2018 Twelfth Annual Banquet

October 17, 2018

MAMA Seattle’s Twelfth Annual Banquet was held on Wednesday, October 17, 2018, at the Four Seasons Hotel in Seattle. MAMA Seattle was proud to present Kellye Testy and Annette Clark with the MAMA Seattle 2018 Betty Binns Fletcher Leadership and Justice Awards. Washington State Supreme Court Justice Debra Stephens, friend and colleague of Kellye and Annette, moderates a discussion with the honorees.

MAMA Seattle’s Betty Binns Fletcher Leadership and Justice Award is given each year to an individual who has paved the way to success for, and has served as an inspiration to, other women attorneys striving to excel in their legal careers while balancing family demands. For the first time, MAMA Seattle presented two awards to honor Kellye Testy and Annette Clark, two leaders and mother attorneys whose vision and action in legal education, equal access to justice and diversity have positively impacted thousands of law graduates and our greater legal community. For these reasons and many more, MAMA Seattle was honored to present Kellye Testy and Annette Clark with its 2018 Betty Binns Fletcher Leadership and Justice Awards at the MAMA Seattle Twelfth Annual Banquet on October 17, 2018.

Kellye Testy

Kellye Testy is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Law School Admission Council. She was the 14th dean and first woman to lead the University of Washington School of Law, a post she held from 2009-17. A prolific scholar, outstanding teacher, and experienced administrator, Testy focuses her research and scholarship on contracts, corporate governance, business entities, leadership, and access to justice. She is known throughout academic and legal communities for her dedication to the rule of law and its commitment to justice and equality.

Named the nation’s second most influential leader in legal education in 2017 by the National Jurist, Testy served as the president of the American Association of Law Schools (AALS) in 2016, with the presidential theme “Why Law Matters,” to focus on how the law plays a critical role in setting the foundation for justice and human prosperity. She also co-chaired the AALS Section for the Law School Dean and served on the Committee on Recruitment and Retention of Minority Law Teachers and Students, the Committee on Audit and Association Investment Policy, the AALS Executive Committee, and as a member of the 2009 Planning Committee for the Conference on Business Associations. In addition to her work with the AALS, Testy has served on the Board of Governors of the Society of American Law Teachers as well as several committees of the ABA Section on Legal Education.

She has received numerous honors and awards, including the President’s Award from the Washington State Bar Association, the Washington State Trial Lawyers Public Justice Award, a Puget Sound Business Journal’s Woman of the Year award, and three Outstanding Teacher Awards. She has also received awards from Washington Women Lawyers and King County Women Lawyers.

Testy graduated summa cum laude from the Indiana University School of Law at Bloomington, where she was editor-in-chief of the Indiana Law Journal, John H. Edwards University Fellow, Chancellor’s Scholar, and member of the Order of the Coif. During law school, she worked for Kirkland & Ellis in Chicago, and after graduation, she clerked for Judge Jesse E. Eschbach, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. At the end of her clerkship in 1992, she began her academic career when she joined the faculty of Seattle University Law School. She became its dean in 2005.

Annette Clark

After receiving an M.D. with Honors from the University of Washington’s School of Medicine and her J.D. summa cum laude from the Seattle University School of Law, Dean Clark joined the School of Law faculty in 1989. In addition to her duties as a faculty member, she is a long-time administrator, having served for ten years as Associate Dean and then Vice Dean, overseeing the academic program, including the curriculum and centers and institutes, as well as the faculty. She was the Interim Dean at Seattle University School of Law from 2009-2010, a Visiting Scholar at The George Washington University Law School for Fall 2010, and Dean and Professor of Law at the Saint Louis University School of Law from 2011-12.

While on the SU faculty, Dean Clark received the Seattle Journal for Social Justice Faculty Award in 2005, the Dean’s Medal in 2006, and the Outstanding Teacher Award from the graduating class in December 2007 and December 2011. She was also named the James B. McGoldrick, S.J., Fellow in 2008-09 by President Stephen V. Sundborg, S.J. This annual award is given to the faculty member or administrator who best exemplifies commitment to students and to the values of a Jesuit education. Dean Clark counts teaching law students as one of her greatest joys.

Her areas of expertise include civil procedure, medical liability, bioethics, and legal education and she is a frequent regional and national lecturer on these topics. Her scholarship operates at the interface of health care, law, and health policy, with a particular emphasis on end-of-life issues. She has published articles in the New York University Law Review, the Georgetown Law Journal, and the Tulane Law Review, among others.

Throughout her professional career, Dean Clark has been active in various community and professional organizations, including serving on the MultiCare Institutional Review Board and the Safe Crossings Foundation Board.

MAMA Seattle’s Betty Binns Fletcher Leadership and Justice Award is given each year to an individual who has paved the way to success for, and has served as an inspiration to, other women attorneys striving to excel in their legal careers while balancing family demands. For the first time, MAMA Seattle is presenting two awards to honor Kellye Testy and Annette Clark, two leaders and mother attorneys whose vision and action in legal education, equal access to justice and diversity have positively impacted thousands of law graduates and our greater legal community. For these reasons and many more, MAMA Seattle is honored to present Kellye Testy and Annette Clark with its 2018 Betty Binns Fletcher Leadership and Justice Awards at the MAMA Seattle Twelfth Annual Banquet on October 17, 2018.