YAKIMA — Margie Alumbaugh soon hopes to sit for the state bar exam even though the working mother of two never went to law school.
The 36-year-old Ellensburg native has been studying to be an attorney while working full time as a legal secretary and later as a deputy prosecutor for the Kittitas County prosecutor’s office.
She is one of about 45 people around the state who hope to become attorneys by working in the legal profession at the same time they are tutored in the law by a senior attorney.
The program, overseen by the Washington State Bar Association, has been active for more than 70 years.
Washington is one of a few states that provide a route for students to become lawyers without going through law school.
Alumbaugh, a single mom, and her two children, ages 10 and 13, have had to adjust to the time crunch caused by the four-year program. They spend homework time together in the evening, and Alumbaugh has to attend regular classes with Kittitas County Prosecuting Attorney Greg Zempel, her primary tutor, as well as other attorneys in the office.
“It’s a real time issue. Obviously, it feels like there’s not enough hours in the day for all of it,” she said. Alumbaugh, who earned a bachelor’s degree in law and justice from Central Washington University, started with the prosecutor’s office in 2002 and was promoted in February to become a deputy prosecutor under a legal rule that allows law students waiting for the bar exam to practice under supervision.
She previously worked as a secretary, attended Yakima Valley Community College and ran a day-care center from her home. She had considered law school, but it wasn’t realistic since she wanted to stay in Ellensburg, where family members have helped with her children. So she pursued the alternate route — formally known as the law clerk program — and got Zempel to be her sponsor.
“It’s been a really great experience, and I’m glad I did it. It’s definitely an option for people who are looking to become an attorney,” Alumbaugh said.
She expects to stay with the Kittitas County prosecutor’s office for the near future and then see where her new legal career takes her.
Participants and officials involved with the law clerk program say the option works — for the right people.
Before Yakima attorney Jim Tree decided to tutor his son-in-law, he encouraged him to go to law school.
For Tree, a graduate of the Brigham Young University Law School, that seemed a more fun option than working full-time, going to school and balancing family life.
Family ties played in Tim Anderson’s favor. Tree knew that he was a smart go-getter who would be able to balance competing demands.
“I wouldn’t do it if a stranger came along. It’s too much responsibility and time and effort,” Tree said.
Tree estimated that being a tutor — preparing classes and writing tests — adds five or six hours of work to his week.
For Anderson, that number is more like 15.
He works as a paralegal at Tree Law Office, goes home to dinner and the kids, studies for at least two hours, makes sure his wife still recognizes him and then heads for bed. On Saturdays, he studies for another few hours.
Still, he says he’s happy with the heavy load.
He graduated from Brigham Young University-Idaho and went to work for WalMart’s Sam’s Club as a buyer at the company’s Arkansas headquarters. But he was looking for a way to become a lawyer.
About 230 people have graduated from the program since the 1930s, about 150 of them since 1984. The Washington State Bar Association formally established standards in 1934.
Unlike full-time law school, which takes three years, the law clerk program takes four years.
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