July 2022
THE WAELA WIRE
Information and Updates from the WAELA Board of Directors
You will find that this edition of the WIRE is longer than most, but this is because there are interesting WAELA doings! I hope while you are enjoying the warm weather you will take particular note of the upcoming educational events and resources provided here and the successful launching of the WAELA Guardianship Forum. HAPPY SUMMER!
WAELA ‘HOT TOPICS’ SUMMER WEBINAR SERIES
The WAELA ‘Hot Topics’ Summer Webinar Series provides presentations by leading attorneys in the subject area of law. The last webinar in this year’s series will be held on September 22, 2022, from 11:00 to 12:30 via Zoom Webinar. Attorney and WAELA treasurer Jerrica Pierson Seeger will provide substantive information, practical tips, and practice pointers for working with clients planning and applying for Veteran’s Benefits. Jerrica is licensed to practice law in Washington and Oregon and is a certified attorney for Veterans Affairs. Webinar title and registration information is coming soon.

We hope that you had the opportunity to join the webinar on June 16, 2022, titled Vulnerable Adult Protection Actions – Important Considerations and Long-Term Consequences. Kevin Khong, Partner, Helsell Fetterman LLP, provided informative and comprehensive information about new legislation, Chapter 7.105 RCW, which took effect on July 1, 2022. This legislation is important to many of our practices where it consolidated the six types of civil protection orders in the state and developed new requirements for the filing of, notice of, and prosecution of vulnerable adult protection actions (VAPAs). 
 
The recording of the webinar and corresponding materials will be available to WAELA members in the Member Only section of the WAELA website and available for purchase to non-members in the near future. 
 
WE THANK KEVIN for sharing his time and expertise in this webinar. 
FALL CLE & BOOTCAMP

SAVE THE DATE! 
The Programming Committee is hard at work planning the popular WAELA Fall CLE & Bootcamp. The programs will be held in the greater Seattle area on October 20-21, 2022. Please contact Carissa Linnane or Joshua Pops with comments about past programs and ideas for topics this year. 
 
MORE INFORMATION COMING SOON!
ADDITIONAL EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES:
One of WAELA’s goals is to provide the most current and relevant resources to support your law practice. To this end we share the information below. If you have information that you believe would be beneficial to your colleagues, please post it on the WAELA listserv and provide it to Val Ohlstrom for publication in the WIRE.  
Public Webinars Offered by the King County Clerk’s Office/Department of Judicial Administration and the King County Law Library

Two free webinars with important and useful procedural information.

* Registration is required.  
Minor Guardianships

Date: August 17, 2022
Time: 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
Location: Online via Zoom
Discussion of minor guardianships and procedural information. 
Adult Guardianships

Date: September 21, 2022
Time: 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
Location: Online via Zoom
Discussion of adult guardianships and procedural information.
PUBLIC POLICY COMMITTEE  
Updated by Bryana Cross Bean, Committee Chair 
 
HAPPY SUMMER, ALL!  
 
Guardianship Forum Dates - We had our third official Guardianship Forum on Thursday, July 7, 2022, via Zoom. The next Forum is scheduled for Thursday, August 4 at noon via Zoom, and will continue the first Thursday of each month thereafter. If you would like to be included as a recurring participant, please e-mail Carissa Linnane. 
 
WSBA Elder Law Section Members join the Forum - In June we extended an invitation to join the forum to the WSBA Elder Law Section via their listserv and received an overwhelming response requesting to participate! We are creating a list of who will receive the recurring calendar invitation; if you contacted us, please look for this soon and if you do not receive the invitation, please contact Carissa Linnane before the next meeting.  
 
Forum Structure and Participation - It was obvious at the July Forum meeting that, as the list of participants approaches 100, we will not be able to have a relevant meeting with all participants in the same Zoom “room” and provide the opportunity for all to participate. In 2020 and 2021 WAELA conducted successful Unprograms by utilizing the breakout room function in Zoom; we are going to start by using this function for the upcoming forum meetings. 

IF YOU HAVE FEEDBACK OR OTHER IDEAS FOR THE BEST WAY TO CONDUCT THESE MEETINGS SO THEY BENEFIT ATTENDEES PLEASE CONTACT Carissa or Bryana. 
 
Recording and Archiving Forum Discussions - We know that it is important to determine a way to capture the concerns, ideas and recommendations of forum participants. Currently we are considering a Dropbox account for this purpose. We will keep you updated and welcome any ideas in this regard. 
 
Here are two significant issues regarding the Uniform Guardianship Act (UGA) that were discussed at the June Forum meeting:   

  1. VENUE - Participants noted that venue can be different for the same respondent’s guardianship and conservatorship. One attorney has a client seeking to be guardian/conservator where the respondent potentially subject to guardianship/conservatorship needs high-level long-term care, which is being provided in King County. Because this individual owns property in another county venue is proper for guardianship in King County, but conservatorship is proper in the other county. The UGA is paperwork-heavy to begin with, and this would essentially double the cost and reporting involved.  I suspect this issue will come up more in King County, which is a hub for high level medical care.   
  2. VARIABILITY BETWEEN COUNTIES - Another general issue that is coming up is that each county is handling guardianship/conservatorships differently. Snohomish County seems to be particularly difficult to work with.
WAELA WEBSITE 
Updated by Steve King, Committee Chair 
 
We now have this year’s Unprogram written materials up on the WAELA website. These are available to all members, even if you were unable to attend. All of WAELA’s CLE materials going back to 2017 are also now available on the site. CHECK IT OUT. 
For WAELA members, here are the instructions for accessing the materials: 

  1. Visit WAELA.org
  2. Using the “SIGN IN” link at the top of the page enter your credentials to access your member account
  3. If you have not set up you member account, you will want to select the option to “Register” and create an account
  4. Once logged in, navigate to the “FOR LAWYERS” dropdown menu of the navigation bar on the homepage
  5. Hover over “PAST CLES” and select “WRITTEN MATERIALS”
  6. Here you will find a library of materials from past CLEs 
For Unprogram attendees who are not WAELA members, please contact Carissa Linnane for instructions on accessing the written materials. 
 
We hope you find time to relax and rejuvenate this summer while still running your busy and vital practices.
With warm regards,

Valerie O. Ohlstrom, Esq.
WAELA Wire Editor and WAELA Board of Directors.

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR: Carissa Linnane.
COMMITTEES:

Membership
Programming / CLE
Nominations & Elections    
Public Policy                    
Finance                            
Publications & Website       
Outreach & Community Development