The mission of the
Washington Leadership Institute ("WLI") is to recruit and train diverse and underrepresented lawyers for future leadership within the legal and bar community. WLI is now accepting applications for the 2021 Class, which
must be received at the UW Law office
no later than September 24, 2021.
This is an exceptional opportunity for professional development and for becoming involved with the legal community:
- Twelve attorneys, in practice for at least three years and not more than ten years, will be carefully selected for the tenth year of the program.
- The eight professional development seminars run from January to August 2022.
- Upon successful completion, Fellows will earn a significant number of CLE credits.
Title:
When/Where:
Application deadline: September 24, 2021
Dates and Location of seminars tbd.
Applicants must:
- Reside in Washington State.
a. If work takes you outside of the state this should be discussed with co-chairs prior to
acceptance into the program. - Submit all required application materials timely.
- Be an active WSBA member.
- Have been admitted to practice law in a U.S. jurisdiction for at least three years and not more
than ten years. (Eligibility based on Date of Bar Admission)
Therefore, in order for you to be
able to apply to WLI this year, you must have been admitted to the bar by Dec. 31, 2018. - Be nominated by an employer, or if self-employed, by a lawyer with at least 10 years of
practice or a judge.
- Make a two-year commitment to the program:
- Participate in every session whether the sessions are in person or remote/virtual.
- Following the
completion of the first year, serve on a WSBA section or committee, or
participate in a bar or community-related activity.
The WLI was created by the Washington State Bar Association in 2004 for the purpose of accelerating the skill level, the maturation and the network of outstanding young diverse lawyers who are selected annually from a statewide pool of applicants for participation in the program. For the past 17 years, the WLI has successfully achieved its goal by producing over 200 WLI graduates, known as Fellows.
Our WLI Fellows have gone on to become federal and state court judges, successful civil plaintiff and defense lawyers, prominent in-house counsel for publicly traded corporations, elected representatives at the county and state level, and prominent state and local bar leaders. From Pend Oreille county, Whatcom county, Spokane county, Clark county, Pierce county, Snohomish county, King county and every other county in-between, the WLI’s graduates are making a difference and we are in search of the next generation of future leaders for the WLI Class of 2022.
Share This: If you know someone who wants to make an impact and seeks the training, mentoring and connections necessary to make that happen, then the WLI may be a great fit. It is co-chaired by Washington Supreme Court Justice Mary Yu and the Seattle Office Managing Partner for Perkins Coie, James Williams. The program is administratively supported by the University of Washington School of Law and sustained by all three law schools (Gonzaga, Seattle University and UW). The Board of Advisers, made up of prominent lawyers and judges, serve as stewards of the program and facilitators of the monthly sessions. The Board of Advisers includes: Chief Justice Steve Gonzalez, Justice Mary Yu, Justice Raquel Montoya-Lewis, Justice Bobbe Bridge (Ret.), Chief Justice Mary Fairhurst (Ret.),Office of Administrative Law Judge Lorraine Lee, Chief Judge Ricardo S. Martinez, Dean Mario L. Barnes, Jeffrey A. Beaver, Nick Brown, Dean Annette Clark, Jillian M. Cutler, Nancy Isserlis, Zabrina Jenkins, Karen Lee, Rajeev Majumdar, Kevin O’Rourke, Frederick (Fred) B. Rivera, Dean Jacob H. Rooksby, Craig A. Sims, Kellye Y. Testy, Stephan M. Thomas, and Founder of WLI Ronald R. Ward.
This CLE covers how technology has changed the practice of law and how we can (and should) use analytics to our transactional and litigation advantage. 
