On May 6, 2016, the last day to do so, I submitted my application for senior attorney status. As explained below, I viewed applying as a probable waste of time. Had the deadline eve, May 5th, been a typical Thursday night, I would have been visiting clients and reading their files pretty late into the night. In that case I would not have stayed up even later to prepare an application. The title “Senior Attorney” was not important to me. The increased salary was attractive but Dave and I were not in financial need. However, my case duties that night were unusually light. Fate gave me time to fill out an application. So I did. Fate is a tricky bitch.
My belief that applying for the promotion would be a long shot was based on a few interactions I had with then DPD director, Lorinda Youngcourt. I had recently spoken at a meeting of DPD’s advisory board against Youngcourt’s sudden and brutal dismissal of the long time managing attorney of one of the other divisions. Furthermore, as director of the Washington Death Penalty Assistance Center (DPAC) I had several conflicts with Youngcourt over her reluctance to follow the Washington supreme court’s rules regarding the appointment of qualified counsel in potential death penalty cases. Youngcourt did not take criticism well. Although I met and exceeded every criteria for senior status and, only a year earlier I led the defense in the most serious and high profile case in TDAD’s history, I thought there was slim chance Youngcourt would approve my promotion if it got to her desk. On the other hand, a slim chance was still a chance.
After submitting my application, I was persuaded by colleagues that Youngcourt probably would not block applicants selected by the committee. She was personally involved in drafting the selection protocol so intervening after the committee made selections might raise the hackles of other stakeholders, including our union. If Youngcourt stayed out of it, I expected I would be promoted. However, although Youngcourt wisely kept her distance from the naming of seniors, I was not promoted.
In retrospect, things would have been much easier had Youngcourt personally axed my promotion. No one would have been surprised had she vetoed my promotion. I had a history of irritating her. She had a history of dealing harshly with thorns in her side. Under the protocol she had the final say on senior promotions. Had she blocked my promotion, I would have been disappointed but not really surprised. That’s just the way autocracies work.
I was soon to get an emotional slap in the face that left me reeling like a concussed cartoon character.
Observations 
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