HearSay
THE OFFICIAL MAGAZINE OF THE CLARK COUNTY BAR ASSOCIATION
November 2025
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
November Hearsay Contributors
Josh Sherman
Jane Clark Legal
Josh Sherman dedicates his practice to representing plaintiff in medical malpractice cases.
Jane Clark
Jane Clark Legal
Jane Clark has focused her practice on handling medical malpractice cases for more than 30 years. She is licensed to practice law in Washington and Oregon.
Lisa Darco
Clark County Bar Association
For 14 years, Lisa Darco has served as Executive Director of the Clark County Bar Association, guiding the organization with strategic leadership and a commitment to the legal community.
Chelsey Butchard
This season always reminds us how lucky we are to have such a committed, thoughtful, and downright wonderful CCBA membership. Thank you for ever y thing you bring to our community your time, your talent, and the way you consistently lift one another up. We truly have so much to be thankful for this year.
It’s also a season of giving, and we’re excited to share the ways we can make a meaningful difference together. We’re par tnering with the Boys & Girls Club through their Trees for Teens gift drive, helping ensure local teens feel seen and suppor ted during the holidays. We’re also teaming up with Dandelion Teahouse to suppor t their Dandelion Community Pantr y, providing essential items for neighbors who need a little extra care this winter.
More information on how you can par ticipate is coming soon, but for now, thank you for your generosity, your spirit, and ever y thing you do to make this community shine.
The Reading Bar
T h e R e a d i n g B a r – F i r s t B o o k D i s c u s s i o n
T h e R e a d i n g B a r ’ s n e x t m e e t i n g a n d f i r s t o f f i c i a l b o o k d i s c u s s i o n w i l l b e h e l d
M o n d a y, D e c e m b e r 8 , 2 0 2 5 , a t 5 : 4 5 p . m . a t W h i te O a k B o o ks ( 1 70 0 M a i n S t , S te
D, Va n c o u v e r ) .
A r r i v e w h e n y o u c a n w e ’ l l s t a r t w i t h s o m e c a s u a l s o c i a l i z i n g b e f o r e d i v i n g i n to
t h e d i s c u s s i o n G o i n g f o r w a r d , m e e t i n g s w i l l t a ke p l a c e e v e r y o t h e r m o n t h o n t h e
s e c o n d M o n d a y .
O u r f i r s t s e l e c t i o n , c h o s e n i n p a r t n e r s h i p w i t h W h i te O a k B o o k s , i s Co d e d J u s t i c e
b y S t a c e y A b r a m s ( a v a i l a b l e i n p r i n t , e B o o k , a n d a u d i o b o o k ) . Yo u c a n s u p p o r t
W h i te O a k b y p u r c h a s i n g t h e r e o r l o o k f o r a u s e d c o p y l o c a l l y P e te r a t W h i te O a k
a s s u r e s u s i t s t a n d s a l o n e i n t h e s e r i e s a n d r a i s e s i n te r e s t i n g e t h i c s i s s u e s a r o u n d
A I a n d t h e m e d i c a l i n d u s t r y
We l o o k f o r w a r d to s e e i n g e v e r y o n e o n D e c e m b e r 8 to d i s c u s s o u r f i r s t r e a d !
�� C h r i s t m a s Te a s e r : S e c r e t S a n t a B o o k E xc h a n g e
We ’ r e a d d i n g s o m e h o l i d a y f u n w i t h a n o p t i o n a l S e c r e t S a n t a B o o k E xc h a n g e !
I f y o u ’d l i ke to j o i n i n , p i c k a b o o k y o u l o v e to s h a r e w i t h a n o t h e r R e a d i n g B a r
m e m b e r . Ke e p i t s i m p l e u s e d o r p a p e r b a c k i s p e r f e c t l y f i n e . A t t h e D e c e m b e r 8 m e e t i n g , w e ’ l l h a v e a s i g n - u p s h e e t , a s h o r t f o r m to s h a r e y o u r f a v o r i te s n a c k s a n d
d e l i v e r y p r e f e r e n c e s , a n d w e ’ l l d r a w n a m e s to s e e w h o y o u ’ l l b e g i f t i n g to .
I f y o u c a n ’ t a t te n d , e m a i l J e a n o r A m a n d a to b e a d d e d to t h e l i s t
T h a n k s to L i s a , b o o k s a n d s m a l l g o o d i e s ( a r o u n d $ 5 – $ 1 0 ) c a n b e d r o p p e d o f f a t t h e
C C B A o f f i c e ( 9 0 4 E s t h e r S t , Va n c o u v e r ) o n D e c e m b e r 9 , 1 0 , o r 1 1 . O n c e a l l g i f t s a r e
i n , w e ’ l l d e l i v e r t h e m to t h e i r n e w o w n e r s . I f y o u c a n ’ t d r o p o f f , c o n t a c t J e a n o r
A m a n d a t h e d e a d l i n e i s D e c e m b e r 1 5 .
L e t ’ s s p r e a d s o m e b o o k i s h c h e e r a n d s h a r e a f e w f a v o r i te s a s w e h e a d i n to t h e
h o l i d a y s !
Clark County Bar Association
CLARK COUNTY BAR ASSOCIATION BOARD OF TRUSTEES MEETING
October 14, 2025
Minutes for the CCBA Board of Trustees Meeting October 15, 2024
Called to order 12:07 pm, Official Start of the Wechselblatt Administration; Wechselblatt, Petersen, Melnick, Larson, Busby, Rapp, Mendoza, Hawke and Executive Director Darco
September 3, 2024 board meeting minutes: Motion to Approve (Hawke/Melnick) Approved September 16, 2004 Annual Meeting minutes: Motion to Approve (Melnick/Mendoza) Approved Treasurer’s Report (Melnick): Financials prepared for board to review.
Bylaws, Mission Statement, Trustee job description (Wechselblatt) Handouts of bylaws, mission statement, and trustee job description provided. Goal to onboard new board members and refresh the continuing board members. Discussion. ACTION: Committee formed (Petersen, Hawke, Larson) to evaluate mission statement and trustee job description for updating.
Committee Assignments for 2024-2025 (Wechselblatt): Hearsay: Hawke, Rapp, Mendoza, Petersen; Social: Hawke; CLE: Busby; DEI: Rapp, Mendoza; Membership: Petersen, Sutanto; Golf: Busby, Hawke; YLS: Mendoza. Discussion. Points raised about whether Secretary and Treasurer should have committee assignments and ratio of board members on a committee relative to total committee members.
Membership Committee and Drive (Wechselblatt): 2024/2025 members:349, Non Renewed: 116, New Members: 25, Staff: 37. Compare to October 1,2023: 307 members versus October 1, 2024: 338 members. 2023/2024: 439 members. We need to get 450 members for this fiscal year to meet our budget projections. Discussion of strategies for membership drive. ACTION: Each board member to call 3 new attorneys and non renewed members. If you have not renewed for this year, then do it please. If you know someone who hasn’t renewed or has not been a member, please ask them to join.
Lawyer Fee Survey: tabled to next meeting
Lawyer Referral Service: tabled to next meeting
Ratify Board Email Vote Approving Budget Proposal for Presentation at Annual Meeting: Motion to ratify board approval via email of the proposed 2024/2025 budget(Petersen/Hawke) Approved
Bank Account Signator Change: Motion to remove Whitney Hawke as a bank account check signer and add Nathan Petersen as a signer (Busby/Melnick) Approved
Upcoming Meetings/ Events
Pumpkin Patch 10/17/24
Barrister’s Ball 3/8/25
Adjourned
Clark County Superior Court
BENCH/BAR COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES
October 14, 2025
Persons in attendance: Judge Fairgrieve (John.Fairgrieve@clark.wa.gov), Jessi Anderson (jessi@ccvlp. org), Alex Reaganson (alexander.reaganson@nwjustice.org), Curt Welch (cwelch@sussmanshank. com), Amanda Willden (Amanda.Willden@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. The next meeting will be Tuesday, December 9th at 12:00. Please email Jessi Anderson (jessi@ccvlp.org) for the Zoom link if you would like to attend.
Meeting commenced: 12:04 pm Meeting adjourned:12:24 pm
Updates:
Judge Fairgrieve: (Family Law Division Updates)
Judge Fairgrieve Is now in the family law annex with Judge Sheldrick and Judge Retsinas. Judge Gonzales has moved to civil now. That transition is complete. There has been some guidance regarding the next move. It looks like District Court will be moving out of the building and into their new building in early 2026, and then those spaces that they occupied will need to be remodeled to accept the family law group moving in. So it is looking like July 2026 when Superior Court family law will be moving into the current main courthouse.
Alex Reaganson: (Northwest Justice Project)
• From the civil side, the UDA bar met to discuss procedures last month to loop in Judge Gonzales. That group is continuing to discuss issues such as pro se materials, and when to set matters for trial. There is follow up conversation happening on those issues on November 12th.
• LFOs: still running into issues with the clerk’s office and the collections department. Trying to set up a meeting with the clerk’s office, collections, and Judge Snider. Pro se individuals are being instructed that they need to file financial documentation with the collections department-the concern is that this is sensitive information which should be filed under seal.
Curt Welch:
• Mock Trial has started. Practices started last week. This is the first in many years that Judge Lewis hasn’t authored. A Judge from Pierce County has authored this year’s case. It’s a big lift to create a packet like this. This year’s case centers around an auto accident related to texting where the driver is charged with vehicular manslaughter. Competition dates are February 18th-19th, 2026.
Jessi Anderson (Clark County Volunteer Lawyers Program):
• Battle of the Lawyer Bands, November 13th at Georgie’s Bar & Grill-note the new location.
• CCVLP seeing several people return to us saying their GR34 fee waiver was rejected and they were told they have to have a financial declaration. These are the QLSP fee waivers that an attorney has signed declaring the individual to have been screened by a QLSP and that they qualify for a fee waiver.
• Ms. Willden is going to check in with the counter staff to make sure they are aware about these QLSP fee waivers.
• Additionally, there is a separate hiccup where CCVLP staff emailing over case initiating documents along with the fee waiver motion and order which should prompt the automatic order are being told that the fee needs to be paid first.
- Ms. Willden requests clarification on whether there are 2 different processes CCVLP is using.
- Jessi clarifies that yes, individuals who are able to access the courthouse, are typically provided the QLSP GR34 motion and proposed order to take with them along with their documents when they go to the courthouse to file. For individuals with barriers to accessing the courthouse, CCVLP uses the e-file process that has been set up where we email the case initiating documents along with a GR 34 motion and proposed order, and then we are supposed
Representing Injured Workers on Their Washington Claims
to receive back the case number and an automatic order on fee waiver, which then we e-file into the newly created case.
- Ms. Wilden confirms that there was essentially a whole new e-filing and recording group and this issue should now be resolved.
• In general CCVLP has seen extensive demand for legal services, particularly related to family law, including matters with elements of domestic violence and sexual assault over the past years. There used to be a bit of a cyclical nature to the demand for pro bono legal services, and we’ve seen that diminish and become a constantly increasing demand. As we analyze current and rising demand against considerations like insecurity in foreseeable funding to support additional staffing and the sustainability of existing program staffing, we may see CCVLP modify services or service models to adjust as needed.
- Mr. Reaganson echos those comments on behalf of NJP. NJP has a 90 day buffer in fund reserves to compensate when issues like federal shutdowns or funding losses occur.
Respectfully
submitted, Jessi Anderson
