Washington State Lawyers Vote to Slash Mandatory Bar Dues; Budget Will Shrink 25%
Bar officials in Washington state will have to cut programs after lawyers voted to cut their mandatory bar dues.
Lawyers in the state will pay annual dues of $325 a year, rather than the current $450, the Associated Press reports. Fifty-two percent of the voting lawyers approved the cut totaling about $3.6 million.
The amount is about one-fourth of the Washington State Bar Association’s budget. Bar president Steve Crossland tells AP he’s not sure which programs will take the hit. “Everything is on the table,” he said.
The vote comes after the bar announced a new moderate means program in which lawyers will offer sliding-scale fees based on a client’s income. Participating lawyers will get free training and mentoring. The bar is budgeting about $500,000 a year to run the program.
