2025 August Hearsay

HearSay THE OFFICIAL MAGAZINE OF THE CLARK COUNTY BAR ASSOCIATION

August 2025

December 2019

Welcome, Commissioner Lopez!

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August Hearsay Contributors 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.

Whitney Hawke Wheeler Boyd, Attorneys at Law

Whitney Hawke is a partn er at Wheeler Boyd. Her practice focuses primarily on family law. She is the immediate past president of the CBBA.

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

Courtney Himes Keystone Family Law PLLC

Courtney Himes is a litigator practicing exclusively family law in Clark County, Washington, and operating a solo virtual law firm, Keystone Family Law PLLC.

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Planting Seeds of Service page 10

Alex Uskoski: the WACDL Anthony Savage Award Winner page 12

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Family Law Section Heats Up at the Timbers Game page 24

PRESIDENTS MESSAGE Deb Wechselblatt (they/them)

As the new school year begins, so does the CCBA’s membership year.

We’re excited to kick things off with our Coffee Cart membership event.

Whether you’re a new face or a long-standing member, we know that finding your place in a professional organization can be overwhelming.

The event will feature representatives from each of our committees and sections, ready to share how you can plug in, get involved, and make the most of your membership. Come by for a cup of coffee, connect with fellow members, and explore volunteer and leadership opportunities tailored to your interests and practice areas. Whether you’re passionate about public service, looking to network with colleagues, or ready to take the next step into a leadership role, we’ll help you find where you fit.

The CCBA is built on the energy, ideas, and involvement of its members. The Coffee Cart Membership Kick-Off is your opportunity to take that first step—or next step—toward meaningful engagement with your local bar.

Details: Espresso Yourself: Find Your Fit at CCBA - Coffee Cart Location: Westpark Community Room - 610 Esther St, Vancouver, WA 98660 Date: September 5, 2025 Time: Noon

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If you’re unable to stop by the coffee cart, we hope you’ll join us at the Annual Meeting. At the Annual Meeting, we’ll elect new officers, provide an overview of our sections and committees, and offer a CLE presentation titled “View from the Bench” by Judges Banfield and Bartlett.

Details: CCBA Annual Meeting, Lunch & CLE Location: Fort Vancouver Artillery Barracks - 600 Hatheway Rd, Vancouver, WA 98661 Date: September 15, 2025 Time: Noon

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I hope to see you at one or both of these upcoming events!

Deb Wechselblatt (they/them) – CCBA President

CCBA ANNUAL MEETING AND LUNCH September 15, 2025 - Noon to 1:00pm

Join us as we recap the last year and look forward to all the new and exciting things the CCBA has planned. As always, the Annual Meeting is FREE! There will be a $25 charge if you would like to join us for lunch.

This meeting will feature reports from Superior Court, District Court, and the Clerk's Office along with CCBA sections and committees. The CCBA Treasurer will present the budget and we will elect our new slate of officers.

Following the meeting, please consider joining us for a one hour CLE. CLE: View From The Bench 564-397-5866 1:00pm - 2:00pm Presented by: Judge Camara Banfield and Judge Abbie Bartlett deb.wechselblatt@clark.wa.gov

CONTACT ME

www.ccbawashington.org

Click To Register

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PLANTING SEEDS OF SERVICE CCBA VOLUNTEERS AT HERITAGE FARM

On May 31, 2025 the DEI committee for the CCBA hosted an event at the Clark County Food Bank’s plot at Heritage Farms. In the summer and fall the Clark County Food Bank cultivates and harvests more than 100,000 pounds of carrots, squash, and other vegetables at their 78th Street Heritage Farm plot. They rely on volunteers to sustain this important hunger relief effort. We at the CCBA took up this call and about 30 attorneys, legal support staff and families came to farm. We had attorneys f rom many practice areas as well as f riends, partners and children – everyone eager to fully immerse themselves in the dirt experience.

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Half the group planted eggplant, Anaheim chiles, peppers, and snow peas while the other half planted corn. As part of the corn group I really came to appreciate the physical labor early farmers in this region. The farm had recently purchased a machine to plant corn – but it was not yet working so instead we planted our seeds by hand – this means placing a kennel in a small hole, burying that kennel in the dirt and then moving 5 inches to dig another hole and do it all over again. After three hours of this work I could barely move.

Even with all the muscle soreness it was a great event. Our weather was perfect and we had plenty of opportunity while moving through the f ields to talk and get to know each other better.

Courtney Mendoza, Mendoza Law Group, sponsored our event – providing coffee, water and doughnuts. After all that work the doughnuts were especially appreciated.

Matt – our guide f rom the Food Bank invited us to return to the f ields this September to help with the harvest of the corn and the other vegetables.

Volunteers are welcome every Saturday f rom 9:00-12:00. Rarely do volunteers get to see the f ruits of their labor clear way – please let me know if there is any interest to set up another CCBA group to do some harvesting.

The DEI committee of the CCBA will be planning future opportunities for volunteering in our committee outside the law. We welcome any suggestions or ideas for projects for our members and their families and f riends.

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ALEX USKOSKI

2025 WACDL ANTHONY SAVAGE AWARD WINNER

BY WHITNEY HAWKE

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This story starts on April 1, 2025 when I received a text from Alex Uskoski’s wife. “Make Alex tell you about some attorney award he is getting. I don’t know what it’s called, but I keep asking if he has told you guys and he hasn’t!”

Turns out Alex received news he would be receiving the 2025 Anthony Savage Award from WACDL (Washington Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers) at their annual conference in Lake Chelan, WA. The Anthony Savage Award recognizes an outstanding trial performance or result achieved by an attorney in practice less than ten years. Alex was nominated by his close friends and mentors – Jon McMullen, and George Bianchi (one of Seattle’s prominent DUI defense attorneys).

Alex is a partner attorney at Wheeler Boyd. He is a Clark County native. His practice focuses exclusively on DUI defense, DOL issues, and driving related offenses. If you’ve ever had a DUI/DOL question, Alex has probably lent a helping hand. Alex has argued over 600 DOL hearings and obtained more than 250 dismissals.

If you know Alex, this award should come as no surprise. Also, if you know Alex, the fact that he didn’t tell his law partners about this award should come as no surprise either. Alex is humble, almost to a fault. The Anthony Savage Award is named after Seattle attorney Anthony “Tony” Savage who passed away in 2012 at age 81. Tony Savage’s obituary describes him as “the paragon of integrity,” and “just a 100 percent all-around guy. He never said an unkind word about anybody.”

Based on that, Alex was the perfect recipient of this award.

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Through his work over the past decade, Alex has earned a reputation as one of Washington’s preeminent DUI attorneys in the context of both criminal and administrative litigation. Alex is a member of the Washington Foundation for Criminal Justice (a group I lovingly refer to as “The Secret Order of DUI Nerds”). In 2024, Alex co-authored “Defending DUIs in Washington” – the statewide manual for DUI defense practice. Alex frequently presents DUI CLEs throughout the state and has worked with WFCJ and WACDL on DUI legislative topics since 2019. Alex has testified at legislative hearings to weigh in on DUI related legislation.

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Alex received the Anthony Savage Award on June 13, 2025 at the 2025 WACDL Conference in Lake Chelan, WA. The recipient is entrusted with Anthony Savage’s briefcase (yes, his actual briefcase) for the next year.

Alex’s acceptance speech highlighted Anthony Savage’s impact on Washington’s legal community through his wisdom, compassion, dignity, and kindness – things Alex strives to emulate in his everyday practice.

Andrew Wheeler’s introduction speech focused on Alex’s personal integrity, as well as his professional accomplishments. Andrew told an anecdote to highlight Alex’s character. Alex and Andrew had

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been trying to track down a prosecutor to negotiate a case for months. Alex finally got an inperson meeting on the calendar to talk through the case. When Alex returned from the long meeting, Andrew asked “so how did it go?

Did they accept our counteroffer?”

Alex said, “We actually didn’t really talk about the case at all. They were having a rough day, so we ended up talking about their family, their kids, and just about life in general. We’ll talk business another day.” Alex is not only a good attorney, but a good person. Anthony Savage’s briefcase suits him just fine.

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PORTUGAL BOUND:

PLANNING RETIREMENT AND NAVIGATING VISAS

By Amanda Hartman

It’s never too early to start planning for your retirement. That is the approach my husband, Matthew, and I took when looking at our future. We knew that we wanted to retire to an E.U. country with a great balance of climate, cost of living, healthcare, and other benefits. While we looked at many countries, we decided on Portugal several years ago because it has a mild climate, beautiful landscapes, access to quality healthcare, and a relatively accessible path to residency.

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In particular, Portugal had a lovely golden visa program that lets you invest into real estate to get in. Unfortunately, they’ve restructured the program and limited the ability to invest in real estate so the program no longer meets our needs. Nevertheless, we still loved the country’s other perks and so we checked into alternative visas: 1. Golden Visa: While the previous real estate option was limited in 2023 you can still invest €500,000 or donate €250,000 to specific areas like the arts or national cultural heritage.

2. D7 (retiree/passive income): Discussed further below, this visa requires you to show an ability to support yourself with passive income.

3. Other employment related visas – which we did not look too far into as our plan is to retire to the country. The D8 (digital nomad) visa may be an option for people who want to work remotely from Portugal.

The golden visa in its current form is a long way off so instead we’ve focused in on the D7. However, ongoing changes in Portuguese legislation may continue to impact the road to citizenship. For now the door remains open but the path is becoming longer and more complex. A Constitutional challenge to Portugal’s newest (proposed) immigration law was upheld as recently as August 8, 2025. If you're seriously considering Portugal —or any country—as a retirement destination, it’s important to stay informed about the latest legal requirements. The proposed legislation changes haven’t dissuaded us; Matthew and I still plan to move to Portugal. Though, as we’ll explore further in this series, we may end up applying under different visas, with Matthew pursuing the D7 and me the D8. We will need to see what happens next as the proposed law returns to Parliament!

Of course, the legal process is only one piece of the puzzle. A great visa program doesn’t help much if you move somewhere and realize you don’t actually want to stay. Once we had a clear 20

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understanding of the legal pathways, we needed to make sure Portugal was a place we truly wanted to live. That led to our 2025 Portugal scouting trip.

We spent about two weeks traveling around the country, visiting major cities we might one day call home, along with some of the surrounding countryside. Over the next few months this series will share some of those cities and provide an overview of the process for applying for citizenship through the D7 (and maybe D8) visa.

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FAMILY LAW SECTION HEATS UP AT TIMBERS MATCH

BY COURTNEY HIMES On Saturday, June 8, the Family Law Section closed out its 2024–2025 session with a major league celebration at Providence Park as the Portland Timbers faced off against St. Louis CITY SC. With kickoff at 4:00 PM and temperatures reaching 96 degrees, it wasn’t just the Timbers bringing the heat. Family Law Section members, along with their families and friends, gathered to enjoy a lively match from the Club Deck complete with a catered meal.

The game itself was one for the highlight reels. After falling behind early in the second half, the Timbers roared back with a pair of stunning goals: Antony’s dazzling strike in the 55th minute and David Ayala’s dramatic stoppage-time winner in the 92nd. With the 2–1 comeback victory, the Timbers extended their unbeaten home streak to eight matches and climbed to fourth in the Western Conference standings.

This event provided an engaging and memorable way to close out the session, bringing together colleagues, friends, and family for an afternoon of connection and celebration. The high-energy match and dramatic finish added excitement and made the day truly unforgettable. It was a great reminder of how valuable it is to spend time together beyond the courtroom.

Law is hard.

Membership helps.

Don’t go it alone.

Renew today!

Your CCBA community is here - don’t miss out!

Clark County Bar Association 904 Esther Street, Suite A Vancouver, WA 98660 (360) 695-5975 www.ccbawashington.org

Serving the Clark County Legal Community since 1978.

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Congratulations to the 29 McKinley Irvin attorneys selected to 2025 Super Lawyers & Rising Stars in Washington and Oregon

seattle | bellevue | kirkland | everett | tacoma | vancouver | portland | mckinleyirvin.com

Clark County Bar Association

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CLARK COUNTY BAR ASSOCIATION BOARD MEETING

July 8, 2025

Minutes for the CCBA Board of Trustees Meeting July 8, 2025 1. Called to order 12:08 pm, Wechselblatt, Petersen, Larson, Rapp, Mendoza, Hawke 2. June 3, 2025 board meeting minutes: Motion to Approve (Hawke/Rapp) Approved.

3. Treasurer’s Report: Melnick unavailable to attend meeting. He prepared and left the financial reports in board folder.

4. CCBA Big Picture a. Creative Sprint & Survey Results to date: reviewed response data and discussed ideas from the Creative Sprint b. Review Trustee Job Description and Mission Statements: Reviewed the executive committee job descriptions. Proposed changes. Will review final draft at the next meeting. Will discuss the mission statement at the next meeting.” c. Mentorship Workgroup: tabled to the next meeting 6. Upcoming Meetings/ Events a. “The Mayhew” Golf Tournament: 6/11/25 b. CLE-- DEI Backlash and the Erosion of the Rule of Law: What’s so “Controversial” About Being Diverse, Equitable, and Inclusive? 7/23/25 noon to 1:30 on Zoom c. Summer Soiree: 8/16/25 d. Annual Meeting: 9/15/25 noon to 1:00 Adjourned 12:50

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Clark County Superior Court BENCH/BAR COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES August 12, 2025

Persons in attendance: Jessi Anderson (jessi@ccvlp.org), Judge Banfield (Camara.Banfield@clark.wa.gov), Carl Snodgrass (carl.snodgrass@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, September 9th at 12:00.

Please email Jessi Anderson (jessi@ccvlp.org) for the Zoom link if you would like to attend.

Meeting commenced: 12:06 pm - Meeting adjourned: 12:16 pm Updates: Judge Banfield: (Civil Division Updates) •

Trying to shore up the continuance policy to have more consistent pre-trial forms for continuances within the civil department.

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Judge Gregerson just came on board on the civil rotation. He has now joined the UDA docket rotation.

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For ex parte (other than for UDAs) the civil judges are willing to have ex parte documents delivered to their mailboxes in the court admin office.

Carl Snodgrass:(Northwest Justice Project) •

NJP is doing work on LFOs. There are new mandatory petition forms. The clerk’s office has an additional form that they are requiring which asks for a financial summary (a very detailed list of all the financial information which is useful for the collections agency, but not needed under the statute). NJP is wanting to make sure that pro se people have the correct information as the form the clerk is saying is mandatory is making things unnecessarily difficult for pro se individuals.

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Judge Banfield requested a copy of the form being required by the clerk’s office and suggested NJP try communicating with the elected clerk directly about it because the changes to the process were meant to make the LFO process more accessible, and not to make things more difficult for pro se people.

Jessi Anderson: (Clark County Volunteer Lawyers Program) •

Wondering if the bench has noticed an increase in parties failing to appear for hearings, possibly out of fear of coming in person to the courthouse? CCVLP & NJP are considering efforts to make additional spaces available for remote hearing attendance.

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Judge Banfield suggested talking with the family law/protection order court staff to determine whether they have noticed an increase and whether there might be a solution to request a remote appearance (for an otherwise in-person required hearing) without increasing the danger for those seeking assistance from the courts.

Respectfully submitted, Jessi Anderson

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