The annual NFPA Joint Leadership, Certification, and Regulation Conference is one of the most popular and most beneficial gatherings for paralegal leaders in their local association and their community. Attendees have the opportunity to share and network with professionals regarding association leadership, certification and regulation within the paralegal profession.

April 16: Regulation

April 17: Leadership

April 18: Certification

For more information on schedule, topics, and speakers, please visit: https://www.paralegals.org/page/2024jointconference

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"On April 18, 2023 the Supreme Court reached a new milestone: The end of the “2d” era and the beginning of the Washington Reports, Third Series (Wn.3d). The first case in the new series is Wash. Food Indus. Ass’n v. City of Seattle, 1 Wn.3d 1 (2023), a plurality decision filed February 9, 2023. This transition has been met with great excitement and fanfare in the court."

https://medium.com/walawlibrary/next-gen-reporting-welcome-to-the-3d-era-493b4b62b39f

“To hire a lawyer, people either need considerable money or have an income low enough to qualify for the limited legal aid available. The problem is that the majority of people in the middle class don’t fit into either of those categories, making access to legal services incredibly difficult,” says IAALS Director of Special Projects Michael Houlberg. “Even if every lawyer took on pro bono clients, it wouldn’t come close to addressing the need. And IAALS’ research shows that people who need legal help are open to receiving it from qualified and authorized providers who are not lawyers.” 

https://iaals.du.edu/blog/iaals-releases-national-framework-states-create-new-tier-legal-professionals-who-can-offer

Looks like another state is joining the list for allowing paralegals to become licensed legal paraprofessionals. And, once again, equal access to justice is a prevailing motivator.

"The Colorado Supreme Court has ruled that licensed legal paraprofessionals without law degrees will be able to represent clients in certain cases. 

Starting July 1, licensed legal paraprofessionals may file court documents and represent their clients in mediation during domestic cases involving divorce proceedings and child custody hearings. LLPs will also be able to accompany clients to court and answer a judge’s questions, but will be unable to present oral arguments or question witnesses."

https://www.cpr.org/2023/03/30/licensed-legal-paraprofessionals-represent-clients-court/

KING COUNTY BAR ASSOCIATION RESOLUTION CALLING FOR A SCOTUS CODE OF ETHICS PASSED BY THE AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION

The American Bar Association House of Delegates passed King County Bar Association’s Resolution 400 calling for justices of the Supreme Court of the United States to adopt a binding code of ethics comparable to the code of ethics imposed on federal judges. 

To read the full press release, click here: 

https://www.kcba.org/Portals/0/newsevents/2023_KCBA_ABA_resolution.pdf

“In order to cultivate a set of leaders with legitimacy in the eyes of the citizenry, it is necessary that the path to leadership be visibly open to talented and qualified individuals of every race and ethnicity.” — Justice Sandra Day O’Connor

Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, the first female Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, wrote those words in 2003, in a decision affirming the right of institutions to seek and promote diversity within their ranks.

Seeing a wide range of lived experience and perspectives among the ranks of civic and government leaders has a powerful effect, particularly for communities of people who have historically been denied a seat at tables of power.

For Gov. Jay Inslee, who has sought to improve equity across Washington’s legal justice system, increasing diversity on court benches has been an ongoing effort. He has sought to appoint judges and justices at every level of the court system that ensure the state’s courts are more reflective of the people they serve. The governor’s appointments have also created a pipeline of highly-qualified judges who are being tapped for higher courts. President Biden, like President Obama before him, has elevated some of the governor’s appointees to the federal bench.

Read the full story on Gov. Jay Inslee's Medium here. (January 23, 2023) 

Gov. Jay Inslee signed a dozen bills today that will improve accountability for law enforcement in Washington state, and will create the nation’s strongest police accountability system. The governor, joined by community members and families of those impacted, signed the bills at the Eastside Community Center in Tacoma.

The governor signed legislation that will create an Office of Independent Investigations that reports to the governor, prohibit certain uses of force and will require more thorough oversight requirements for hiring and for reporting misconduct.

“The crises of the past year have unmasked long-standing inequities in our society. The consciousness of our state and nation has been raised against inequity in many forms,” Inslee said. “Our moral mandate to acknowledge these hard truths crystallized in the fallout from the killing of George Floyd in Minnesota, and the killing of Manny Ellis in Tacoma. The bills I am signing today respect these truths and lay a solid foundation to halt inequity’s pernicious influence in our systems of government.”

Katrina Johnson— cousin of Charleena Lyles, who was killed in Seattle in June of 2017— praised the legislation being signed and thanked the governor and state for allowing impacted families to lead in policy discussions, as they are “experts of [their] experience.” 

“To the impacted families, take a bow in knowing your loved ones death is not in vain,” Johnson said Tuesday. “Today, we stand united in strength and bonded together in pain and blood. We celebrate on this bill signing day, and tomorrow it is back to work on implementation.” 

The governor signed the Climate Commitment Act, environmental justice legislation, a clean fuels standard and bills related to reducing Washington’s single-use plastic waste and hydrofluorocarbon pollution. The governor also vetoed sections

“We’ve got a heck of a job to do in the years to come. Our climate commitment, made by our legislature in 2020, is to cut climate pollution by over 50% in the next nine years, on our pathway to net-zero climate pollution by 2050. It won’t be easy, but these bills go a long ways to getting us there,” Inslee said. “Today we commit to our kids and grandkids to do the hard work, so that they will have good jobs and a safe, healthy future, here in our beautiful home state.”

Inslee was joined by legislators, tribal members, community members and organizations, and other stakeholders as he signed legislation that secured Washington’s top position in the country battling the climate change crisis.

The governor also issued partial vetoes for HB 1091 and SB 5126.

Gov. Inslee Press Updates <press@updates.gov.wa.gov>

Gov. Jay Inslee announced Thursday that the state is moving toward a statewide June 30 reopening date and that all counties in Washington will move to Phase 3 of the Healthy WA: Roadmap to Recovery reopening plan effective May 18 until June 30.

The announcement comes after the governor paused phase movement for two weeks to review an emerging flattening trend in statewide COVID-19 data. As of this week, the plateau observed in COVID-19 activity has become a decline.

“What we know now gives us the confidence to close this chapter in this pandemic and begin another,” Inslee said at a press conference Thursday. “This next part of our fight to save lives in Washington will focus on increasing vaccination rates and continuing to monitor variants of concern as we move toward reopening our state.”

The full reopening could happen earlier than June 30 if 70% or more of Washingtonians over the age of 16 initiate vaccination. Washington has administered over six million doses of vaccine, and 56 percent of Washingtonians have initiated vaccination.

Inslee also announced that Washington will fully adopt masking guidance issued by the CDC earlier this week. He stressed that this guidance is for fully vaccinated people — meaning people who are two weeks removed from their second shot of Pfizer or Moderna, or the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

Gov. Inslee Press Updates <press@updates.gov.wa.gov>

Gov. Jay Inslee today announced that the state is moving toward a statewide June 30 reopening date and that all counties in Washington will move to Phase 3 of the Healthy WA: Roadmap to Recovery reopening plan effective May 18 until June 30.

The announcement comes after the governor paused phase movement for two weeks to review an emerging flattening trend in statewide COVID-19 data. As of today, the plateau observed in COVID-19 activity has become a decline.

“What we know now gives us the confidence to close this chapter in this pandemic and begin another,” Inslee said at a press conference Thursday. “This next part of our fight to save lives in Washington will focus on increasing vaccination rates and continuing to monitor variants of concern as we move toward reopening our state.”

The full reopening could happen earlier than June 30 if 70% or more of Washingtonians over the age of 16 initiate vaccination. Washington has administered over six million doses of vaccine, and 56 percent of Washingtonians have initiated vaccination.

Inslee also announced that Washington will fully adopt masking guidance issued by the CDC earlier today. He stressed that this guidance is for fully vaccinated people — meaning people who are two weeks removed from their second shot of Pfizer or Moderna, or the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

Gov. Inslee Press Updates <press@updates.gov.wa.gov>