Cut WSBA By 25%? Washington Lawyers Must Vote No!

Chopping 25% Is Not Smart

Suddenly, we Washington State lawyers are faced with a vote on whether to cut WSBA's dues by 25%. That's just nuts!
For $39.95 a month, we get not just the licensing side, but a free listing on the online lawyers' directory, free use of the ethics hotline, Casemaker, LOMAP, the Lawyers' Assistance Program, and a whole lot of stuff that the proposed cut threatens to take away. The proposed cut is just not good business sense!Maybe the people who signed the referendum got confused because WSBA is both a licensing body and a professional association. We can't get out of the licensing function; that's for the State Supreme Court to decide, and it's not going to happen. WSBA has no power to abandon or cut back on its regulatory functions!
Therefore, all of the cuts come out of the member benefits side. And the member benefits side is at most 26% of the part of the budget paid for by dues, a 25% cut in dues almost eliminates member benefits. How do you like that?
Certainly WSBA should operate at maximum efficiency, and keep squeezing the pennies. However, suddenly chopping out 25% is too much, too fast.
The people who collected signatures for the referendum got organized and surprised the rest of us (...did anyone ask YOU? no-one asked ME!). We have at most 2 months to think this one over. Therefore, I urge my fellow WA Attorney's to "Like" Attorneys United to Preserve WSBA, spread the word to friends rapidly, and above all VOTE!
Facts about the License fee Referendum