Alumni Essay: Julie (Sund) Nichols '00 (Political Science and Journalism Double Major)

Currently an attorney working for the largest trade association in Washington state, the Building Industry Association of Washington

While at Whitworth, Nichols started in politics as an intern in the office of U.S. Senator Slade Gorton, which led to a job with Gorton in Washington, D.C. Nichols then attended law school at night at Seattle University and George Mason University while working as a policy advisor for Congresswoman Jennifer Dunn and the U.S. House of Representatives Select Committee on Homeland Security following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. After her second stint in Washington, D.C., Nichols moved home for good in 2004 to take a job with Governor-Elect Dino Rossi - a job which quickly turned into a legal research position during the court challenge that followed the 2004 election. Since then, Nichols has served as chief of staff for King County Councilman Reagan Dunn and has directed the communications effort for Mike McGavick's 2006 campaign for the U.S. Senate. She graduated from Seattle University Law School in December 2005 and became a member of the Washington State Bar Association in 2006. At BIAW, she spends her time on employment law and land-use issues, as well as running the organization's member-education program. Nichols is married and lives in Olympia, Washington.