Jill Sasser Receives Washington State Bar Association Local Hero Award │ July 16, 2021
STEVENSON, WA, July 16, 2021 — The Washington State Bar Association (WSBA) named Jill Sasser as the winner of the Local Hero Award for her exceptional and unwavering support in organizing the annual Clark County Mock Trial Tournament for the past 10 years.
The Local Hero Award is given to those who have made noteworthy contributions to their communities. WSBA President Kyle Sciuchetti will present the award during the mixed in-person/virtual Board of Governors meeting in Stevenson on July 16.
Every year for the last decade, Sasser has served as one an irreplaceable organizer for the Clark County Mock Trial Tournament and helped ensure its ongoing success.
“The amount of time she has devoted to supporting our Mock Trial program is substantial,” said Clark County Superior Court Judge John Fairgrieve. “Jill also contributes in other ways to our local legal community, having previously served as president of the Clark County Bar Association and currently serving as president in our local chapter of the American Inns of Court.”
As one of the tournament’s strategic organizers, Sasser has taken on such critical responsibilities as recruiting attorneys to judge the performance of student competitors, as well as handling event logistics like coordinating with the Seattle YMCA mock trial program staff. Even as the COVID-19 pandemic presented a bevy of new challenges this year, Sasser showed “tremendous flexibility” and was able to transition the event to a remote format. Sasser worked with YMCA staff to hold the tournament via Zoom, bringing in 11 Western Washington teams to compete in five rounds over three days.
Sasser was in daily contact with YMCA staff for several weeks leading to the tournament. In addition to recruiting judges, she monitored the tournament rounds to keep the event running smoothly. Further, she coordinated the tournament awards ceremony and for months following worked to ensure all the awards were delivered to the teams and individual competitors.
Since 2006, Sasser has been an attorney with Landerholm, P.S., in Vancouver, where she specializes in estate planning, probate and trust administration, guardianship, and trust and estate litigation. In 2019, she began serving as a Clark County Superior Court pro tempore commissioner and pro tempore judge, and in late-2020 she was appointed to the bench as a court commissioner.
Sasser has additional experience in real estate, business, family law, probate, ex parte, and civil motion dockets. She has worked in alternative dispute resolution and investigation and forensic review of guardianship, estate, and trust cases. Sasser earned her J.D. from the University of Oregon School of Law after completing a bachelor’s in business administration at Pepperdine University.
About the Washington State Bar Association
The WSBA operates under the delegated authority of the Washington Supreme Court and exercises a governmental function authorized by the Court to license and regulate the state’s nearly 40,000 legal professionals, including lawyers, limited practice officers, and limited license legal technicians. The WSBA both regulates legal professionals under the authority of the Court and serves its members as a professional association — all without public funding. The WSBA administers the Bar admission process, including the bar exam; provides record-keeping and licensing functions; administers the lawyer discipline system; and provides continuing legal education for legal professionals, in addition to numerous other educational and member-service activities. The Bar’s mission is to serve the public and its members, to ensure the integrity of the legal profession, and to champion justice.
