KCLL Klues: Washington State Legal Research

King County Elections has just sent Special Elections ballots to voters in six districts for its February 14 Special Election.  The Auburn, Federal Way, Renton, Tukwila and Vashon Island school districts all have bond and levy measures and King County Fire Protection District No. 10 is seeking bond funds for equipment and facilities remodeling.  If you haven’t taken the time to visit the KC Elections web site, you should.  In addition to information about the operations of that office, it also includes a Voter’s Guide lookup feature that enables you to search for upcoming voter’s pamphlet information based on your name,  links to the forms you’ll need to register to vote in our State and a link explaining how to find the 5 ballot drop boxes you can use to return your completed ballot if you forget to drop it in the regular mail.

Those of you who have to report your CLE credits this year may be interested in free or low cost CLEs.  Because you have only a few days to fulfill your requirement, this posting focuses on possibilities for AV credits. 

Earlier this year, I wrote about the Intellectual Property Colloquium, which offers podcasts that have been approved for CLE credit in Washington.  Most of the podcasts offer 1 hour of CLE credit and are often engaging conversations about interesting, timely topics. 

In response to that posting, Washington lawyer Randy Winn wrote to us about his blog, 4 Free CLE.  The blog is nationwide in scope, but there is plenty to interest Washington lawyers.  Many of the programs have already been approved for multiple states; if that is the case, those states are listed.  Also, of particular help to those of you in search of last-minute AV credits, there is a tab at the top of the page “CLE Anytime!”, which will link you to CLEs in that category.  Even more useful at this late date is the December 27 posting, “22+ AV Credits Free . . . in Time for Year-End!”

The Washington State Bar Association provides a number of  low cost MP3 seminars on its CLEtoGO page.  For example, if you need just one more ethics credit, take a look at the offerings.  Also, there is a half-price sale on at least some of the MP3 CLEs from December 27 – December 31.  Check it out here.  

Seattle University Continuing Legal Education has an On Demand Webinar Library, where you can register for reasonably-priced online webinars on demand.  (Prices are discounted for SU Law Alumni.)

Today Governor Gregoire appointed King County Superior Court Judge Steven Gonzalez to the Washington State Supreme Court replacing Justice Gerry Alexander who is retiring December 31, 2011.  Judge Gonzalez’s appointment is effective January, 2012.

A recently revised edition of the King County Probate and Guardianship Policy Manual is now available!  The Manual has been in existence since 1969 and was last revised in 2003.  According to the introductory page, the manual is a “helpful guide to practitioners and referred to in King County Local Rule 98.04.  This manual is the result of a joint project of the bench and the bar and contains useful tips for practitioners that are not necessarily the official policy of the court.”

We have multiple copies of the Manual at both libraries, though none are available for check-out.  It can also be purchased from the King County Bar Association in print and electronic format.

Are you 13-25 years old and in need of legal help? SYLAW, or Street Youth Legal Advocates of Washington, is a nonprofit organization that provides civil legal representation to homeless and at-risk youth.  To take advantage of their services, contact SYLAW at info@sylaw.org or visit one of their many Drop-In Clinics.

SYLAW will also help citizens of ANY age seal their juvenile criminal records.  If your juvenile criminal record is from King County or Snohomish County, you can visit one of SYLAW’s many Juvenile Record Sealing Clinics that are offered once a month. If your juvenile criminal record is from another county in Washington State, SYLAW offers an online interactive form generator that asks you questions, then generates the forms for you.

The King County Superior Court Clerk’s Office has released the new Superior Court Local Rules effective 9/1/2011.  Copies of the rules can be downloaded directly from the Superior Court Clerk’s web site or can reviewed and purchased in hard copy from either the Seattle or MRJC courthouses.

Even if you have visited the main web site for King County Superior Court many times, you may have missed the departmental links listed on the lower left-hand corner.  In particular I’d like to highlight the Civil and Criminal Department links.

The Civil Department link leads you to information about court rules, civil calendars, court services such as arbitration, settlement conferences and weddings, our State’s civil pattern jury instructions and the Court’s Civil Department Manual.  The latter contains a variety of sample documents including an amended case schedule, order on pretrial conference and a sample trial checklist.

The Criminal Department link leads you to a link to join the Criminal Department’s listserv, links covering the Court’s major criminal calendars, links to community correction services like the Helping Hands and Work Education Release programs,  and links to our State’s criminal pattern jury instructions and Sentencing Guidelines Manual.

The Ex-Parte/Probate committee of the King County Superior Court has decided to continue using the current guardianship training video posted on the Court’s guardianship forms site instead of the new online training routine now available on AOC’s web site.  We will post an update when/if the local Court decides to change its requirements.

A new online training routine for non-professional guardians has been set up by AOC’s Guardian Program.  Individuals who wish to be appointed as guardians of another person or of an estate must register online with the Guardian Program, view a series of training videos and complete an exam for the specific videos dealing with guardianship of the person and guardianship of the estate.  This new routine was created in response to the passage of HB 1053 in Chapter 329 of the Laws of 2011.  AOC has also prepared a promotional flier describing this training and the recent changes to guardianship law in Washington State.  King County Superior Court’s Ex Parte committee will meet next week to determine how this new routine will be implemented in light of the existing guardianship training video already available on the Guardian Program’s web site.

There are many residents in Washington who are unable to obtain legal assistance simply because they cannot afford it yet they make too much to access traditional low-income legal aid programs.  In an effort to close this gap in the justice system, the Washington State Bar Association (WSBA) has partnered with the law schools at Seattle University, Gonzaga University, and the University of Washington to create the Moderate Means Program, a statewide reduced-fee lawyer referral program.  Law students will screen and refer clients to lawyers who have signed up to participate and the WSBA is recruiting lawyers to provide reduced-fee legal assistance, to mentor less experienced lawyers, and to serve as CLE faculty.   

One of the goals of this program is to “increase access to justice for moderate-income residents of Washington State through reduced-fee legal assistance. The Program will serve individuals and families with incomes between 200% and 400% of the Federal Poverty Level. For example, the maximum annual income for an income-eligible household of one is approximately $21,000 and for a household of four is approximately $89,000. By providing legal assistance to this under-served population, lawyers participating in the Moderate Means Program will prevent Washington families from falling into poverty.”  For additional information about the program, as well as information on how to volunteer, you can go to the WSBA website here.