Washington Leadership Institute Releases New Podcast Series
The late Washington Supreme Court Chief Justice Mary Fairhurst inspired the WLI Class of 2025 to create a podcast. Prior to her passing when Justice Fairhurst was undergoing cancer treatment, she carved time out of her busy schedule each year to talk to WLI fellows. In 2021, the WLI recorded Justice Fairhurst’s annual presentation to the fellows out of a desire to forever preserve her story and a fear that the annual presentations would come to an end. Subsequent classes benefited from the foresight of WLI, because 2021 was the last time Justice Fairhurst delivered her rousing presentation. The WLI Class of 2025 drew inspiration from her words: “What would you attempt to do if you knew you couldn’t fail?”
The five episode podcast is entitled Voices That Move Us: Leadership, Legacy, and the Law. Each episode features an in-depth interview between a 2025 WLI Fellow and a past graduate of the program or someone who has had a meaningful impact on the program. The interviewee will be sharing compelling stories about their personal and professional journey with nuggets of information that promise to be insightful to both lawyers and nonlawyers alike.
The five interviewees are Washington State Supreme Court Justice Mary I. Yu; Ronald R. Ward, Managing Partner at Ronald R. Ward PLLC; James F. Williams, Seattle Office Managing Partner at Perkins Coie; Sarah R. Pendleton, Clerk of the Washington Supreme Court; and Francis Adewale, President-Elect of the Washington State Bar Association. These are the stories that build legacy, fuel change, and inspire a more inclusive future.
The podcast is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube.
The Washington Leadership Institute is a visionary collaboration between the Washington State Bar Association and Washington's three law schools — the University of Washington School of Law, Seattle University of School of Law, and Gonzaga School of Law. The Institute s a leadership program that recruits, trains, and develops traditionally underrepresented attorneys for future leadership positions in the legal community. The program prioritizes assembling a cohort of fellows that reflects the diversity of Washington, which includes race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, disability status, and geographic location.
Created in 2004 by the WSBA Board of Governors under the leadership of then-president Ronald R. Ward, graduates of the program have gone on to lead in powerful, sometimes unexpected ways across law, policy, business, and community. Alumni of the program have left their mark all over Washington, including on the federal bench and the state bench. Even the state's Attorney General Nick Brown is a graduate.
Members of the the WLI Class of 2025. Front L to R: Sarah Freedman; Cloie Chapman; Ronald Ward (WLI Founder); Mehera Nori; Yohana Valdez; Nicholas Mejía (WLI Coordinator). Back L to R: Craig Sims (WLI Co-Chair); Marissa John; Alexandra Rawlings; Jordan Berger; Oscar Aguirre; Alexander Bejarán Estévez; Kelly Oshiro; Bianca Connell-Flint; Erika Evans (WLI Co-Chair). Photo by
