. Scanning and entry goals have been met for the past few months. Scott mentioned projects involving exhibit pick up and unlaimed property in unlawful detainer actions.
F. CCBA Committee Reports
Family Law Section: Chelsey Butchard, There are new board members. The section has 100 members. There is a goal to increase section participation and increase in person events. Monthly CLEs average 30-40 participants. The board welcomes input and ideas. They intend to hold in person events every other month and want to coordinate with other sections.
Young Lawyers Section: Adin Johnson, A new board was elected. The section goals include CLEs, networking opportunities and legal community building efforts, and to increase collaboration with other sections. YLS is hosting a happy hour event following the swearing in ceremony on 9/26/24. There will be an upcoming CLE regarding DOL hearings.
Guardianship, Probate, and Elder Law Section: Alena Clark, CLEs are planned monthly and open to all. 48 section members. Section dues are primary financial source. Judge Snider is rotating to probate/ guardianship on 10/7/24.
CLE Committee: Jane Clark The committee has been working hard and CLEs are calendared through June 2025. Come to our CLEs! The presentations are excellent and the income for the CCBA benefits us all. Upcoming topics include appeals, worker’s compensation, land use, depositions, artificial intelligence, and driving under the influence. There will be an end of the year Ethics CLE presented by Judge Smith, attorney Teresa Foster, and attorney John McMullen.
CCBA Diversity Equity Inclusion Committee: Deb Wechselblatt, The three areas of focus for the coming year are: 1) Street Law program with Vancouver Public Schools. Spring presentations are anticipated. Reach out to volunteer. (2) CLE. Usually the committee presents a CLE in the summer. A successful CLE
was presented in June called Raising the Bar. (3) Judicial Evaluation process. Stay tuned for a new chairperson announcement.
Hearsay Committee: Whitney Hawke, The committee meets the first Wednesday of the month at noon. Meetings are usually via Zoom. Writers and content ideas are welcome. Have you considered advertising in the Hearsay? Contact Darco for ad info. Cheers to success, it’s the 15th year anniversary of the Hearsay in September.
Social Committee: Christina Phelan, It’s been quite an eventful year. The Barrister’s Ball and the Summer Soiree were a success. There was bowling and golfing. Next week is the Coffee Cart Social and a pumpkin patch event is in the works.
Membership Committee: Nathan Petersen, The committee focus is on new members and member retention. They are engaging in outreach and are present at events with a QR code to get people registered. They have been identifying groups who may not have had significant past participation in the bar association. Ben Melnick was awarded the Outreach G.O.A.T. Award; He called attorneys and dedicated 30 minutes a week for several months on membership outreach. Ben emphasizes the need to support and build the parts of our community that are non divisive and bring us together. Join the CCBA. Thank you Ben!
NOMINATIONS AND ELECTIONS OF NEW OFFICERS AND TRUSTEES, Slate presented
President: Deb Wechselblatt, Vice President: Nathan Petersen, Secretary: Le Ann Larson, Treasurer: Ben Melnick, Trustees: Ryan Busby (2 years remaining), Owen Sutanto (1 year remaining), Marla Rapp (3 year term), Courtney Mendoza (3 year term), Immediate Past President: Whitney Hawke no nominations from the floor
Vote by raise of hands. Slate elected.
INTRODUCTION OF NEW CCBA PRESIDENT DEB WECHSELBLATT, Whitney Hawke introduced President Deb Wechselblatt. Deb spoke briefly.
2023/2024 PRESIDENT’S AWARD TO WHITNEY HAWKE
Presented by Deb Wechselblatt to Whitney Hawke. Whitney was awarded a plaque to thank her for her service as V.P. and President. She will continue to serve as the Immediate Past President and on the Hearsay Committee. Whitney brought new practices as President of the board. The Hawke Administration instituted a contest push among board members for membership outreach (membership was increased) and created a standing agenda item for board members to set goals at our monthly meetings.
BOARD APPRECIATION AWARD TO CHRISTINA PHELAN
Christina Phelan served on the board for six years, serving as Trustee, VP, President, Past Pres and committee service. Christina has been one of the driving forces on the Social Committee and has also served on the Hearsay Committee. She has been an outstanding volunteer for the CCBA and we are happy that she will continue serving on committees. Thank you for all of your hard work Christina!
Adjourned
CLE “A View from the Bench” presented by Judge Sheldrick and Judge Sleight followed the meeting.
Clark County Superior Court
BENCH/BAR COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES
October 8, 2024
Persons in attendance: Judge Fairgrieve (John.Fairgrieve@clark.wa.gov), Judge Sheldrick (Emily.Sheldrick@clark. wa.gov), Curt Welch (cwelch@sussmanshank.com), Riley Gavigan (riley.gavigan@nwj.org), Leslie Lopez (Leslie. Lopez@clark.wa.gov), LeAnn Larson (LeAnn.Larson@clark.wa.gov) Jessi Anderson (jessi@ccvlp.org)
-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.
Updates:
Judge Fairgrieve:
• New 12th Division Position: Judge Hayes is on the bench now. She started in the criminal division, taking over from Judge Snider. She began her first run through her 5 week rotation on Oct. 8th. She’s doing first appearances. She will take over Judge Snider’s case load.
• Judge Snider is taking the position that was created about 2 months ago. When the 12th judicial position became available, the thought was to put that position in one of the three existing divisions (family law, civil, criminal). The bench sat down to determine what was really needed, and decided that the best use of that 12th position was a ‘hybrid’ position. So Thursdays and Fridays Judge Snider will be doing drug court, Wednesdays she’ll do probate and guardianship, Mondays and Tuesdays she’ll do short trials.
• Due in part to the backlog of trials created by COVID-19, on any given Monday, there could be three criminal judges doing trials, with the other two criminal judges busy with motions and changes of plea. When more than three trials are starting on Mondays, they have to draw a judge from another sector (criminal or family) which creates a lot of turbulence. The hope is that having a ‘hybrid’ position will relieve that strain.
• A series of other changes have also been made, moving various work into other divisions, for example, the criminal division is no longer doing civil protection orders, those are being done in the family law division now.
• New Superior Court Commissioner hiring: estimated that a decision on the vacant Superior Court Commissioner position will be made within the next two weeks. ● Mock Trial: February 12-13th. It is a criminal case this year, dealing with some aspects of homelessness and some criminal charges stemming from that. It sounds like an interesting and timely topic.
• Please contact Commissioner Sasser if you are interested in serving as a rater. ● Please contact Judge Fairgrieve if you are interested in serving as a judicial officer.
Judge Sheldrick:
• Judge Sheldrick is now the new Chief Civil Judicial Officer for a few months until she moves over to the family law division.
• Judge Snider and Judge Banfield have moved to the civil division
• Judge Snider could take a 3 day criminal trial on occasion, or a civil trial if necessary.
• There has been a significant increase in the unlawful detainer actions and the court is moving back to a rotation of judges hearing those cases:
• There will be a three week rotation between Judge Sheldrick, Judge Banfield, and Judge Vanderwood on UDAs. There may be some hiccups as they work to transition back to a rotation, and patience from attorneys will be appreciated as this switch is made.
• An additional UDA change: from now on, unlawful detainer ex parte matters should go to the civil judge who is assigned that week’s UDA docket.
• There will be a small transition for caseload assignments to accommodate the judicial rotations:
• Previously, Judge Retsinas did all the guardianship/probate cases.
• With Judge Retsinas shifting to family law, there will need to be some cases split between Judge Sheldrick and Judge Vanderwood.
• Minor settlements: Type 4 cases need to go to Judge Snider, but if you have an existing personal injury case, and there is a minor settlement, it will stay with your assigned judge, it will not go to Judge Snider.
Leslie Lopez:
• This will be her last meeting as she has accepted a District Court Commissioner role and will begin that position as of November 1. Someone from the Civil Prosecutor’s office will take her place at bench-bar.
LeAnn Larson:
• Minimum wage change: Effective January 1, 2025 the new minimum wage will be $16.66.
Curt Welch:
• Experience to share: Was summoned for jury duty and thought that the experience from a juror’s perspective was very favorable. Everything was very clear and efficient. He was very impressed with how check-in and jury orientation went; the staff explained what needed to happen very well. The unconscious bias film was well done. Riley Gavigan:
• Riley Gavigan started at Northwest Justice Project (NJP) in late August. No updates from NJP at this time. Jessi Anderson:
• CCVLP’s Battle of the Lawyers Bands was last Thursday night. It was a great event and well attended; thank you to everyone who was able to attend!
• Latinx Legal Services Day is coming up Saturday, October 19th. CCVLP can always use additional volunteers for this event, please contact Mia Demay, if interested, at mia@ccvlp.org
Respectfully submitted,
Jessi Anderson
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