January 2006

The WYLD is coming! The WYLD is coming!

by Bar News Editor Lindsay Thompson

When I came back to these pages, I thought it would be a good thing to introduce different parts of  the WSBA to each other. We are a big organization doing many things. We get divvied up by what side of PI cases we’re on; whether we work for government or not; whether we are young lawyers or not, and so on.

So this month I have dropped an issue of De Novo, the Washington Young Lawyers Division (WYLD) publication, into Bar News. Since their publication goes only to their members, I thought it would be interesting for the general readership to get a snapshot of what our 6,000-member-strong WYLD is up to. Look over your shoulder: every year the WSBA gains about a thousand new members, and they all become WYLD members.

President Noah Davis and President-elect John Brangwin; Editorial Advisory Board members Mark O’Halloran, Julia Bahner, and Jennifer Brugger; De Novo Editor Jason Vail and Associate Editor Shelley Ajax; a number of other contributors to this issue; and Staff Liaison Amy O’Donnell (a former Bar Newser who’s gone up in the world) have worked hard to provide us with an interesting cross section of what goes on.

WYLD is no Seattle-centric operation. They reach out statewide. They work to build collegiality, a concept that gets talked about a lot in other sectors of the Bar in a furrowed-brow, hand-wringing sort of way. They bring in judges and more senior lawyers for CLEs they hold in fun places, and along with the learning bits they actually seem to have fun.

I admire WYLD because they are reaching back to advance the sort of professional values once taken as givens, but in ways that speak to their membership with currency rather than sepia-toned nostalgia. They are adaptable. Diversity is a fully inclusive idea in the WYLD. They recognize the makeup of our membership is changing, and fast. They welcome everyone.

On a slender budget, the WYLD does a remarkable business in Useful Activities Beneficial to the Public. There never seems to be enough time to do justice to their work when the trustees come to report to the Board of Governors. I’ve often thought it would be interesting for the Board of Governors to reverse the order of things and call on the WYLD trustees for a change. In the meantime, you can read more about what’s afoot in the WYLD at their website: www.wsba.org/lawyers/groups/wyld.

The growing role of the WYLD is evidenced in the Board of Governors’ 2001 decision to create a WYLD seat. Since then WYLD members have won election to other BOG seats as well. The WSBA Leadership Institute has graduated its first class of new lawyers and is underway with a second batch. It’s gratifying to see the WSBA finding a place for all its members, and to welcome the WYLD to Bar News. 

For personal correspondence, Lindsay Thompson can be reached at tradelaw@hotmail.com. E-mail letters to the editor to letterstotheeditor@wsba.org or mail to WSBA, Attn: Letters to the Editor, 2101 Fourth Ave., Ste. 400, Seattle, WA 98121-2330.