HearSay THE OFFICIAL MAGAZINE OF THE CLARK COUNTY BAR ASSOCIATION
July 2022
December 2019
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.
July Hearsay Contributors Nathan Petersen Petersen Rothermel Law Firm
Nathan Petersen’s practice focuses primarily on family law, including dissolutions, custody issue, child suppor t , an d a doptions.
Whitney Hawke Wheeler Boyd Attorneys at Law
Whitney Hawke‘s practice focuses primarily on Family Law. Whitney earned the Clark County Bar Association’s Trial Attorney of the Year award in 2020.
Colin McHugh Navigate Law Group
Colin McHugh is a co-owner at Navigate Law Group. Colin mostly practices employment personal injury and business law.
Bowling With the Judges page 10
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Lawyer BFFS page 16
Clark County’s Rule 6 Interns page 26
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Happy July to all our members. The sun is finally, with some false -starts, starting to come out and the CCBA is back in full swing with our in-person events. Thank you to all from the Bench and Bar that have helped organize and attend our events. It’s an open secret that my favorite event of the year is “Bowling with the Judges.” Even if just to explore the depth of available and family-friendly Big Lebowski quotes. This year I was even fortunate enough to be on the winning team. Major thank you to all that came out and filled up Big Al’s. Additional thank you to our superb Executive Director for my yearly Lebowski t-shirts. Full coverage of the event is in the pages to follow. A reminder that the CCBA’s Summer Soiree is coming up on July 23 at the Marshall House on Officer’s Row. It is our semi-fancy summer event with food catered by Beaches. More importantly, it is our opportunity to honor the hard working support staff in our local legal community. Nominations come directly from our members to recognize paralegals, judicial assistants, court clerks, offices managers and legal assistants. Information on the event and other events can be found at: https://www.ccbawashington.org/event-calendar I look forward to seeing everyone at the Soiree. Wanted to also pause to thank all those from the Bench and Bar that have dedicated their time to the CCBA this year. Both during our Zoom heavy lockdowns and now that we are beginning to be in the same room again. It was a lot of hard work operating any sort of social function over Zoom (shout out to my predecessor, Christie Emrich, whose tenure was entirely Zoom-based). But it has also been a lot of work and nervous anticipation as we dusted off our social skills to again elbow-bump in person. Thank you for making the year a great one.
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QuickBooks Desktop Preferences - Tips on Improving Your QuickBooks Desktop Experience by: Emanuela Sandri | Attorney Bookkeeping Services, Inc. Changing some of the preferences within QuickBooks (QB) can make things easier (and faster) when you’re using the program. When you open Preferences (located at the bottom of the Edit pull down menu), you’ll notice various areas listed along the left column. You’ll also notice there are two pages for each area – My Preferences and Company Preferences. Any changes made to the My Preferences page only affect the user who is signed into QB. Any user can make changes to their own preferences on this page. The Company Preferences can only be made by the Admin user. Preferences are saved in the company file, so if you work with multiple QB company files, you’ll need to change preferences in each company file. On the Desktop View – My Preferences page: · Multiple Windows shows several windows open at the same time and windows can be moved around. One Window displays one window at a time. · Don’t Save the Desktop (when closing QB) – if you Save the Desktop and you have 10 reports open when closing QB, when you open QB again, all 10 reports must open and run before you can access QB. · Switch to Top Icon Bar – for those of you who don’t like the newer Left Icon Bar, you can switch it back to the Top (like older versions of QB). · Company File Color Scheme – if you work with several QB Company Files, you can give each a different color scheme to make it easier remembering which company file you’re in.
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On the General – My Preferences page: · Pressing Enter moves between fields – This makes your Enter key act like your Tab key when entering data in a check, for example – Enter will move you to the next field, rather than saving the check and starting a new one. · Automatically place decimal point – with this checked, 5201 goes in a $52.01. Without it checked, it would go in as $5201.00. If you prefer entering a decimal point with each entry, leave it unchecked. · Turn off pop-up messages – This stops the ads for other QB products from popping up periodically while using QB. · Default Date – If you’re entering a lot of transactions from earlier dates, you would want to use last entered date. Otherwise, each new check, invoice, bill, etc. will open with today’s date. On the Checking – My Preferences page, you can set default accounts for writing checks, paying bills and sales tax, and making deposits. If you only have one checking account, this won’t matter, but if you use several checking accounts, this can save you from inadvertently entering deposits or checks into the wrong account. If you write checks when paying bills instead of entering the bill received and then writing the check at a later date, uncheck Open the Pay Bills. For law firms, unless otherwise advised, Open the Pay Sales Tax can be unchecked.
On the Accounting – Company Preferences page (Only Admin user can make changes here): · Warn if Transactions (days) in the past/future – These two settings will warn everyone if they try to enter a transaction older than (set # of days) or more than (set #) days into the future. If you’re entering a lot of transactions for last year, you would want this unchecked. Otherwise, it’s a good safety measure. Especially after the 1st of the year, when you want to enter a December transaction for last year and you accidently enter it for next December. · Set Date/Password - Setting a closing date and password means that anyone trying to enter or change a transaction before that date must enter the password. This is good protection to make sure last year’s data doesn’t get accidentally changed.
Accounting for
Conservatorships Trusts Estates
Cynthia V. Bradley (626) 795-5441 auc476@yahoo.com
Local Experience ~ Local References
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Jury Administration By: Audra Morrison Jury Administration Program Coordinator Have you ever sat down at the counsel table morning of trial and looked down to see a beautiful jury book and wondered, "how did this get here?" Much like the Wizard of Oz behind his curtain, the Jury Administrators of Clark County work diligently behind the scenes to make jury trials possible. What does a Jury Administrator do? Jury Administrators do everything in relation to jurors right up until the point that trial begins. We summon jurors, process excusal requests, check jurors in, assign jurors to trials, create jury books, select panels for trials, track verdicts, etc. Currently, we are summoning 1200 jurors a week/4800 a month. As we are a department of only 2 people, we are never not busy! What should attorneys and staff know about Jury Administration? Getting jurors to show up for Jury Duty is easier said than done! Since resuming trials, juror turn out has gone from 80-90% a week to as low as 60%. Because of this, we are having to call in 2x the amount of jurors needed for each trial. As a result, jury books are much larger than they have been in the past. It is always important to remember that the jury book is a preliminary list. Meaning, a juror being in the jury book does not guarantee that they will show up to court for jury service and be on the final panel paperwork. What is the #1 question asked by attorneys in regards to jury trials? "When will my jury book be ready?" Once a jury book order has been received by Jury Administration, jury books are typically ready for pickup by 1pm the day before trial begins (or Friday for Monday trials). Treating the jury staff with patience and kindness is the easiest way to get a jury book "early"! Favorite part of working for Jury Administration? "My favorite part of working in Jury Administration is working daily to make the public experience with the justice system, the courthouse, and government a pleasant, positive and educational one. We have an opportunity to change perception and attitudes towards the government and it is exciting to have the opportunity to do so 18 constructively." -Geoffrey Lopez
"Best Jury Administration" award made by Joe Johnson
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Family Reunification Day
by: Commissioner Stef Ellis
For most children in foster care, reunification with their family is the best option for a permanent and loving home. Each year, thousands of children are successfully reunited with their families after parents work hard, gain new understanding and skills, and partner with social workers and courts to meet extensive requirements. June is family reunification month and Clark County Superior Court is pleased to host an event (albeit a little later in the summer) to celebrate all of the families who have been reunited through the dependency process.
Food, Fun and FAMILY! Family Reunification Day Hazel Dell Park Saturday, August 27th 12pm-4pm Please join us for games, resource and activity booths, free haircuts for kids, professional family photos, raffles and more!
Part of Clark County ’s success in these reunification efforts comes from a strong, therapeutic approach to helping families succeed. Family Treatment Court (FTC) has been part of that framework for years, working with families who have had children removed primarily due to drug and/or alcohol related issues. FTC provides parents with immediate assistance to services and other wraparound supports to ensure that all child welfare issues are addressed quickly and permanently. Participation in Family Treatment Court often results in faster reunification and reduced re-entry of family involvement with the Department of Children, Youth and Families. Clark County Superior Court is also pleased to announce the start of Safe Babies Court this month! This is an early childhood therapeutic court program which applies the science of early childhood development in meeting the urgent needs of infants and toddlers under the age of three years old involved in the state’s child welfare system. This approach focuses intensively on empowering parents and removing barriers through individualized and comprehensive case planning; interdisciplinary, collaborative and proactive teamwork; expedited, appropriate and effective evidenced-based services; trauma-responsive support; and continuous quality improvement for racial equity and social justice.
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From: WSBA Character and Fitness Board To: Active Members in Clark County with 5 or more years of practice: Are you interested in serving on a multi-member quasi-adjudicatory board where you will have an opportunity to question witnesses, deliberate, and draft recommendations to the Washington Supreme Court? The Character and Fitness Board is looking for open-minded members with a variety of backgrounds and perspectives to consider to serve on the Character and Fitness Board. What is the Role of the Character and Fitness Board? • As outlined in APR 23, the Character and Fitness Board brings together a variety of voices, perspectives and experiences on its Board membership to deal with matters of character and fitness bearing upon qualifications of applicant’s character for admission to practice law in the state of Washington or the rehabilitation of petitioners for reinstatement after disbarment. • Playing an important role in the admission to practice process, this Board seeks to do its work with dignity, respect and open-mindedness. • The Board values members with a variety of perspectives and backgrounds. What is the Time Commitment? • The Board is scheduled one Friday per month for an all-day hearing; deliberations occur after the hearing. • Board members can anticipate about 5-10 hours of prep work for hearings that may occur monthly. • District Positions 8 and 9 are currently vacant and the term will begin upon appointment. • District Position 3 has a term beginning October 1, 2022. • There are also two public member positions opening October 1, 2022 – feel free to share! What are the Eligibility Criteria & Board Member Expectations? • The WSBA Character and Fitness Board is seeking members from congressional districts 3, 8 and 9. Given recent redistricting, confirm your district here by entering your home address in this interactive map. • Legal practitioner members of the Board are required to have at least five years of practice. • A cover letter and resume are requested as part of your application process. How do I Apply Today? • If this important work piques your interest, click here to learn about the Character and Fitness Board and review the Board member position description. For questions, please feel free to contact the Chair of the Character and Fitness Board or Volunteer Engagement Advisor, Paris Eriksen (parise@wsba.org). 22
TALENT SEARCH!
s d n a B r e y w a -Calling all L l a u n n A h 7t
F O E L BATT E TH R E Y LAW S BAND "BATTLE" DATE: SEPTEMBER 22, 2022 Acts Must Have: At least one lawyer as a legitimate member (no funny business) Acts Can Be: Solo Acts Multi-member bands Any genre
SEND DEMO TAPE TO (OR ARRANGE AUDITION WITH):
COMMITTEE CHAIR AUDRA MORRISON audrafmorrison@gmail.com 23
"Battle of the Lawyer Bands" is an annual fundraiser for Clark County Volunteer Lawyers Program, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization
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The Accidental Lawyer Navigating New Waters – Mark Carter joins Navigate Law Group and is Moving to Hawaii, Continuing his Virtual Bankruptcy Practice By Colin McHugh game. Mark told me that although he does not see himself as a very bold person, he asked her out the first time they met. Although they did not know each other before then, Amelia, now a teacher, is also from Vancouver—she attended Ft. Vancouver High School.
When you think about bankruptcy
law in Clark County, there are few names
that come to mind. One of the biggest names is Mark Carter.
So, you can imagine my surprise when my law partners told me that Mark called us and was very interested in joining our firm, Navigate Law Group. But I realized, even though I considered him a “big name” in Clark County, I really did not know much about him at all. If you haven’t had a chance to get to know Mark Carter, you are missing out. I recently sat down with him to get to know him a little better and to see what he is up to these days. The son of an ophthalmologist and a piano teacher, Mark was born and raised in Clark County, attending Hudson’s Bay High School. A young Mr. Carter picked berries and peaches on the farms nearby. As he got older, he would work seasonally for six years at Nordstrom’s on Christmas break and other holidays. Mark met his wife Amelia in college at University of Puget Sound at a basketball 24
Mr. Carter considers himself an “accidental lawyer” in part because he had no intention to go to law school and like many of us, has no lawyers in his family. Mark went to George Washington University for law school in Washington D.C.. Mark was fortunate enough to be invited to a cocktail party with all of the Supreme Court justices at the time and their law clerks. Mark was able to visit with Justice Thomas over a beverage at the event and some quick hellos with others. Additionally, a victim of the “travel bug”, Mark loves to travel. Mark was fortunate enough to have studied abroad in both London (for a semester) and Strasbourg France (for a school year) and enjoyed a month long Eurorail pass traveling solo after each study trip. After law school, when Mark eventually came back to Vancouver, he landed at a couple of law firms with people like personal injury attorney Loren Etengoff and now Clark County Superior Court Judge Gregerson. At first, as a new lawyer, Mark dabbled in family law, landlord tenant law, and bankruptcy. However, thanks to some encouragement from his wife Amelia, who at the time was ready to have kids and stay home to raise them, Mark eventually started his own firm practicing mostly bankruptcy, with some landlord tenant, shifting to just bankruptcy only recently during the pandemic.
Thus, for over twenty years, Mark has been doing one of the things that he loves best: helping people. Specifically, Mark says that most often, his clients always feel better after their first meeting with them, they sleep better, and they know what their options are and he can often see (or hear) the weight being lifted off of their shoulders. Amelia and Mark have two adult children that went to Prairie High School, a 20-yearold daughter now a junior at Western Washington, and a 23-year-old son, working at Amazon in Seattle. Now that the kids are gone, and given their travel bug affliction, Mark and Amelia started thinking about what they might do in their children’s absence. Mark said, “if not now, when?” The stars recently aligned for the Carters and my guess is that many people will be jealous. Amelia was able to get a job teaching at a school in Hawaii. Therefore, as of July 3, 2022, Mark and Amelia will be living in their new home in Hawaii. Given that bankruptcy courts are now largely remote, Mark will additionally be preparing bankruptcy petitions there, and appear in court remotely, as a Senior Attorney at Navigate Law Group. So, don’t wonder where Mark has gone. He is still practicing bankruptcy, he is just with a new firm, and practicing from Hawaii. Congratulations Mark, welcome to the Navigate Team, and we are looking forward to working with you, even if you will be across the Pacific Ocean!
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Clark County Bar Association Minutes for the CCBA Board of Trustees Meeting June 7, 2022
Minutes for the CCBA Board of Trustees Meeting June 7, 2022; hybrid meeting in person and via Zoom Called to order 12:04 p.m. Jacobs, Phelan, Melnick, Larson, Hawke, Aquadro, Emrich, Wechselblatt, and Executive Director Darco May 2022 board meeting minutes: Motion to Approve (Wechselblatt/Aquadro) Approved Treasurer’s Report (Melnick): Reviewed financial reports for May 2022 Ongoing Action Items: Committee Reports: Hearsay Committee: (Hawke) discussed coming articles for June issue Social Committee:(Phelan) committee is meeting to work on the Summer Soiree CLE Committee: (Emrich) DUI CLE may happen in August DEI Committee:(Aquadro and Wechselblatt)board voted on committee name and those votes added to committee member votes result in the chosen name: Diversity Equity Inclusion Committee. Motion to create the Diversity Equity Inclusion Committee and adopt the mission statement presented (Aquadro/ Wechselblatt) Approved. The committee is seeking sponsors for a fall CLE; contact Aquadro, Wechselblatt, or Darco to help out. At the last meeting, the group discussed creating a street law program, Judges Sheldrick, Smith, and Bartlett are meeting with Street Law Inc. to move that idea forward. Previous Action Items: Bench Bar Committees/Court Eval (Jacobs) Some board members met with Judge Vanderwood regarding bar member opportunity to provide input to the court consultant. May sit down again next month. CCBA Judicial Evaluation Update Need to schedule a meeting for the subcommittee: Jacobs, Phelan, Larson, Wechselblatt, and Mila Boyd. This subcommittee was formed to evaluate the format of our current judicial bar poll and the use of bar polls in general. Current Action Items: Formation of a Membership Committee (Jacobs) Needs a chair. The committee’s purpose is to increase involvement and membership in the CCBA. Tiered Membership (Jacobs)
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Discussed expanding CCBA membership to students and paralegals/legal admin professionals. Judicial memberships. Presently we have Regular, Young Lawyer, Emeritus, LLLT, and Associate memberships. Clark County Council – Ethics Commission (Darco) The Clark County Council has reached out to the CCBA to publicize positions on a county Ethics Commission. Darco asked about putting info about the opportunity on the CCBA’s social media. Agreed that it was an opportunity for professional development and could be posted. Darco added that clarification of the social media policy would be helpful. FYI Upcoming Events: Bowling (June 9), Soiree (July 23), Golf (August 31) Bowling 46 registered, Judges Osler, Parcher, Bartlett, Sleight, Lewis, Gonzales, Fairgrieve, Collier, and Com. Sasser are participating; Summer Soiree sponsors : Schauermann Thayer, Vancouver Defenders, Petersen Rothermel, NW Injury Law Center, Miller Nash, McKinley Irvin, and Gevurtz Menashe. Thank you! Judge Cornell Investiture 7/1/22: hybrid ceremony in person and via Zoom; reception to follow Judge Collier’s retirement details coming soon Adjourned 12:46
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Clark County District Court Bench Bar Committee Meeting June 15, 2022
Present: Judge Parcher, Judge Smith, Bryan Farrell, Kevin McClure, Donald Esau, Gabriela Laddusaw, Elizabeth Fitzgerald, Christie Emrich Judge Parcher: •
Anya Crossland was appointed to Deputy County Administrator
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Criminal Housekeeping: Updated change of plea policy was sent out
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A new written policy will be sent out regarding signatures – signatures must be real (wet signatures) or authenticated electronic signatures
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Reminder: Local Court rules require everyone to use AOC forms or forms off the District Court FTP cite
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Reminder there is a new AOC change of plea form for use – will need to attach Citation or fill in the elements on the form for these new plea forms
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Comment end for our local court rules on Friday June 17
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Next Meeting is July 16 at noon
Bryan Farrell: •
OnBase update: Internet Explorer goes away tonight (6/15/22), so no Liberty access for attorneys going forward, there is a possibility that Windows 10 may still work or the IE workaround, but no one knows yet if that will continue to allow access
•
OnBase will go live on August 2nd – current delay is regarding the quality of images
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District Court will host a Training in July for OnBase for everyone
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If you need a criminal document that you would have previously access through Liberty, you can email: districtcourt.criminalunit@clark.wa.gov
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Documents are also available at the front counter of District Court
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District Court will send amended citations and PC statements everyday to Christie Emrich for distribution to the defense bar
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District Court will create an email for civil attorneys to use to request civil documents
Other comments from attendees: •
Elizabeth Fitzgerald: VLP is working on a Volunteer Position to assist people accessing Civil District court dockets and supporting them during
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Clark County Superior Court Bench/Bar Committee Minutes June 14, 2022
Persons in attendance: Nicholas Alexander (nick@vancouverwillsandtrusts.com), Rachel Brooks (rachel@guardianship-law. com), Jessi Anderson (jessi@ccvlp.org) Curtis Welch (cwelch@sussmanshank.com) LeAnn Larson (LeAnn.Larson@clark. wa.gov) Julie Payne (Julie@juliepaynelaw.com) Commissioner Sasser (Jill.Sasser@clark.wa.gov) Judge Fairgrieve (John John. Fairgrieve@clark.wa.gov) and Judge Sheldrick (Emily.Sheldrick@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 abovementioned members of the committee. I. OLD BUSINESS: No old business to report. II. NEW BUSINESS: Judge Sheldrick: Local Rules Update – Feedback was appreciated! We’ve been working on addressing questions and presenting proposed rule changes to judges, who will vote next week then it is due to Superior Court Administration implemented Sept 1. Hopefully process will get people thinking and generating ideas. Every year we are going to have a review (maybe not as in-depth as this year) – Feel free to send them in because we keep a record. •
Other Updates: On base delayed until at least July, may not actually happen in July. I reached out to Scott Weber. He said they will be posting on the Clerk’s page instructions on Edge compatibly.
•
UD (Unlawful Detainer) docket update: The docket has been narrowed down to Thursdays at 1:30, Judge Sheldrick is handling. Eventually goal is to have it be a rotation, but don’t know when that is going to happen. • Ex parte UD is part of normal ex parte rotation – except for emergency stay – they are to go to the assigned judge that issued the Writ.
Judge Fairgrieve: investiture of Judge Tsering Cornell in Judge Vanderwood’s courtroom, 403, if you want to participate, July 1 The judges have been talking about consultant’s report, we are expecting the report this week, and will meet with the consultants the 24th of June for a comprehensive review. Purpose is to give us opportunity to explain and ask questions. Hard to tell how long recommendation implementations will take. Should expect something from the bench after the 24th and whether we will adopt or not. There will then have a process for implementation. Probably will be a little longer than most think to implement; especially if significant changes. Will publish recommendations that will be public record Jessi Anderson: Campaign for equal justice will be held June 23 – Judge Banfield will be giving a speech. We are also expanding DV survivor’s support within CCVLP. Currently have 1 staff attorney, we are now going to have 2 staff attorneys. Good applicants have come forward so we are excited. Rachel Brooks: Eager for successor to liberty going online. Does anyone know anything?
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LeAnn Larson: Concerned about internet-based access to Liberty when Internet Explorer use ends this week. The CCBA Board reached out to Scott Webber; his response was that Edge or Chrome work for some, but he didn’t give a work around. The Clerk’s office has an email to send document requests to, but an attorney noted it took days to get documents requested via the email. Have heard that OnBase is not expected until July or August. 1. Judge Sheldrick: We have different access, not web based, so we won’t have the same issue. Very different from practitioners. a. Work around for Edge: https://clark.wa.gov/clerk/access-records 2. Jessi: Huge concern for CCVLP. So much of our effectiveness is because of Liberty and access to court file. Commissioner Sasser: July 23rd CCBA Summer Soiree– Contact Lisa Darco to volunteer or for more information.
1. RCW 7.105 – Substantially changes most PO (protection orders) – New dockets Mon, Tues and Friday. VAPO docket will be with Comm. Sasser Mon, Tues or Fri on regular dockets. Stalking Orders now have one form. We are trying to anticipate how these will be implemented. NO separate VAPO or PO order, spread out over the week. Julie Payne: Guardianship bar meeting back to each month. New protection statute will go into law July 1, so were training for that. Big concern is OnBase, naturally. Megan Harney: Echo concerns about importance of access to info via Liberty. MEETING ADORNED 12:37 pm. Respectfully Submitted, Nicholas Alexander
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The CCVLP is looking for volunteer help in our Housing Justice Program! Are you. . . a) A Washington licensed attorney? b) Familiar with housing laws or would like a safe space to learn them? c) Passionate about helping folks in your community? d) Generally just an awesome person?
Come volunteer with us at the CCVLP! Our clients need assistance in dealing with: Habitability concerns Fair housing claims/discrimination Harassment from landlord or another tenant/neighbor Lease violations 14-day notices (to pay-or-vacate) Any other pre-summons notices The Eviction Resolution Pilot Program If you would like to volunteer or want to learn more, please contact our Volunteer Manager: mia@ccvlp.org 360-695-5313 Ext: 101
The CCVLP's current demand for housing assistance: March: 71 calls from clients April: 91 calls from clients 35