Join AILA attorneys for Citizenship Day, Saturday, April 27

Volunteers needed at three Citizenship Day events in Vancouver, Yakima, and Tacoma

Citizenship Day is a free, one-day legal clinic to help legal permanent residents apply for citizenship, and is hosted by AILA-WA, OneAmerica, and committed community partners statewide. With immigrants under attack, citizenship is the only protection from deportation, and you can help! Please join us for the day, and help hundreds of legal permanent residents take the first step towards becoming US citizens.

Pro Bono CLE credits are available for attorney volunteers (WSBA members only). In order to receive CLE credits, attorneys are required to watch our 80 minute video training before the event and attend the 45 minute day of training at Citizenship Day.

WHEN: Saturday, April 27, 2019, 8:30am-5:30pm*

SITES: Tacoma - Tacoma Community House

Vancouver - Clark College

Yakima – Yakima Valley Community College

*If you cannot make the whole time, we can still use your help, especially in the afternoon to review completed N-400s.

Volunteers are appreciated for all three sites, but please consider joining us in Vancouver or Yakima – you can make a weekend out of it! Plus, travel reimbursements are available from AILA-WA for AILA attorneys and law students who travel more than 100 miles or 2 hours to volunteer.

Click here to sign up to volunteer! And feel free to share the link with your networks and office colleagues.

What do volunteers do? Attorneys & DOJ-Accredited Representative volunteers meet one-on-one with clients to screen for naturalization eligibility, answer questions, review completed applications for accuracy, and provide instructions for follow up or filing. Attorneys may also review the work of other attorneys during client checkout. You must be a licensed attorney or DOJ-Accredited Representative to fulfill this role. Attorney volunteers must have been in practice for at least 2 years, AND have completed at least five (5) N-400 applications. If you would like to volunteer as an attorney but do not meet these requirements, please contact WNA Participant Engagement and Coalition Manager at rosana@weareoneamerica.org

Volunteers who have not attended a Citizenship Day in the last year will be required to view an 80-minute video training in advance of volunteering.

If you have any questions about Citizenship Day, please contact WNA Integration and Advocacy Manager Rosana Donoso Barredo at rosana@weareoneamerica.org

We hope to see you there!

I just wanted to share a law student scholarship opportunity with all of you through the Korean American Bar Association of Washington (KABA).

We are offering a one-time scholarship opportunity to honor my friend and fellow KABA board member, Kate Seabright. We lost Kate late last year to suicide and it has been an incredibly hard loss. Kate was a graduate of the University of Washington School of Law, a former federal clerk, and an associate at Fox Rothschild. This scholarship was made possible by Fox Rothschild and Kate’s parents, Mike Seabright and Margaret Ahn Seabright.

We posted the scholarship opportunity on March 13, 2019, as it would have been her 30th birthday. The scholarship application and information can be found here.

If would be able to pass this along to law students, I would greatly appreciate it! Please feel free to direct any law students with questions to me.

Best Regards,

Paige Hardy

We are excited to announce our registration for attorney raters for the 2019 High School Mock Trial State Championship is now open. The 2019 YMCA Mock Trial State Championship will take place March 22nd – 23rd at the Thurston County Courthouse in Olympia. The link to register can be found at the end of this email.

For those of you who are not familiar with Mock Trial, here is a brief overview. In 1987, Washington YMCA Youth & Government doubled the number of students it could reach by taking on the high school Mock Trial Program, previously run by the Washington State Bar Association, Young Lawyers Division. In 2018, we are geared up to have 60 teams participate from across the state of Washington. Beginning in September, students begin studying the case and understanding the lives of the characters they must eventually become. They learn courtroom procedures, rehearse opening and closing arguments, and practice the art of thinking on their feet. Each team must field both a plaintiff and defense team, meaning that often time’s students must play dual roles. During the month of February, teams from around the state match up for district competitions. When they results are in, it is decided which 24 teams will make it to the state championship in March. From there, the winner of our state will represent Washington at the National High School Mock Trial Championships. Last year, Franklin High School won our state and was crowned the High School Mock Trial National Champions in Reno, Nevada.

This year’s case was written by the Honorable Judge Lewis from Clark County and is titled “Flyspecking”. This year’s case is a civil case that deals with livestock, neighborhoods, home owners associations and property lines. I have attached Judge Lewis’s summary of the case for more details.

We currently have 4 rounds open for volunteers:

Friday, March 22nd – 6:00 – 9:00 pm

Saturday, March 23rd – 8:00 – 11:00 am

Saturday, March 23rd – 12:00 – 3:00 pm

Saturday, March 23rd – 3:30 – 6:30 pm

Here is the link to register: https://goo.gl/forms/Bfbok70Nt9KdiiLx2

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to me at efitzgerald@seattleymca.org

The Board would like to invite you to serve as a Judge in our upcoming 2019 Spring Mock Trial Competition. We have plenty of openings for Judges in our preliminary rounds, taking place on Friday March 15 at 5:00 PM and at 7:00 PM, and Saturday March 16 at 10 AM and 12 PM (Noon).

If you are available for any of the above times, or perhaps multiple consecutive times, the commitment would entail arriving at Seattle University School of Law 30 minutes before your first round begins, judging your respective round, grading competitors’ performances, and providing feedback.

Dinner is provided to our judges in advance of the competition on Friday night, and breakfast is provided to our judges in advance of the competition on Saturday morning.

Serving as a judge is a great opportunity to earn CLE credits and give back to the legal community by mentoring and educating law students. With your assistance, we can offer Seattle University law students the best oral advocacy experience possible.

We would greatly appreciate your assistance in judging this competition. If you are interested and available, you can sign up via this google form: https://goo.gl/forms/w0lB1Aos0qLPae5z2 . Once you’ve submitted your response, the Moot Court Board will send along a confirmation letter, competition information, and parking information in advance of the event.

The Mock Trial committee is seeking volunteer attorney raters for the 2019 Mock Trial tournament. More details below. Please email Jill Sasser (jill.sasser@landerholm.com) if you are able to volunteer.

The High School tournament will be held on Wednesday, February 27 and Thursday, February 28.

Wednesday, February 27:

Round 1 - 12:30-3:00pm

Round 2 - 3:00-5:30pm

Round 3 - 5:30-8:00pm

Thursday, February 28:

Round 4 - 12:30-3:00pm

Round 5 - 3:00-5:30pm

Round 6 - 5:30-8:00pm

The tournament is held at the Clark County Courthouse. Attorney raters need to meet in the first floor jury assembly room for trial assignments. Please arrive about 15 minutes early to get courtroom assignments and score sheets. Each round lasts about 2.5 hours. You will need to watch the trial, fill out a scoresheet and offer brief and positive feedback to the participants. You do not need any experience to participate.

In exchange for your time we can offer our gratitude, some food and drink, and the enjoyable experience of watching students participate in this program.

JustLead Washington is now recruiting for its Board of Directors. As you may know, JustLead is a statewide organization offering training, consulting, and other capacity-building support to the equity & justice community that is focused on leadership and organizational development, race equity, and collaboration between legal and community partners. JustLead’s inaugural board started as a small but mighty team of Leadership Academy alumni who were (and still are!) willing to help steward the birth and growth of JustLead, but as our now 2-year-old organization grows we are hoping to recruit a new cohort of board members who can join our team in 2019.

JustLead is seeking board members who are excited to engage in big conversations about what a strong community of equity & justice advocates and organizations look like and who are willing to champion JustLead’s work within their networks and communities. We are intentionally seeking a mix of JustLead program alumni and folks who are newer to JustLead, legal and community partners, and folks from around the state. We welcome and encourage applicants who have personally navigated the law & justice systems and who have been directly impacted by racism, poverty, and other forms of structural oppression.

Are you ready and excited to become part of our growing team? Do you know anyone else who might be? Please help us spread the word! Please see attached for a board recruitment announcement and more information; you can also find information at https://justleadwa.org/about/job-openings/. Board applications are due January 18^th,, and interested applicants will have an opportunity to talk with current board members and attend a board meeting before confirming their interest. For questions or assistance in completing a board application please contact info@justleadwa.org.

Complimentary QLaw membership!  QLaw is the LGBT bar association of Washington.  Members of other minority bar associations such as WWL interested in QLaw’s mission—whether you identify as LGBT or as a dedicated ally—are invited to join QLaw for the 2019 membership year for free.  QLaw is doing this to promote more interaction and flow of ideas between our groups, better serve those with intersectional identities, and maximize the diversity of our membership.  To join, go to www.qlaw.org/join and use the discount code MBA2019.  The discount applies only for new QLaw members.

Write for Litigation News!

The ABA Section of Litigation’s national news magazine seeks excellent writers interested in joining its editorial board as contributing editors.  Contributing editors write four articles per year and attend two ABA conferences (partial reimbursement available).  Reaching an audience of over 40,000 members, this is a great opportunity to get your name out there and connect with attorneys across the country. 

Interested?  Participate in our annual write-on competition!  Send a resume and writing sample to LitNewsWriteOn@gmail.com by January 18, 2019.  We will notify applicants selected to participate in the competition by February 1, 2019. 

On behalf of the Young Lawyers Division (YLD) of the King County Bar Association, we write to ask for your help in identifying nominees for the Mentor of the Year Award. All finalists will be recognized at the YLD Winter Soiree on February 7, 2019, where the winner will be announced. YLD mentors provide the invaluable gift of time, teaching, and training to new lawyers.

As members of KCBA’s Diversity Committee, we hope to assist the YLD in creating a broad, diverse pool of nominees. Could you share this request for nominations to your membership or others whom you believe might know of a worthy nominee? To nominate a mentor, the nominator should submit an a short explanation of why the mentor deserves the award. Specific examples of assistance provided by the mentor are helpful. Nominations should be between two paragraphs and no more than one page. Nominations and any questions about the award or nomination process, should be submitted to Anna Robson at AnnaR@kcba.org by January 14, 2019. Nominators must be current YLD members, defined as a lawyer 36 years old or under or in the first five years of practices, whichever comes later.

Social Networking Luncheon

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When:

Tuesday, December 4th, 2018, from 11:45 a.m. to 1:15 p.m.

Where: Schwabe Williamson & Wyatt, 1420 Fifth Ave., Suite 3400, Seattle, WA 98101

RSVP: through Big Tent (preferred if you are a MAMAS member) or by email to lunchseminars@mamaseattle.org.

Please join us for a fun and informal networking event. Light lunch and dessert will be provided. Due to the nature of this event, we will not be offering telephone participation. Please join us in person!

MAMA Seattle would also like to thank our

Platinum sponsors:

Davis Wright Tremaine LLP

Garvey Schubert Barer

K&L Gates LLP

Yarmuth Wilsdon PLLC

Gold sponsors:

Keller Rohrback LLP

Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP

Perkins Coie LLP

Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt

Summit Law Group PLLC

www.MAMASeattle.org