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I recently passed the Washington State Bar but am currently clerking out of state. One of the requirements for admission to the WSBA is appointment of an agent in the state to receive service of process, and I'm at a loss as to who to name. I don't have any family in Washington, and I would feel awkward burdening one of the handful of law school acquaintance I have there with the responsibility of notifying me in the (unlikely) event I do get served. I looked up the possibility of naming the state bar association as my agent, but that doesn't seem to be possible. I also don't have any connections from a future firm to draw on. The last thing I'm considering is a registered agent company, which seems pretty affordable (although obviously more expensive than naming someone who would do it for free), but potentially sketchy. Has anyone else encountered this issue of having to name an in-state agent just to get admitted to the bar?

Anonymous User wrote:I recently passed the Washington State Bar but am currently clerking out of state. One of the requirements for admission to the WSBA is appointment of an agent in the state to receive service of process, and I'm at a loss as to who to name. I don't have any family in Washington, and I would feel awkward burdening one of the handful of law school acquaintance I have there with the responsibility of notifying me in the (unlikely) event I do get served. I looked up the possibility of naming the state bar association as my agent, but that doesn't seem to be possible. I also don't have any connections from a future firm to draw on. The last thing I'm considering is a registered agent company, which seems pretty affordable (although obviously more expensive than naming someone who would do it for free), but potentially sketchy. Has anyone else encountered this issue of having to name an in-state agent just to get admitted to the bar?

I have never heard of such a rule in any other state. And it appears to be a fairly new rule in Washington as well. I'm not even sure this rule would pass a constitutional challenge since it is more burdensome to out-of-state residents. But for now the goal is to comply and get licensed in Washington.

I'm a business owner and I have used Northwest Registered Agent when registering my business in other states. Some of the mail forwarding services will also allow you to use them as your registered agent.

There are lots of registered agent services you can use. Check out this FAQ from the WSBA. I use https://www.washingtonregisteredagent.net.