Section History
Solo & Small Practice

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Section History

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Subcommittees

Education Subcommittee

The focus of this subcommittee is education for our members. This is accomplished by organizing CLEs for topics related to administration and running of a practice, and wellness of our members. The committee members play an active role in soliciting topic ideas and speakers from the section and the goal is to provide 6-12 free CLE events on the third Thursday of every month. The expectation is that each member will sign up for managing the CLEs from start to finish for one or two months of the year. The subcommittee also collaborates with the Electronic and Communication Subcommittee and the WSBA Practice Management group to provide tips, resources, potential newsletters, and articles about running a law firm, and to also educate our members about the benefits of our section. The education subcommittee welcomes input from our members and invites our members to connect with us, via email to the email address below, with any ideas for topics or speaker suggestions!

Current chair: Shashi Vijay, shashi@vjlawfirm.com

Electronic Communications Subcommittee

The primary role of the Electronic Communications Subcommittee is responsibility for overseeing content on the Section website, including the Members-only area, and related matters. From time-to-time communications are made on behalf of the Subcommittee to announce the addition of content to website and on an annual basis the Subcommittee has responsibility for selecting a chapter from the most recently concluded WSBA Solo and Small Firm Conference that is added to the Members-only area of the website. In addition, the Subcommittee’s role includes advising on the use of technology for Section members.

Current chair: John Redenbaugh, jmrbaugh@gmail.com

Membership Subcommittee

The Membership Subcommittee is responsible for increasing membership and engagement with the Section. We accomplish this by planning events for our members and prospective members to connect, promoting events that would be of interest to our members, and promoting the Section with prizes and branded giveaways.

Current chair: Nicholas Pleasants, npleasants@ohswlaw.com

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Executive Committee Biographies

DARCEL LOBO, Chair

Darcel is the proud owner of DAL Law Firm and has been helping her clients plan for their financial future since 2009. From helping clients with their estate planning, buying and selling of a home, as well as helping homeowners save their homes to avoid foreclosure. There’s a common thread among her practice areas: helping her clients protect the assets they’ve worked very hard to acquire.

Darcel and her husband are both Seattle natives, and they have two children: Lucy who is 13 and Maxon who is 11. In addition to serving as chair of this section, she is also a co-chair for the MAMAs Ladder Down program and also serves on the Board of Directors for the Seattle Southside Chamber of Commerce.  

In addition to her legal practice, Darcel coaches other lawyers who are seeking to open their own law firms, manage their law firms, and avoid the burnout that can come with juggling work and family life.

NICK PLEASANTS, Chair-Elect

Nick Pleasants is a shareholder in the Estate Group at Oseran Hahn P.S. in Bellevue.  His practice focuses on Elder Law, including Estate Planning, Probate, Guardianship, and Trust Litigation.  Prior to joining Oseran Hahn, Nick founded his own law firm in 2019 focusing on estate planning and probate.  Before that, Nick was an associate attorney at his father's firm, James Pleasants, P.C. He had a general practice including civil litigation and transactional work.  He was named a Rising Star by SuperLawyers in 2022 & 2023.  He serves on the boards of several non-profits in the community including the Asian Bar Association of Washington, the Washington Academy of Elder Law Attorneys, and Chinese Southern Baptist Church in Seattle.  He holds a B.A. in Economics & Political Science from Columbia University, and a J.D. and LL.M. in Taxation from the University of Washington School of Law.  He was admitted to the Washington State Bar in 2015.

JORDAN COUCH, Immediate Past Chair

Jordan Couch is a workers’ compensation attorney at Palace Law. He grew up in the prairie land of eastern Montana. After high school, he moved to Maryland where he obtained his bachelor’s degree in Liberal Arts from St. John’s College. From there, he traveled to Indiana and graduated from Indiana University’s Maurer School of Law where he was awarded membership in the Order of Barristers. While in law school, Jordan worked for NASA and clerked for judges in the Maryland Court of Appeals and the Federal District Court for the Western District of Washington. He also managed and litigated cases for a pro bono organization that provided assistance to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking. Through each of these roles, he gained valuable experience in a wide array of legal fields and honed his skills as a courtroom advocate.

Jordan moved to Washington in June of 2015 and put his skills and experience to use helping injured workers. Outside of the office, Jordan is heavily involved in the legal community. He can frequently be found local, state, and national bar association meetings advocating for a better, more client-centric future to the legal profession. In his free time, Jordan is usually outside. You might see him at a concert or in the wilderness, hiking, fishing, skiing and diving his way through life.

MICHELE MOORE, Secretary

Originally from North Carolina, Michele is proud to call Washington home. She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and her Juris Doctor degree from Gonzaga University School of Law in Spokane, where she fell in love with Washington. While attending Gonzaga, Michele served as President of the Women’s Law Caucus and was an Associate Editor of two legal publications: Gonzaga Law Review and Gonzaga Journal of International Law. In addition, she worked as a legal intern at University Legal Assistance, a school-sponsored clinic for low-income clients who might not otherwise have access to legal representation. Michele is dedicated to serving the community and improving people’s lives. In 2019, she opened her own firm, Guardian Community Law. Michele’s primary areas of practice are family law, guardianships, and dependency. In addition to her solo practice, she also serves as a guardian ad litem.

Michele has served as a judge pro tem in the Lower Kittitas County District Court and as an adjunct professor at Central Washington University. Michele is strongly dedicated to serving the community on a personal as well as professional level. She partners with Aspen Victim Advocacy Services to provide pro bono services in addition to working on a low-bono basis with several agencies. In addition, Michele is a member of the Congregational Development Support Team of the Episcopal Diocese of Spokane.  A strong advocate for responsible pet ownership, Michele is a cat mom to two rescues: Cooper, a dedicated guard kitty, and Willow, a mighty huntress of great renown.

BRUCE GARDINER, Treasurer

D. Bruce Gardiner graduated from the University of Puget Sound School of Law (now the Seattle University Law School) in 1976 and was admitted to practice the same year. He is licensed to practice in all courts in the State of Washington, including the Eastern and Western Districts of Washington (Federal Courts). In addition to his practice as an attorney, he has served as a Pro Tem (temporary, appointed by the Chief Judicial Officer) Ex Parte Commissioner and Judge in King County Superior Court.

Mr. Gardiner serves on the Mandatory Arbitration Panel of the King County Superior Court. He is one of two Washington State Bar Representatives on the Supreme Court Reports Committee. He currently serves as Treasurer of the Solo and Small Practice Section of the Washington State Bar Association and has been the Section’s Chairman.

Mr. Gardiner’s practice generally consists of business and real estate law issues. He also has had a special interest in copyright and trademark law. Additionally, Mr. Gardiner has served for 30 years as an elected Commissioner of the Northshore Utility District, in Kenmore, Washington. He is an active boater, and a primary instructor for the basic boating class necessary to obtain the Washington Boater’s Card.

KARI PETRASEK, At-Large Member

Kari Petrasek is a graduate of the Seattle University School of Law. She is a solo attorney, having started her own firm, Petrasek Law, in Mukilteo, Washington in January 2015. In the thirteen years prior to starting her own firm, she worked in several small firms in Everett, Washington. She is a civil litigator with significant experience in the area of juvenile law, guardianships, estate planning, and elder law. Ms. Petrasek is also a dedicated advocate for children, having served as a Volunteer and Attorney Guardian ad Litem for dependent children and has been one of the Snohomish County CASA Program contract attorneys for over 15 years. She was named Volunteer Guardian ad Litem of the month in June 2008 and March 2010. In addition, Ms. Petrasek has served as a judge and commissioner pro tempore at Snohomish County Superior Court since 2010. She is a past-chair of the WSBA Solo & Small Practice Section, Treasurer of Washington Women Lawyers, a past-president of the Snohomish County Bar Association, a member of Washington State CASA, a leader in the ABA GPSolo Division, a coach for the Archbishop Murphy High School Mock Trial teams, and serves on numerous other boards and committees in her community. In her free time, Ms. Petrasek enjoys skiing, golfing, football, and baseball.

SHASHI VIJAY, At-Large Member

Shashi Vijay founded VJ Law Firm, PLLC with the vision of helping individuals and small-businesses with their legal needs, by partnering closely in understanding each client's unique situation and formulating solutions in an expeditious manner. She has over ten years of legal experience and represents clients in areas of business and startup formation, real estate matters, estate planning, consumer bankruptcy and related litigation.

Shashi earned her J.D. from Seattle University School of Law and is admitted to practice in State and Federal district courts. Shashi is the currently the Immediate Past Chair and Secretary for the WSBA Solo and Small practice section and is also Chair of the sections’ CLE committee and has served as past chair of KCBA solo and business law sections and Board member of South Asian Bar Association. Shashi is an active member of the King County bar association and diversity groups such as Washington Women Lawyers, Washington Association for Justice and Mother attorneys of Seattle.

Shashi was born and raised in New Delhi, India, and outside of work is a busy mom raising her 11-year-old son and a 7-year-old daughter and loves spending time outdoors with her husband and kids.

EMILY ALBRECHT, Young Lawyer Liaison to the Executive Committee

Emily Ann Albrecht is a civil defense litigation attorney in Seattle, WA, where she focuses her practice on insurance defense, including personal injury, premises liability, product liability, professional liability and asbestos litigation. Emily also has a passion for the niche practice area of funeral law and is one of a handful of attorneys throughout the country who work closely with the death care industry. Originally from Arizona, after high school Emily moved to Washington, D.C., where she obtained a Bachelor of Arts from Georgetown University double majoring in Psychology and Government with a minor in the French Language. From there, she moved to Seattle where she received her Juris Doctor from Seattle University School of Law. Emily is licensed to practice in the State of Washington, United States District Court for the Western District of Washington, United States District Court for the Eastern District of Washington and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Emily is the immediate Past-Chair of WSBA's Washington Young Lawyers Committee (WYLC). Prior to serving as WYLC Chair, Emily was an At-Large Representative on the committee from 2017-2020 and served as the American Bar Association Young Lawyers Division (ABA YLD) District Representative for Washington and Oregon from 2018-2020. Emily is also currently an ABA GPSolo Young Lawyer Fellow. When not working, Emily enjoys spending time with her husband Joey and their dog Ted Jones. She is also working on writing a funeral law textbook for mortuary science students and legal professionals.

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Advisors/Liaison Biographies

ANN M. GUINN, Advisor to Executive Committee

Ann M. Guinn, practice management consultant to solo and small law firms, teaches attorneys what they didn’t learn in law school about how to run a profitable, efficient, productive, and satisfying law practice.  She helps her clients identify what’s working and fix what’s not working in their businesses, with a focus on firm finances, business development, and growth opportunities.  Ann has served on the Executive Committee of WSBA’s Solo & Small Practice Section since 1994, and is in her 19th year as on the Steering Committee of WSBA’s Solo and Small Firm Conference.  Ann was the 2019 recipient of the WSBA APEX Lifetime Service Award.  Ann has been a featured speaker at NY Legal Tech, ABA meetings, conferences and webinars, and solo/small firm conferences across the U.S.  Her book entitled Minding Your Own Business: The Solo and Small Firm Lawyer’s Guide to a Profitable Practice is available through the ABA webstore.

JOHN M. REDENBAUGH, Advisor to Executive Committee

Prior to his 2011 retirement from working at the WSBA for 30 years, most recently as Senior Conference and Seminar Development Specialist for WSBA-CLE, John Redenbaugh had responsibility for overseeing development and presentation of many of the largest continuing legal education programs presented by the Washington State Bar Association, including the Annual Estate Planning Seminar - the premiere estate planning conference in the Pacific Northwest, and the Solo and Small Firm (SSF) Conferences. After retirement, he served on the 2012-2021 Solo and Small Firm Conference Steering/Planning Committees and he currently serves as an Advisor to the Executive Committee of the WSBA Solo and Small Practice Section. He also served as Managing Editor for, and indexed, the Washington Partnership Law and Practice Handbook (WSBA 1984). John served a term as an ACLEA Director-at-Large and his materials on "Our Marketplace * A Megacourse Snapshot * Developing and Nurturing Your Relationship with Exhibitors and Sponsors" were included in The Best of ACLEA 2000 publication. In 1997 John received the Award of Merit for Outstanding Service from the Estate Planning Council of Seattle and in 2012 he received the Professional of the Year Award from the Washington State Bar Association's Family Law Section.  He received his B.A. from Stanford University and his J.D. (cum laude) from Gonzaga University School of Law. He practiced law in Vancouver, Washington for two years prior to joining the WSBA CLE staff.

MARGEAUX GREEN, PMA (Practice Management Adviser) to the Executive Committee

Margeaux Green is the practice management advisor at the Washington State Bar Association and a licensed Washington attorney. She assists solo and small-firm legal practitioners to run effective and efficient law practices, focusing on business best practices and legal technology. Margeaux is also a volunteer attorney for the King County Bar Association’s Neighborhood Legal Clinic. Prior to joining the WSBA, Green practiced family law for four years at a small Seattle firm. In her free time, Margeaux enjoys sailing, dancing, and hiking.

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Current & Past Chairs

If you recall additional past chairs, please send the name(s) to sections@wsba.org.

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