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About QLaw

MISSION STATEMENT

QLaw Association is an association of LGBTQ+ legal professionals and their friends. Serving as a voice of LGBTQ+ lawyers and other legal professionals in the State of Washington on issues relating to diversity and equality in the legal profession, in the courts, and under the law, the organization has five purposes:

to provide opportunities for members of the LGBTQ+ legal community to meet in a supportive, professional atmosphere to exchange ideas and information;
to further the professional development of LGBTQ+ legal professionals and law students;
to educate the public, the legal profession, and the courts about legal issues of particular concern to the LGBTQ+ community;
to empower members of the LGBTQ+ community by improving access to the legal and judicial system and sponsoring education programs;
and to promote and encourage the advancement of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender attorneys in the legal profession.

Browse our website to learn more about QLaw's purpose and activities, and feel free to contact us if you have questions or would like more information.

HISTORY

In 2005, Michael Heath and Beth Barrett Bloom were brought together by the Washington State Bar Association Leadership Institute, a program of the WSBA designed to recruit and train diverse leaders of the bar. Cognizant that no formal GLBT bar association had existed for quite some time, the two set out to organize what would become QLaw. In the summer of 2005, with the help of a devoted group of initial board members, QLaw was born. Mike and Beth guided QLaw through the first three years of its existence, watching QLaw’s membership grow and its influence and respect in the community rapidly increase.

At its heart, QLaw is a voluntary bar association for GLBT legal professionals and their friends. QLaw holds an annual banquet, quarterly social hours, a variety of CLEs, and a mentor/mentee program, among other things. The QLaw Foundation, a separate 501(c)3 organization, conducts the work of the At-Risk Youth Committee, and the Summer Public Interest Grant Program, a program to give law students experience working on LGBTQ+-rights issues with Washington legal organizations.

QLaw looks forward to future growth and keeping its members connected to each other, to the legal community and to the community at large.

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