Election Notice
The Washington State Bar Association is conducting an electronic election for the Congressional District 7 South position. WSBA members residing (per home address) in District 7 South will receive a ballot on March 15. The election will close April 1 at 5:00pm PDT.
Please check your email inbox (including junk/spam) for your ballot, which will appear as follows:
From: WSBA Election Admin help@yeselections.com
Subject: WSBA Congressional District Election
For questions, please email barleaders@wsba.org.
Meet the Candidates
Candidate Profile, Video Statement
Candidate Statement:
Born in Quebec Canada, I became a U.S. Citizen in 2014 at the age of 46. As an immigrant and proud gay man with more than 20 years of experience in State and Federal Courts around the country. I began in 1993 as an Associate
and was quickly promoted to equity partner in a top 100 U.S. Firm. I practiced both IP prosecution and IP litigation as first chair for over a decade. I spent years on hiring, associate evaluation, and diversity committees giving me solid experience
in committee dynamics.
I am now General Counsel of a leading U.S. fitness company and practice most fields of law. I have helped dozens of lawyers as mentor, friend, and professor at Chicago Kent Law school. I also was part of ethics
CLE program more than a decade ago. I am an Aerospace Engineer, a UK Solicitor (non-practicing), and a first chair litigator. I feel like my current senior role, located outside of private practice will help me focus on the needs of WSBA and its members
and avoid any possible conflict of interest. I am an optimist, write Science-Fiction, and try to run marathons.
Candidate Profile, Video Statement
Candidate Statement:
Highlighting my accomplishments wouldn’t make the point I am hoping to make running in this election. Instead, I want to highlight something I have never done. I have never
taken the bar exam.
It is more important now than ever for a lawyer to sit on the Board of Governors that was admitted to practice through an alternative pathway. The borderline offensive comments made by the Governors that voted in January against the recommendations
of the Washington Bar Licensure Task Force made it abundantly clear that the Board of Governors requires fresh perspectives.
I am not incompetent, or unethical. I am a veteran and becoming an attorney immediately opened pathways to give back
to my diverse community. Working as a Rule 9 intern at the Pierce County Prosecutor’s Office for my entire 3L year made me the attorney I am today in ways that no exam possibly could. I received my Juris Doctorate from Seattle University and
my LL.M. from the University of Washington. The professors employed by Washington’s law schools are amazing and more than capable of educating the future attorneys of Washington State. I fully support alternative pathways to licensure. The time
for change is now.