Majumdar is the country’s first state bar president of South Asian descent.
Indian American lawyer Rajeev Majumdar was sworn in Thursday to serve as the Washington State Bar Association’s new president. Majumdar’s one-year term as president of the bar runs through September 2020. He succeeded Bill Pickett.
The Board of Governors of the Washington State Bar Association elected Majumdar in May last year. He is the country’s first state bar president of South Asian descent.
“I believe that our primary duty as officers of the court, and in the continued service of our state and country, should be ensuring access to impartial justice for all people, and, as leaders of the Washington State Bar Association, creating an environment that empowers our members to create that access,” said Majumdar, accepting his election last year. “Part of protecting such access to justice is warranting that our leadership contains diverse perspectives and experiences.”
Majumdar grew up in rural eastern Idaho and completed his undergraduate degree in biology and philosophy at Albertson College of Idaho in1999. He earned a master’s in international studies and public affairs from University of Washington in 2004.
In 2007, he earned a juris doctorate–cum laude from Seattle University.
Majumdar has served as the prosecuting attorney for the City of Blaine and as the special prosecuting attorney for the City of Bellingham’s Mental Health Diversion Court. He also has a private practice with The Law Offices of Roger Ellingson, P.S., in Blaine, where he has worked since 2008.
As WSBA’s new president, Majumdar has set an agenda focused on transparency, fiscal responsibility, and membership advocacy. “I love this organization and I am fully committed to be an agent of empowerment for the board and the issues it wishes to examine,” he said. The WSBA operates under the delegated authority of the Washington Supreme Court to license the state’s nearly 40,000 lawyers and other legal professionals.
Majumdar has a long history of community service, volunteering with organizations such as the New Orleans Legal Assistance Corporation and the Pro Bono Project in New Orleans, where he helped victims of Hurricane Katrina. He is a board member of Sun Community Services, which provides transitional housing for the mentally ill in Whatcom County, and involved himself in other pro-bono work. He received the 2015 WSBA Local Hero Award for his work with indigent clients.
America’s first state bar president of South Asian descent, Rajeev Majumdar (in bowtie with family) was sworn in Thursday to serve as the Washington State Bar Association’s new President. @SABALegal @IndianEmbassyUS pic.twitter.com/2UjNocTa3M
— WA State Bar Assoc. (@WAStateBar) September 27, 2019