Dear Members,

As part of the WCRA community, I ask myself what it means to be part of this community of professionals and how we can be supportive of one another.  I need to be candid. These are very challenging times for all of us.  There are many who would like to see the guardrails of this profession dismantled, if not removed entirely.  WCRA is stepping up to this challenge and facing it head-on. 

Like the healthcare industry, the legal field maintains highly confidential records.  Where does this information go?  Who will have access to it when it moves to the cloud?  Will AI take over our jobs?  These are significant questions that we, as the Guardians of the Record and Certified Professionals, must address as the gatekeepers. 

I am proud to announce that WCRA, in an effort to keep the guardrails in place and maintain the goodwill and confidence of the public, whom we ultimately serve, has contracted with the firm Gordon Thomas Honeywell Governmental Affairs for legislative monitoring in Olympia.  This monitoring will include, but is not limited to, alerting us to any proposed changes to the CR certification/licensing program; integration of any (automated or artificial intelligence) technology that could impact the CR profession; efforts to allow more alternatives to CRs in maintaining the official court record; effort that would undermine, weaken, or abolish the profession.  I am confident that under their watchful eye and with the ability to take further action as necessary, WCRA is doing everything we can to protect your interests.

What can you do?  Your continued membership is essential to advancing these efforts.  If you are not already a member of WCRA, we encourage you to consider joining.  And if you know someone who isn’t a member, please share with them what we are doing so they can make an informed decision.  Information is power, and working collectively, we can shape our place in history. 

Your WCRA Board has a lot of fun events lined up this year, including coffee meetups on Saturday mornings, the NCRA conference in Bellevue in July, and then a combined Fall conference with Oregon in early October.  It’s going to be a fun-packed 2026, and we look forward to it.  I hope you do too! 

Holly Draper, RPR, CCR WA Lic #1978, WCRA President