Washington’s Law Clerk Program offers another path to the legal profession
BY NOEL S. BRADY
The traditional path to becoming a lawyer in Washington state can be daunting. Three years of full-time law school at one of three law schools in two of the state’s largest cities, a six-figure debt, and the competitive nature of academia can make it seem like a pipe dream to many interested in the law. That’s how Nettie Dionne of Zillah, a town of about 3,200 people outside Yakima, felt. But now the former social worker and member of the Yakama Nation is studying for the bar exam.
Despite the challenges she faced, Dionne found an alternative path to becoming a lawyer, a career that had seemed far out of reach. She recently completed the Washington State Bar Association’s Law Clerk Program—authorized under Admission and Practice Rule (APR) 6. Now, without attending traditional law school, she’s poised to take the bar exam and begin practicing law as a fully licensed attorney, something her rural community sorely needs.
In July, Dionne, along with her large family, joined a half-dozen of her fellow recent grads of the Law Clerk Program for a reception following a meeting of the WSBA Board of Governors in Walla Walla. It was an afternoon of celebration and a huge step toward a legal career.
Her father often said she should be a lawyer, “because I was stubborn,” Dionne said. “No one can win an argument against me. After graduating from the University of Washington, I worked for my Tribe, where two of our former Yakama Nation Tribal councilmen … encouraged me to consider becoming an attorney. But at that time, I couldn’t envision it as something reachable.” She had already established a career in social work helping kids and adults through the guardianship process.
I was running a small business and very, very tied to my community … I wasn’t going to just up and go to law school.
Nettie Dionne, Law Clerk Program graduate
It wasn’t until she met then-attorney Sonia Rodriguez True, who at the time was working as a family law lawyer in the court where Dionne also worked, that she learned there was another way to become a lawyer. After becoming closer friends through church, Rodriguez True, now a judge in Yakima County Superior Court, suggested Dionne might be a good candidate for the Law Clerk Program and offered to serve as Dionne’s tutor.
“She told me about the program, and I thought, wow, that is really amazing,” Dionne recalled. “I can become an attorney without having to uproot my life and leave my community? There’s an alternative route to that?”
Despite the previous encouragement from her dad and colleagues, Dionne said she had never given serious thought to becoming a lawyer, until she learned about the Law Clerk Program.
“I was already established,” she said. “I’d already been a social worker for 12 years. I was running a small business and very, very tied to my community, and I am married with four children—I wasn’t going to just up and go to law school. If Judge Rodriguez True had not had that conversation with me about the Law Clerk Program, I would not be where I am today, because traditional law school seemed too far-fetched. It was not the pathway that would have been realistic for my family. Now that I have completed the program, I can honestly say that learning law school curriculum while working in a law office has given me invaluable knowledge and experience to become an attorney, especially practicing as a Rule 9. Having Judge Rodriguez True along this journey with me,
encouraging me to keep running the race, even when it seemed too much, was vital for me.”
Overseen by the WSBA’s Law Clerk Board under APR 6, the program’s premise is simple: replace some or all traditional classroom time with supervised practical experience under a qualifying tutor—a lawyer or judge with at least 10 years of experience. Over four years, the law clerk works, studies, and takes exams to demonstrate competency across doctrinal and experiential competencies.
APR 6 and the program make clear that the law clerk route is not a provisional license to practice, explained WSBA Law Clerk Program Lead Katherine Skinner. Rather, it is a legitimate, court-recognized means of meeting the educational prerequisite for admission to the bar and license to practice law in Washington.
While most participants in the program live in or near the state’s larger cities, a growing number of law clerks from rural parts of Washington are finding a path to lawyering that makes better sense for where they work and live with their families. It’s helping to fill the gaps for communities experiencing shortages of legal professionals. It’s just one way the WSBA is working to expand access to justice in those parts of the state that have a shortage of available lawyers.
“There’s not a lot of law schools out in rural Washington, so, yeah, it’s a great benefit for these participants, and it’s a great way for them to give back,” Skinner said. “Once they become licensed, they can give back to their rural community.”
Applicants to the program must be of good moral character (as defined by APR 20), hold a bachelor’s degree from an accredited college, and have previously secured qualifying full-time employment with a WSBA member who agrees to serve as their primary tutor.
The program requires a mix of directed study and supervised practice. The WSBA publishes regulations and an enrollment application packet listing subjects that tutors are required to cover, evaluation mechanisms, and administrative duties. While the regulations permit some flexibility in how tutors allocate study and practical experience, they also require documentation and periodic assessments to ensure parity with traditional legal education.
I was a bit nervous, because the first month was all about contracts. At the time I was a lawyer, and my specialty was family law, juvenile law. It was not contracts.
Judge Sonia Rodriguez True, Law Clerk Program tutor
Guided by their tutor, law clerks follow a curriculum like those of any Washington law school with the addition of real-world work experience. Each year, law clerks are required to study six subjects, pass 12 exams, and submit three reports on books related to topics such as legal history, philosophy and theory, policy, and procedure. The tutor develops, administers, and grades the exams; provides at least three hours each week of personal supervision; and evaluates the law clerk’s progress.
At times Judge Rodriguez True needed to brush up on legal topics like labor, constitutional law, and contracts, all areas of law she hadn’t thought much about since she was in law school. “I was a bit nervous, because the first month was all about contracts. At the time I was a lawyer, and my specialty was family law, juvenile law. It was not contracts,” she said.
Despite the challenges, Rodriguez True was determined to power through the material, even more so when her pupil at times grew discouraged. “The more difficult it got in terms of the curriculum and studying and working and managing family, I expressed to Nettie, ‘You cannot quit! This is just hard, and it’s OK. You’re just going to get through it.’”
In hindsight, the judge said, the curriculum work experience, along with prep work Dionne will need to do before she takes the bar exam in February, will equip her with the knowledge and experience that she needs to start practicing on her own. “To me it’s a better way to study the law, because of the practical aspect that you learn through the program while you’re doing your job … you have a natural way to transition to a Rule 9 (legal intern). That practical experience, combined with the knowledge of the substance of the law learned through the program, is so much better in terms becoming a lawyer,” Rodriguez True said.
A Rule 9 licensed legal intern is Dionne’s current role, working at a law firm owned by Rodriguez True’s husband Patrick A. True in Yakima. These days she focuses her energy on working as a public defender and on guardianship cases in municipal, district, superior, and tribal courts as well as preparing to take the bar exam in a few months.
Dionne says her experience with the Law Clerk Program was rewarding, and she recommends it to others in her community who have ever considered becoming a lawyer.
“I think the Law Clerk Program opens so many pathways to become an attorney or to work in the legal field without the barriers of a traditional law school,” she said. “… I’ve been blessed to be under the mentorship of such a strong advocate for people. It’s not just going into a courtroom trying to win an argument or win a case; there’s a bigger picture. To be under the mentorship of somebody who just truly cares about her community and the underrepresented families is, to me, something that is so valuable that you can’t get just sitting in a classroom.”
As for Judge Rodriguez True, she’s sticking with the program and will soon begin working with her second law clerk on their path to becoming a lawyer. She said she knows the intimidation that comes with considering law school. In fact, she probably wouldn’t have gone for her J.D. had it not been for watching her mother attend law school at the University of Washington while she was working on her bachelor’s degree at UW.
“If my mom had not been in law school at that time, I would’ve never thought that I could go to law school or that I could become a lawyer,” she said. “I mean it just wasn’t anything I thought I was capable of or was for me. I find that is a common belief here. People are discouraged from a career in law because they don’t see a realistic pathway of becoming an attorney. We have a significant attorney shortage in this area. In our county, it is estimated that there is only one lawyer for every 600-700 people. The Rule 6 program is a perfect way to extend the opportunity to become a lawyer to so many in our community, as well as provide more attorneys to meet the unmet legal needs of our community.”
LEARN MORE ABOUT THE LAW CLERK PROGRAM
To qualify for the Law Clerk Program, applicants must have good moral character, a bachelor’s degree, and regular paid full-time employment in Washington with a lawyer or judge who has been actively practicing for 10 out of the last 12 years and who will serve as the applicant’s primary tutor. Applicants find their own employment; neither the WSBA nor the Law Clerk Board can assist with finding an employer/tutor. Employment is a requirement to apply for the program. Tutors can earn MCLE credit for their “personal supervision” time.
Prospective law clerks and tutors can visit https://wsba.org/law-clerk for more information. Those interested in learning more, applying to the program as a student, or becoming a tutor can contact lawclerks@wsba.org.
About the author
Noel S. Brady is a former newspaper reporter who spent nearly 20 years on the criminal justice beat. He has worked in WSBA’s Communication Department for 10 years. He can be reached at: