Displaying leadership through service, five local leaders stand out
BY ALEXANDER R. REAGANSON
Earlier this year, the Washington New Members Committee (WNMC), previously the Washington Young Lawyers Committee, asked the legal community to nominate new or young attorneys throughout the state of Washington who have gone above and beyond in serving their communities for its annual Public Service and Leadership Award. And the legal community certainly delivered. With nominations crossing into double digits for the first time in recent memory, the WNMC had work to do this awards cycle. So much so that we agreed to expand and recognize five honorees this year.
For each nominee, the committee weighed the following factors: (1) leadership and service in the local community or within a bar association; (2) mentoring; (3) involvement in the WSBA, American Bar Association, and/or local bar association activities; and (4) volunteering with pro bono or public service programs. These factors guide the committee and help us to highlight the exceptional public service work that new and young attorneys are doing in Washington.
This year’s award recipients stood out by displaying a history of exemplary leadership and commitment to public service and pro bono work. And so, we are pleased to announce Chelsey Butchard, Alejandra Cabrales, Austin Hellman, Eilish Villa Malone, and Lauren Romero as this year’s Public Service and Leadership Award recipients.
IN A TIME OF UNCERTAINTY, WE LOOK TO THE HELPERS
PBS favorite Fred “Mister” Rogers once told us, “When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’”
Throughout Washington and the rest of the country, there are many who are scared and looking for help during this uncertain time. Luckily, a new generation of attorneys have stepped up to be “helpers,” like this year’s Public Service & Leadership Award recipients. The WSBA and the WNMC are proud to have such inspiring members working to help Washingtonians, and we look forward to hearing more stories about the incredible pro bono and public service work going on around the state in the coming year.
Chelsey Butchard
Butchard is the owner/sole practitioner of Butchard Law, a family law practice out of Vancouver. While maintaining a thriving practice with multiple pro bono cases, you can also find Butchard assisting pro se litigants on Clark County Superior Court’s family law pro se dockets.
Since graduating from Willamette University School of Law in 2021, Butchard has consistently made her mark in the Vancouver area as a public-service-minded attorney and regular volunteer at local events. You can find Butchard rating local mock trials, volunteering with the Clark County Volunteer Lawyer’s Program, and serving as president of the Clark County Bar Association’s Family Law Section, all the while taking on hard cases to ensure that victims of domestic violence get the protections they need and deserve.
Alejandra Cabrales
Following in the footsteps of 2024 PSLA Awardee Casie Rodenberger, Cabrales shows she’s one of Bellingham’s best as an immigration-focused attorney with the Whatcom Law Group and now chair for the Board of Directors at Law Advocates of Whatcom County (LAW).
Hailing from Aberdeen, Cabrales moved to Bellingham in 2014 to start her journey to the Bar with a B.A. in pre-law at Western Washington University (’18). After coming back with her J.D. from the University of Idaho School of Law (’23), Cabrales has continued her efforts to support local community members at volunteer legal clinics, particularly working with individuals whose first language isn’t English. On a statewide level, you can find Cabrales serving on the Judicial Evaluations Committee of the Latina/o Bar Association of Washington (LBAW). She even left bedrest less than a week after surgery to join the Bellingham legal community on the Whatcom County Courthouse steps for Law Day 2025.
Austin Hellman
President of the Skagit County Bar Association (SCBA) within a year of being licensed, Hellman joined Skagit Legal Aid straight out of Seattle University School of Law (’22) where he serves as reentry and pro bono attorney.
Aiming to do his hometown of Anacortes proud, Hellman has tirelessly worked to strengthen the local legal community and expand access to justice efforts within Skagit County. Focusing on the criminal reentry field, Hellman built a collaborative relationship between Skagit Legal Aid and Skagit County District Court’s Re-Licensing Clinic. Specifically, Hellman has helped remove unnecessary barriers to relief through working to lower local infraction fines to the state minimum of $20 and ensuring that the repayment system for legal financial obligations operates in a manner that is equitable to the parties involved. All this while revitalizing the local legal community through his leadership at SCBA and staffing reentry clinics with local grassroots organization Underground Ministries.
Eilish Villa Malone
Encompassing 40 percent of all nominations received, Central Washington Legal Aid’s (CWLA) Director of Immigration Legal Services Villa Malone stood out among her peers as a public service advocate, community leader, and mentor, all while running her solo-practice firm.
The Yakima Valley legal community passionately recommended Villa Malone for her public service and pro bono efforts. One of the Yakima Herald-Republic’s 39 Under 39 and Yakima YWCA recognized changemaker, Villa Malone regularly organizes multi-county and organizational partnerships to put on immigration and naturalization legal clinics through both her former role at La Casa Hogar and current role at CWLA. You can find her fiercely advocating for systemic equity both in the background and through on-the-ground service, all in addition to serving as the vice president of development for LBAW. Her unwavering commitment to justice, community, and the legal profession certainly reflects the spirit of this award.
Lauren Romero
Shredding at the skate park and serving clients on the Pierce County Unlawful Detainer docket, this Tacomaprobono Community Lawyers staff attorney was also honored with a 2025 Tacoma-Pierce County Bar Association Community Service Award for Service by a New Attorney.
Showing us a life of service takes many different forms, Romero shifted to public interest law after serving honorably as a U.S. Army assistant operations officer. Resilient and adaptable, Romero takes a compassionate approach to working with low-income clients and providing exemplary assistance in the eviction defense, family law, and veterans’ advocacy fields. Romero’s humility and humor further help make her an inspiring role model both to new Pierce County attorneys and to young women, trans, nonbinary, and gender-expansive people in her volunteer work with Skate Like a Girl, where she previously served as a member of the Board of Directors.
LEARN MORE > More information about the Washington New Members Committee, including current projects and committee vacancies, can be found at www.wsba.org/connect-serve/committees-boards-other-groups/WNMC.