Meet Your Board of Governors

Daniel D. Clark

President
2022-2023

Daniel D. Clark was elected by the Board of Governors as president-elect in 2021 and served on the Board of Governors as the District 4 Governor from July 2017 to September 2022. He was elected as WSBA treasurer in July 2019, and reelected as WSBA treasurer in July 2020, becoming the first member to serve as treasurer for two terms and two consecutive terms. Clark is a senior deputy prosecuting attorney with the Yakima County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, Corporate Counsel Division. His legal practice includes providing legal representation to Yakima County department heads and elected officials in civil, financial, forfeiture, and taxation litigation matters. He is the legal counsel for the Southeast Washington Aging and Long Term Care Council of Governments, an entity that provides important services for vulnerable clients. Born and raised in Yakima, Clark received his B.A. in political science, magna cum laude, from Central Washington University and his J.D., cum laude, from Gonzaga University School of Law.

LEARN MORE > Read President Clark’s first President’s Corner column and a Q&A with President Clark. 

Hunter M. Abell

President-Elect
2022-2023

Hunter M. Abell was elected to fill an at-large diversity position on the Board of Governors in 2019 and elected by the Board of Governors as president-elect in 2022. Abell is a member at the Seattle office of Williams Kastner. He is originally from Eastern Washington, where he was raised on a ranch in rural Ferry County. A graduate of the College of William & Mary, Abell attended Gonzaga University School of Law and received an LL.M. at Georgetown University Law Center. Before joining Williams Kastner, he served as a JAG officer with the U.S. Navy, and is currently a commander in the U.S. Navy Reserve. Abell previously served as chair of the WSBA Professionalism Committee and Indian Law Section. When not in the office, he enjoys hiking, fishing, and playing with his two young daughters, Libby (9) and Wynsome (7).

Judge Brian Tollefson (Ret.)

Immediate Past President
2022-2023

Judge Brian Tollefson (Ret.) was elected to the Board of Governors in 2017, elected by the Board as president-elect in 2020, and served as WSBA president from 2021-22. Judge Tollefson is a principal at Black Robe Dispute Resolution Services, PLLC. He served on the Pierce County Superior Court  for over 27 years. While on the bench he was active in the Superior Court Judges Association (SCJA) as a member of the Board of Trustees, together with several SCJA committees. He served on the Pierce County Superior Court Executive Committee and served as presiding judge, continuing active participation in numerous Superior Court committees. Before his judicial career, he was a partner in a Tacoma law firm. He is an emeritus member of the Robert J. Bryan American Inns of Court and has worked with the National Courts & Sciences Institute (NCSI, formerly known as ASTAR). He graduated from Willamette University College of Law with honors, serving on the Willamette Law Review staff. He earned a master’s degree in judicial studies from the University of Nevada, Reno. His B.A. in Business Administration is from the University of Washington School of Business.

Sunitha Anjilvel

District 1 Governor
2021-2024

Sunitha Anjilvel was reelected to the Board of Governors in 2021. She has practiced family law and estate planning in the Pacific Northwest since 2008. Since her first admission to practice law in 1990, Anjilvel has practiced in a variety of courts in Canada, California, and Washington in family law, criminal law, and civil litigation. In 2005, she served as director of a bipartisan campaign to support a redistricting reform initiative on California’s statewide ballot. She is committed to social justice and currently is a member of the WSBA Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Council and a director on the Board of Domestic Relations Attorneys of Washington (DRAW). Anjilvel has also volunteered for the Kinship Care Project and the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project. She has a B.A. from McGill University and a J.D. from Dalhousie Law School. She is licensed to practice law in Washington and California.

Kari Petrasek

District 2 Governor
2022-2025

Kari Petrasek was elected to the Board of Governors in 2022. She is a graduate of Seattle University School of Law. She is a solo attorney, having started her own firm, Petrasek Law, in Mukilteo in January 2015. In the 13 years prior to starting her own firm, she worked in several small firms in Everett. She is a civil litigator with significant experience in the areas of juvenile law, guardianships, estate planning, elder law, and family law. Petrasek is also a dedicated advocate for children, having served as a volunteer and attorney guardian ad litem for dependent children. She has been one of the Snohomish County CASA Program attorneys for over 15 years. In addition, Petrasek has served as a judge and commissioner pro tempore for Snohomish County Superior Court since 2010. She is the immediate past-chair of the WSBA Solo & Small Practice Section, the treasurer of Washington Women Lawyers, a past-president of the Snohomish County Bar Association, a member of Washington State CASA, a leader in the ABA GPSolo Division, and a coach for the Archbishop Murphy High School Mock Trial teams. In her free time, Petrasek enjoys skiing, golfing, football, and baseball. 

Lauren Boyd

District 3 Governor
2020-2023

Lauren Boyd was elected to the Board of Governors in 2020. She graduated from the University of Oregon School of Law in 2015. Before that, she earned a history of art bachelor’s degree from Johns Hopkins University. After law school, she became a deputy prosecutor at the Clark County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office and is currently working in the Appellate Unit. Boyd grew up in Southern Oregon. She moved to Washington after law school to be closer to part of her family. She enjoys gardening, cooking, and any activity that gets her outdoors.

Mary M. Rathbone

District 4 Governor
2022-2024

Mary M. Rathbone was elected to the Board of Governors in 2022. She is a partner at Moberg Rathbone Kearns, P.S. She has a B.A. in business administration from Washington State University, with an emphasis in international business. She obtained her license to practice law through the WSBA Rule 6 program. For the last 11 years, she has worked primarily in civil defense litigation. Rathbone’s passion to become an attorney was ignited at a very young age. Her father, a former superior court judge, would often care for her in chambers because she refused to take naps at daycare. When she is not at the office, she can be found balancing ballet, piano, karate, and baseball with her two children, ages 6 and 8. She also serves her local community as a member of Soroptimist International, a nonprofit that serves to better the lives of women and children through economic empowerment.

Francis Adewale

District 5 Governor
2021-2024

Treasurer
2022-2023

Francis Adewale was elected to the Board of Governors in 2021 and elected by the Board as treasurer in 2022. Adewale is one of the attorneys that helped establish Spokane Community Court, and his commitment to community and movement lawyering is epitomized by his work on several community-based boards and activities in Eastern Washington. He has served as chair of Refugee Connections Spokane, co-chair of Spokane Homeless Coalition, and member/trustee of the Spokane County Bar Association and its Volunteer Lawyers Program. Adewale is former chair of the Access to Justice Board and a member of the Washington Supreme Court’s Interpreters Commission. He is currently a board member of Northwest Immigrant Rights Project (NWIRP), board president of Multi-Ethnic Business Association-AHANA, and an adjunct faculty member of both Whitworth University and Gonzaga Law School. He is a founding member of the Washington Statewide Reentry Council, having been reappointed three times by Governor Jay Inslee. He is a current fellow of the National Council of Bar Presidents Diversity Scholars. In addition to serving on the Board of Directors of Spokane City Credit Union, Adewale and his wife also own and run a small business in Spokane. 

Brett A. Purtzer

District 6 Governor
2020-2023

Brett A. Purtzer was elected to the Board of Governors in 2020, and is currently a principal at the Hester Law Group, Inc., P.S. He has been in private practice in Tacoma since 1988, where he focuses on criminal defense, personal injury, civil litigation, and representing professionals in disciplinary matters. Purtzer has served as president and as a trustee of the Tacoma-Pierce County Bar Association. He has also served as a lawyer representative for the 9th Circuit Judicial Conference and as a trustee for the Federal Bar Association for the Western District of Washington, and is the past co-chair of the Federal Bar Association Pro Bono Committee for the Western District of Washington. He is AV-rated by Martindale-Hubbell and has been recognized as a Top 100 Trial Lawyer by the National Trial Lawyers Association every year since his inclusion in 2011. Purtzer graduated with a B.A. in English from Washington State University in 1983 and with a J.D. from the University of Puget Sound (now Seattle University) School of Law in 1987.

Matthew Dresden

District 7 North Governor
2020-2023

Matthew Dresden was elected to the Board of Governors in 2020. He is a solo practitioner at Dresden Law PLLC in Seattle, where he handles a wide range of corporate and transactional matters, with an emphasis on media and entertainment, international intellectual property, and cross-border work. Before attending law school, Dresden worked in Hollywood for several years as an independent filmmaker. Dresden served on the executive committee of the WSBA’s International Practice Section for eight years, including a term as chair. He is also an adjunct faculty member at Indiana University Maurer School of Law, where he teaches a clinic on legal issues for independent filmmakers. He served as a law clerk in the Southern District of Texas for U.S. District Court Judge Vanessa D. Gilmore and U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Jeff Bohm. He has a B.A. from Stanford University, a J.D. from the University of California, Los Angeles, and LL.M.s from New York University and the National University of Singapore.

Serena Sayani

District 7 South Governor
2021-2024

Serena Sayani was elected to the Board of Governors in 2021. She is a shareholder at Stokes Lawrence, P.S., in the real estate and business transaction practice group. Sayani’s commercial real estate practice focuses on acquisitions, dispositions, development, construction, and leasing. Her clients include real estate investment trusts, public and private pension plans, tax-exempt investors, developers, and other businesses. Outside of her practice, Sayani is a member of the WSBA Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Council (formerly the WSBA Diversity Committee); a board member for Commercial Real Estate Women (CREW); the co-chair of the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Committee for NAIOP Washington; the co-chair of the Diversity and Inclusion Committee of Stokes Lawrence, P.S.; a member of the King County Bar Association’s MLK, Jr. Luncheon Committee; and an attorney mentor-coach for the Mercer Island High School Mock Trial Team (2018-2019). Recently, Sayani was honored with the 2019 Up and-Coming CRE Attorney Award by the Puget Sound Business Journal and the Rising Rock Star Award by CREW/Elevate.

Erik Kaeding

District 8 Governor
2022-2023

Erik Kaeding was elected to the Board of Governors in 2022. Since 1995, Kaeding has practiced criminal defense at the Law Office of Erik P. Kaeding in Kent. He is a proud citizen of the Samish Indian Nation based in Anacortes. Kaeding has served as the Chairman of the Appeals Board for the Samish Nation since 1997. At Green River College, he has been a Board member of the Criminal Justice Department Advisory Committee for more than a decade as well as serving as a guest lecturer. Raised in Olympia, Kaeding graduated with honors from the University of Puget Sound (now Seattle University) School of Law and received a B.A. in Economics from the University of Washington. When not working or volunteering, you will find Kaeding hitting the links or cheering on his favorite Seattle sports team. He and his wife, Kristina, live in Renton and enjoy spending time with their adult daughters, Kelsey of Boston, Massachusetts, and Lili of Auburn, and their families.

Kevin Fay

District 9 Governor
2022-2025

Kevin Fay was elected to the Board of Governors in 2022. Prior to serving on the Board, he served on the Executive Committee of the Corporate Counsel Section, the Washington chapter of the Association of Corporate Counsel, and the Washington Chapter of the Society of Corporate Secretaries and Governance Professionals. He recently retired from three decades of service as in-house counsel for VMware, Inc., PACCAR Inc., and Microsoft Corporation, with an eclectic practice that included corporate and securities work, software licensing and services, equipment financing, mergers and acquisitions, real estate and construction, and immigration. Prior to going in-house, he was in private practice at Mudge, Rose and Shearman & Sterling in New York City, and Bogle & Gates in Seattle. Originally from Seattle, he earned two undergraduate degrees in political science and history from the University of Washington, a J.D., magna cum laude, from the State University of New York at Buffalo, and an LL.M. from Harvard Law School.

Nam Nguyen

District 10 Governor
2022-2025

Nam Nguyen was elected to the Board of Governors in 2022. He is an assistant attorney general in the Revenue and Finance Division in Tumwater. Prior to the Attorney General’s Office, Nguyen worked in private practice in Bellevue and Houston, Texas. Immediately after law school, he volunteered in Bayou La Batre, Alabama, for AmeriCorp’s BP oil spill relief program. Aside from the WSBA, Nguyen serves on the board for the Family Support Center, a nonprofit social service organization serving homeless families in the Olympia area, and he is the chair of the Commission on Asian Pacific American Affairs. Nguyen was born in Saigon, Vietnam, and grew up in the South Seattle area. He graduated from the University of Washington and Boston University School of Law, and he has a master’s degree in foreign policy from the University of Michigan. Nguyen resides in Tumwater and enjoys running, reading, cooking, and spending time with his dog, Dog Vader.

Alec Stephens

At-Large Governor
2021-2023

Alec Stephens was first elected to the Board of Governors in 2017 and reelected in January 2021. Prior to serving on the Board, Stephens served two terms as chair of the WSBA Civil Rights Law Section. He has been a civil rights lawyer since his admission to the Bar in 1981, and was national co-director of the Law Students Civil Rights Research Council, and national co-chair of the National Lawyers Guild Affirmative Action/Anti-Discrimination Committee. Active in civic affairs, he has served as a member of the City of Seattle Parks Levy Oversight Committee, and he was the first Disproportionality Task Force chair of Seattle Public Schools. In 2012, he was one of 12 electors to cast Washington’s electoral votes in the Electoral College. Originally from Miami, Florida, Stephens has a law degree from the University of Puget Sound (now Seattle University) School of Law and a bachelor’s of business administration from the University of Miami. During his tenure on the Board, he has served as Board co-chair of the WSBA Diversity Committee (now the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Council), as chair and co-chair of the Personnel Committee, and as chair of the Equity & Disparity Workgroup. 

Jordan Couch

At-Large Governor
2021-2024

Jordan Couch was elected to the Board of Governors in 2021 to represent new and young lawyers in an at-large position. Couch is a partner at Palace Law, practicing workers’ compensation and personal injury. In his spare time, he is an avid outdoorsman—probably stemming from his childhood spent between an island in Alaska and the Bighorn River valley in Montana. Prior to joining the Board of Governors, Couch served as a trustee for the Tacoma-Pierce County Bar Association, chair of the Access to Justice Board’s Technology Committee, and chair of the Washington Young Lawyers Committee, and has held various leadership roles on the WSBA Solo & Small Practice Section’s Executive Committee. Couch is passionate about solving access to justice by helping lawyers build better, more client-centric practices, and never gets tired of talking about how to improve our profession (or fishing).

Brent Williams-Ruth

At-Large Governor
2022-2025

Brent Williams-Ruth was first elected as a district governor to the Board of Governors in 2020 and was elected to an at-large position in 2022. Williams-Ruth has had a varied career ranging from working as a 1L intern with the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office to working in a nonlegal role with (formerly) Fisher Radio Seattle. Since 2015, he has been the sole proprietor of a concierge estate planning, probate/trust, and elder law firm. Since starting his own firm, Williams-Ruth has volunteered with Seattle University School of Law as a mentor and judge for legal writing oral arguments. He began his volunteer service with the WSBA in 2018 when he joined the Character and Fitness Board, serving as its vice chair in the 2019-2020 year. He resigned his position with Character and Fitness in September 2020 to take his seat as a governor. He also serves as a trustee on the Washington State Bar Foundation. When not working or volunteering, you will find him spending time scuba diving, traveling, hiking, and creating adventures with his husband, Justin.