THE OFFICIAL MAGAZINE OF THE CLARK COUNTY BAR ASSOCIATION
“Been
JESSE JACOBS
Past President, Clark County, WA Bar Association
OTLA Guardian
WSAJ Eagle
DON JACOBS
Past Trial Lawyer of the Year, Clark County, WA
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
April Hearsay Contributors
Honorable James Rulli
Rulli Law and Mediation Services
After 23 years as a Clark County Superior Court Judge, and 22 years as an advocate for his clients, James Rulli is the Family Law Mediatior at Rulli Law and Mediation Service.
Laura Markee
Markee Valuations
Laura Markee, CFA, ASA, is a business appraiser and financial damages expert, as well as founder of Markee Valuations based in Clark County, Washington.
Amanda Hartman Beaty Hatch
Amanda joined the Beaty Hatch team in February 2025 as a family law attorney. She focuses her practice on dissolutions, modifications and prenuptial agreements.
Mia Demay
Clark County Volunteer Lawyers Program
Mia Demay started at the CCVLP in March 2025 as Co-Executive Director. She primarily focuses her work on Community Engagement.
We protect what our clients value most.
McKinley Irvin attorneys are known for their relentless pursuit of successful results, whether representing individuals in financially complex divorce or high conflict parenting disputes.
But perhaps our most noted distinction is our steadfast commitment to protecting what our clients value most.
If you re now feeling a
Juliet
Laycoe:
Superior Court Commissioner
intimidated, don’t be worr I’ve been with my mom fo years and made a lot more decisions in front of her t any of you ever will. So, jus as I say, not as I do. Once again, my family an want to thank you for be here today for my mom. I we all share similar pride excitement for her and w
believe she is capable of d great things for this court years ahead. In our fam everything works better runs smoother when my m around, and I believe the will be true with her here. you all.
Board of Governors
Statement in Support of an Independent Legal Profession Free from Government Retaliation
March 12, 2025
The foundation of our democracy is built on an independent legal profession and courts, which protect the liberty and rights of all people by holding the government accountable to its laws first and foremost being the U.S. Constitution. Our legal system upholds the tenets that everyone is governed by the same laws, that the laws apply equally to all, and that nobody is above the law.
These safeguards rely on lawyers who are willing and able to represent all interests in good faith and to challenge government overreach without fear of penalization or retaliation The preamble to the Rules of Professional Conduct that apply to all Washington state lawyers emphasizes: “An independent legal profession is an important force in preserving government under law, for abuse of legal authority is more readily challenged by a profession whose members are not dependent on government for the right to practice."
In this context, we, the leaders of the Washington State Bar Association, have grave concerns about two recent executive orders that seek to take action against specific lawyers and law firms on the basis of their legal work This is not a partisan issue. Federal courts have often been called on to rule against overreach in executive orders issued by Democratic and Republican Presidents alike.
But when the executive branch wields its power to single out lawyers and law firms for representing specific clients, it is an especially dangerous strike against an impartial and independent justice system. The resolve and willingness of legal professionals to challenge government overreach and abuse of authority must not be chilled. Doing so leads to a distressing question: If lawyers and judges are not willing or able to defend liberty and freedom for all people under the law and Constitution, who will?
As WSBA leaders, we are committed to promoting an independent legal profession and court system. We call on our members, judges, lawmakers, and government officials to do the same. We acknowledge that all members of our profession are and should be independently regulated to ensure we uphold our special responsibilities and the law.
To Washington’s legal professionals, we proudly and unreservedly support your obligation to represent clients, across all political spectrums and walks of life, in good faith without fear of retaliation or retribution.
To the Washingtonians we serve, we proudly and unreservedly stand behind our WSBA mission: to serve the public, uphold the integrity of the legal profession, and champion justice We will continue to promote a justice system and a legal profession committed to competent and well qualified representation for all, especially those who may be vulnerable or out of political favor.
This statement is made by the Washington State Bar Association’s Board of Governors, not on behalf of all individual members of the WSBA. It does not reflect the views of the employers of the members of the Board of Governors.
Bar Organizations’ Statement in Support of the Rule of Law
We the undersigned bar organizations stand together with and in support of the American Bar Association (“ABA”) to defend the Rule of Law and reject efforts to undermine the courts and the legal profession
In particular, as outlined by the ABA:
We endorse the sentiments expressed by The Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court in his 2024 Year End Report on the Federal Judiciary, “[w]ithin the past year we have also seen the need for state and federal bar associations to come to the defense of a federal district judge whose decisions in a high-profile case prompted an elected official to call for her impeachment. Attempts to intimidate judges for their rulings in cases are inappropriate and should be vigorously opposed.”
We support the right of people to advance their interests in courts of law when they have been wronged. We reject the notion that the U.S. Government can punish lawyers and law firms who represent certain clients or punish judges who rule certain ways. We cannot accept Government actions that seek to twist the scales of justice in this manner.
We reject efforts to undermine the courts and the profession. We will not stay silent in the face of efforts to remake the legal profession into something that rewards those who agree with the Government and punishes those who do not. Words and actions matter. And the intimidating words and actions we have heard and seen must end. They are designed to cow our country’s judges, our country’s courts and our legal profession.
There are clear choices facing our profession. We can choose to remain silent and allow these acts to continue or we can stand for the rule of law and the values we hold dear. We call upon the entire profession, including lawyers in private practice from Main Street to Wall Street, as well as those in corporations and who serve in elected positions, to speak out against intimidation.
If lawyers do not speak, who will speak for our judges? Who will protect our bedrock of justice? If we do not speak now, when will we speak? Now is the time. That is why we stand together with the ABA in support of the Rule of Law.
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S P O N S O R E D B Y N W I N J U R Y L A W C E N T E R
By: Mia Demay
On November 22nd, 2024, Juliet Laycoe was sworn in as Clark County Superior Court Commissioner.
Since then, she has been settling into her Commissioner duties and overseeing the family law dockets. This is an especially apt coincidence, as Juliet originally decided to apply for the Commissioner position to continue her practice and commitment to family law and her community here in Clark County. After Juliet’s 26 years of practicing family law, this is a fun new challenge to be seeing it from behind the bench rather than being in front of it.
Who knows someone better than their long-time paralegal?
Read below to hear about Juliet from the fabulous Jentri Linn.
Thank you, Jentri for sharing!
How long did you and Juliet work together? Was it just the two of you at the firm?
I began as a Paralegal at Laycoe & Bogdon in May 2008. In 2017/2018 (cannot quite recall), Steve Bogdon and other staff all retired leaving just Juliet and I. The firm then changed to Juliet Laycoe PC.
What was it like working together?
I will always treasure those nearly 17 years of my career spent with Juliet. I always felt valued and appreciated.
What was your favorite thing about working with her?
Juliet never missed acknowledging significant life events.
Why do you think she is going to make an excellent commissioner? (I admittedly may be leading the witness here...lol)
Juliet will be an outstanding Superior Court Commissioner because she is patient, openminded, courteous, tactful, punctual, knowledgeable, smart, understanding, compassionate, and humble (to name a few).
Anything else about Juliet you want to talk about?
Before becoming a Superior Court Commissioner, Juliet had written two books, maintained social media accounts via Instagram and Facebook as well as facilitated a women supporting women through divorce private Facebook group. She was interviewed and named in a Forbes article.
Juliet is dedicated wife and mom of two great kids. I’ve seen her commitment to the betterment of her community by volunteering for various organizations like Share and the Volunteer Lawyers Program. She really is as great as she sounds!!
What is your next move now?
I am now a Paralegal at Wheeler Boyd.
As I move on to the next chapter, I will forever cherish the friendships and experiences from my time with Juliet. I will forever be thankful to Juliet for our incredible journey.
At Juliet’s Swearing In Ceremony, her oldest son, Ben, gave a wonderful and heartwarming speech in celebration of his mom.
His speech was *so* good, we asked if we could have a copy to share with folks who may have missed it. (P.S. Ben seems to be a natural public speaker, wonder where he got that from!)
Good evening, everyone. My name is Ben, and on behalf of my dad, sister, and myself, I want to thank you for being here today to support and honor my mom. I’m grateful for the chance to share just a bit about who she is as a person, and what I’ve come to deeply appreciate, respect, and admire about her.
I’ve learned so much from my mom, including the importance of hard work, which she demonstrates every single day by being the first one up at the inhuman time of 5 a.m. While our house is still dark and quiet, she’ll be downing two cups of coffee and heading to the gym, maybe going outside for a run, or diving right into her daily tasks. Besides role modeling her “early-riser virtues,” she’s taught me what it means to show up with integrity, kindness, and grace in everything you do. No matter what challenges she faces or how tired she feels, she always comes home and shows me the same unwavering love, compassion, and support. It’s this strength, resilience, and heart that I admire most about her, and it’s what makes her an incredible woman, and soon-to-be court commissioner that she is.
I must admit, I don’t know exactly what happens in a courtroom, which is probably a good thing in my case. But, based on my own experience with my mom, I thought I could share a few helpful tips for those who may appear in front of her in court, and for her new coworkers with us today.
The first tip I’d like to share is as I mentioned earlier, my mom is a BIG morning person, so if you're planning to work with her in the front half of the day, I suggest you be ready to match her energy. It’s incredible what two cups of coffee will do to a person.
My second tip is that my mom is a master of information. I know this from experience. Whether it’s as technical as a legal precedent or as random as a last-minute scheduling crisis, she knows a lot, often way more than you think. Leaving out key details? Not a good idea. If you think you’ll get away with telling a half-truth or trying to sweep something under the rug, don’t count on it. She probably already knows and understands more than you realize. As you might guess, this tip comes from a LOT of personal experience.
My last tip is that if you’re ever explaining a situation to her and she calmly looks at you and says, “Is that the story you want to stick with?” well, consider it a very polite warning that you might want to rethink your explanation. That’s the moment when you realize you’ve probably left out something important or, more likely, misrepresented the ble down. Take it from me, those ice.
If you’re now feeling a little intimidated, don’t be worried. I’ve been with my mom for 17 years and made a lot more bad decisions in front of her than any of you ever will. So, just do as I say, not as I do.
Once again, my family and I want to thank you for being here today for my mom. I know we all share similar pride and excitement for her and what she’s going to accomplish. I truly believe she is capable of doing great things for this court in the years ahead. In our family, everything works better and runs smoother when my mom is around, and I believe the same will be true with her here. Thank you all.
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Clark County Superior Court
BENCH/BAR COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES
April 8, 2025
Persons in attendance: Jessi Anderson (jessi@ccvlp.org), Judge Emily Sheldrick (Emily.Sheldrick@ clark.wa.gov), Judge John Fairgrieve (John.Fairgrieve@clark.wa.gov), Gabrielle Richards (gabby@ cascadialawyers.com), Jeff Keddie (jeffreyk@nwjustice.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. The next meeting will be Tuesday, August 12th at 12:00. Please email Jessi Anderson (jessi@ccvlp.org) for the Zoom link if you would like to attend.
• Commissioner Swingen will be retiring later this year and the court is currently reviewing applications for an open part-time commissioner position. They hope to select a candidate for the part-time position by May.
• The civil division is working to come up with consistent practices regarding pre-trial procedures. The current process is to have a pre-trial order and a pre trial conference 4-6 weeks before the trial date. They are working on coming up with a uniform process so that there is an established practice for consistency for practitioners, particularly when judges rotate to other departments.
• May 1st there will be proposed updates to Local Rules coming out. Those will be found on the court’s website. Pay close attention to the proposed LCR regarding case status conferences. As always, there will be a process online for making comments to the proposed changes. Adopted changes will become effective September 1st, 2025.
• The civil judges are still seeing some issues with pro se landlords on the unlawful detainer docket and are hoping that the pro se packets being created will be helpful. The process to get those packets done has taken a bit longer than expected, but the court is hoping that they will be ready for the public to access by mid-year.
• Civil is doing a pretty good job of keeping cases moving. Hoping to come up with some parameters around granting continuances. Also working on how to better track cases that are not subject to a case setting order.
• Regarding Judge Snider’s probate docket: she is still utilizing the working papers submissions list, please continue to submit these to her. Additionally, some practitioners are sending multiple proposed orders throughout the week, please focus instead on sending one final order that everyone has signed off on.
• Judge Sheldrick & Judge Gonzales will be presenting on Wednesday on CCBA Civil Motions Practice. It would be great to get that information out in a broader way to the bar. Would be a great article in the Hearsay. Typically, local practitioners do a good job following local rules, but
they are still seeing problems with people who don’t practice as regularly in Clark County following the local rules.
• Upcoming summer judicial rotations:
- Judge Cornell will be moving to the criminal division on 7/1/25
- Judge Sheldrick will be moving to the family law division on 7/1/25
- Judge Gregerson will be moving to the civil division on 7/1/25
• Bench Bar Committee used to have a much more robust membership years ago and tt would be great to have more people participating on this committee.
Judge Fairgrieve: (Criminal Division Updates)
• Regarding increasing attendance at Bench Bar Committee meetings: some years ago, a criminal policy and procedure group was formed because that focus area was taking a lot of the fuller Bench Bar Committee time. That subsect meeting is now meeting typically once per month. Additionally, there is a stakeholder group for family law/protection orders that meets regularly which facilitates communication between that bar and judicial officers. This Superior Court Bench Bar is a good place to talk about general and overarching issues. It would be worth examining what entities and groups would be useful to have regularly participate in Bench Bar.
• For the criminal division in general the workload seems to be pretty high at present. The criminal procedure workgroup met last Thursday to discuss several criminal procedure issues and are making adjustments on a fairly regular basis to smooth processes. There is quite a bit of volume in the court system right now. There are six custody/change of plea dockets per week with at least 10 cases on each.
• Readiness hearings take place about 10 days before trial dates. They set it back that far at the request of defense and prosecutors. It’s important that when you call something ready, that it really is ready and you’re not going to be calling for continuances or dismissals. Judge Fairgrieve ran numbers recently and only about one-third of cases called ready actually end up going to trial. This is very disruptive and continues to cause turbulence in judges’ caseloads. Judges have been talking with attorneys about this but have yet to come up with a real solution. There will be a meeting this week, and this topic will likely be discussed.
• Things do seem to be stabilizing post-COVID. The public defender’s office is getting going, and has established procedures for first appearances. The goal is to increase the size of the public defender’s office and reduce reliance on contractors. Things are going relatively well at this point.
Gabrielle Richards: (Probate and Guardianship Bar Updates)
• The Probate and Guardianship Bar held two CLEs in March. The first was on basics of Guardianship and Conservatorship and was very well attended. The second was more of an in depth training. There will be additional CLEs coming up and email notices will go out with further information about them as they approach.
• Clark County attorney Brian MacKenzie passed away in late March. There will be a service for him on April 12th.
• The Probate and Guardianship Bar has a committee working to create more user-friendly forms for lay guardianship/conservatorship petitioning and reporting. These forms will be modeled after the forms available on the state court website, but will be better and easier to use. The forms will be part of a packet available for purchase at the courthouse, and will be made available to attorneys volunteering to assist pro se individuals through CCVLP.
Jeff Keddie: (Northwest Justice Project)
• No updates from Northwest Justice Project this month
Jessi Anderson: (Clark County Volunteer Lawyers Program)
• Excited to report that CCVLP has received some limited funding to reopen a program (previously closed due to lack of capacity) and will soon be able to provide legal advice and administrative assistance to pro se individuals with record sealing/record vacating/legal financial obligations needs. CCVLP will be looking to hire a non-attorney staff person to assist with administration of this program area. CCVLP will be reaching out to attorneys who have volunteered in this program in the past, and hopes to recruit additional attorney volunteers. Please contact Mia Demay (mia@ ccvlp.org) if you would like to volunteer within this program.
Whole group:
• Regarding the next meeting date: Bench Bar Committee will take a break over the summer months and will not meet in May, June, or August. The committee will reconvene in August, with the next meeting to occur on Zoom on Tuesday, August 12th at noon. Mr. Keddie will work on a Hearsay article to publish in the intervening months to advertise the committee and seek additional members.
Respectfully submitted,
Jessi Anderson
Clark County Bar Association
CLARK COUNTY BAR ASSOCIATION BOARD MEETING
March 4, 2025
Minutes for the CCBA Board of Trustees Meeting March 4, 2025
1.Called to order 12:05 pm, Wechselblatt, Petersen, Melnick, Larson, Sutanto, Rapp, Mendoza, Hawke and Executive Director Darco
2. January 4, 2025 board meeting minutes: Motion to Approve (Mendoza/Rapp) Approved. Those absent from last meeting abstained from the vote
3. Treasurer's Repor t: (Melnick) Financials in board folder. Seeing the typical cycle of revenue and expenses. Membership dues revenue is down from last year by $2400. Remind your colleagues to renew or join.
4. Membership Engagement Committee Update (Petersen) Doing postcards. Discussed planning an event to start the membership drive for the next fiscal year.
5. CCBA Big Picture
a. Discussed the last CCBA survey from 2015. Agreed it is time for another survey. Idea to embed the survey topics Min a series of Hearsay articles. Will discuss further ideas at the next board meeting.
Review Trustee Job Description and Mission Statements: Will discuss at the next meeting.
6. Upcoming Meetings/ Events
a. Barrister’s Ball 3/8/25: Going to be a great time! 200 tickets sold. Thank you sponsors!
b. Gen eral Meeting 3/25/25, noon to 1pm at West Park, CLE to follow
c. Request to co-sponsor a CLE: CCBA policy has been to only co-sponsor CLEs that provide a CCBA benefit. This particular request seems more of a community wellness topic versus a topic related to law or the legal profession. Wechselblatt will review the agenda and contact the requestor to follow up.
d. On May 31st, 2025 from 9:00 to Noon there will be a volunteer event at Heritage Farm. Rain or shine. Come help prepare the fields for planting. BYOG- bring your own gloves. Heritage Farm grows food for the food bank. This event is a DEI Committee event and is open to individual volunteers and families.
