Updated: Feb. 7, 2023

The Washington State Bar Association (WSBA) and the Washington Young Lawyers Committee (WYLC) have prioritized the use of funds to send new and young lawyers to attend American Bar Association Young Lawyer Division (ABA YLD) meetings and/or conferences. This scholarship fund is designed to:

  • encourage attendance and participation at the ABA YLD meetings;
  • ensure that Washington is represented by Delegates to YLD Assembly at ABA Annual and Midyear; and
  • create the opportunity for scholarship recipients to bring ideas back to the WYLC about how to engage and serve new lawyers in Washington.

Scholarship for Fall: There will be four $250 scholarships awarded to new and young lawyers to attend the ABA YLD Fall Conference in Portland, OR from Sept. 29 to Oct. 1, 2022. The scholarship will come in the form of a reimbursement. This application deadline has passed. Please see below for additional opportunities. 

Scholarship for Midyear: There will be three $250 scholarships awarded to new and young lawyers to the ABA YLD Midyear Meeting in New Orleans, LA from Feb. 1 to Feb. 6, 2023. The scholarship will come in the form of a reimbursement. This application deadline has passed. Please see below for additional opportunities. 

Scholarship for ABA YLD Annual: There will be three $250 scholarships awarded to new and young lawyers to attend the ABA YLD Annual Meeting in Denver, CO from Aug. 2 to Aug. 8, 2023. The scholarship will come in the form of a reimbursement. Application Deadline: Friday, June 9, 2023. 

Responsibilities

Each scholarship recipient is required to serve as Washington Delegate to the YLD Assembly at one of the above ABA meetings and attend the following WYLC meeting (either in person or over the phone) to share what they learned that may be applicable to new and young lawyers in Washington state. Scholarship recipients may also be asked to provide a written summary for new and young lawyers via the WSBA new lawyers list serve and/or the WSBA blog, NWSidebar.

Requirements to Apply

  1. Applicants must be a current member or become a member of the ABA YLD.
  2. Applicants must be considered a "Young Lawyer" as defined in section XII of the WSBA Bylaws at the time of the selection. The WSBA considers an active member a "Young Lawyer" if at least one of the two criteria below is met:
  • the member has been admitted to practice for fewer than five years (in any state), or
  • the member is under 36 years of age.

Selection Process

The WYLC has authority over who will be awarded a scholarship. The WYLC reviews all applications and selects recipients at regularly scheduled WYLC meeting. All applicants will be notified via email about whether they were selected as a scholarship recipient prior to the ABA meetings. Contact newmembers@wsba.org for questions.

Please view the right column of this page for the scholarship application.