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Tuesday, May 20, 2025
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Recognizing Implicit and Explicit Bias in the Practice of Law in 2025

Date(s): May 20, 2025

Time: 12:00 PM  PST - 1:30 PM  PST

1.5 Equity Ethics Credits confirmed

WDTL Members: Gratis
Non Members: $75
 

Join us for a facilitated panel discussion on how implicit and explicit bias continue to shape legal careers, workplace dynamics, and everyday practice. Panelists will share their personal experiences and offer practical insights on recognizing and addressing bias in the legal profession. We’ll also explore the changing landscape of DEI in 2025 and strategies for building a more inclusive and professional legal community.

Panelists:
Alex Foster-Brown, Simmons Sweeney Freimund Smith Tardif
Gauri Shrotriya Locker, Office of the Attorney General
Betsy Smith, Law Offices of Elizabeth G. Smith

Moderated by Preg O’Donnell & Gillett’s DEI chairs, Monica Marks and Brett Masch, and WDTL’s Diversity Committee Chair, Jade Park.
 
This CLE will satisfy the mandatory requirements of APR 11. The Washington Supreme Court amended APR 11 to require each licensed legal professional to complete at least one (1) ethics credit on equity, inclusion, and the mitigation of both implicit and explicit bias in the legal profession and the practice of law for each reporting period.
 
Alex Foster-Brown is a civil litigator with Simmons Sweeney, representing his clients at trial, as well as in both state and federal appellate court. Early in his career, Alex served as an Assistant Attorney General in Seattle. Alex is active in his community and serves as the Board Chairman for the Washington Initiative for Diversity where he works to provide tools and strategies to help legal employers build an inclusive work environment and a diverse workforce.

Gauri Shrotriya Locker has been an Assistant Attorney General with the Torts Division in Seattle since 2013 and was recently promoted to Senior Counsel in 2025.  She defends various state agencies and officials in civil rights, personal injury, admiralty, premises liability, insurance coverage and subrogation matters, professional negligence, labor and employment, and other tort matters.  Before joining the Attorney General’s office, Gauri worked in private civil defense and as a public defender.   She is a member of the Attorney General’s Office Equity Advice Workgroup, the AGO Henderson Workgroup, the Washington Defense Trial Lawyers Association (Community Service Committee Chair), the South Asian Bar Association of Washington, and the state Race, Equity and Justice Initiative.  She is an active mentor through the Minority Bar Mentorship Program and mentors other lawyers both formally and informally at her office.  Gauri is also a past chair of the Joint Asian Judicial Evaluation Committee of Washington.  She is a proud “double Buckeye,” holding both a B.A. and her law degree from The Ohio State University.
 
Elizabeth G. Smith has been practicing law since 1989, after a short teaching career. She has been practicing in Washington since 1998. She is admitted in Florida (Inactive), Washington, Oregon, Arizona, and Colorado. As the Seattle and Scottsdale Managing Trial Attorney for Nationwide Insurance Company, she manages litigation teams handling 1st party and 3rd party actions in those four states. Betsy is a member of WDTL, OADC, AODC, and  ABOTA. When she is not working, she and her wife enjoy “glamping” and playing flute, oboe, piccolo, or French horn with Rainbow City Performing Arts.

 

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