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The Washington Bar Association was formed in January 1888, during the final year of the Washington Territory. In those days, all lawyers who had cases set for argument before the Washington Supreme Court were required to be present at the beginning of the Court term in January. Sometimes lawyers were required to wait for days or weeks for their cases to be called on the calendar. In this setting, a group of lawyers met in the Supreme Court chambers in Olympia and decided to form the Washington Bar Association. The name was changed to the Washington State Bar Association in 1890.
The association originally consisted of 35 lawyers, and membership cost $5 per year. At that time, it was a purely voluntary organization and did not include all lawyers admitted to practice.
By 1930, as more lawyers were admitted to practice, it was proposed that the association have a more formal structure. In 1933, the Legislature enacted the State Bar Act (RCW 2.48), establishing the Washington State Bar Association as an agency of the state. It made membership mandatory for those licensed to practice law in Washington. Seattle lawyer Alfred J. Schweppe, a former dean of the University of Washington School of Law who was instrumental in drafting the State Bar Act, served as the WSBA’s first executive secretary.
From the Archive
'I DO Solemnly Declare...' The First Century of WSBA
WSBA Today
The Washington State Bar Association is part of the judicial branch, exercising a governmental function authorized by the Washington Supreme Court to license the state’s nearly 40,000 legal professionals, including lawyers, limited practice officers, and limited license legal technicians. The Bar both regulates legal professionals under the authority of the Court and serves its members as a professional association — all without public funding. As a regulatory agency, the WSBA administers the bar admission process, including the bar exam; maintains record-keeping and licensing; and administers the lawyer discipline system. As a professional association, the Bar provides continuing legal education in addition to numerous other educational and member-service activities.
The Washington Supreme Court has adopted General Rule (GR) 12.1, which sets out the general purposes of the WSBA and specifies its authorized activities. The General Rule is incorporated into Article I of the WSBA Bylaws. The internal affairs of the WSBA, including its membership, governance, and operations, are established by the Bylaws.
The WSBA is a mandatory bar (sometimes referred to as an “integrated” or “unified” bar), meaning that legal professionals licensed to practice in Washington are required to be members and pay an annual license fee. Admissions, regulation, and disciplinary functions are combined with professional association functions into one organization.
The Board of Governors directs the Bar. Board members, or governors, are chosen through a combination of election by members and appointment by the board. The WSBA president, elected by the Board of Governors, serves as the spokesperson for the Bar along with the executive director.
The Board of Governors selects the executive director, who runs the daily operations of the organization and manages a staff of approximately 145 Bar employees. The Bar's staff carry out the WSBA’s regulatory and disciplinary functions and provide support to various volunteers groups that work on Bar matters.
Past WSBA Presidents
2022-2023 Dan Clark
2021-2022 Brian Tollefson
2020–2021 Kyle Sciuchetti
2019–2020 Rajeev D. Majumdar
2018–2019 Bill Pickett
2017–2018 Brad Furlong
2016–2017 Robin Haynes
2015–2016 William D. Hyslop
2014–2015 Anthony David Gipe
2013–2014 Patrick A. Palace
2012–2013 Michele G. Radosevich
2011–2012 Stephen R. Crossland
2010–2011 Steven G. Toole
2009–2010 Salvador A. Mungia
2008–2009 Mark A. Johnson
2007–2008 Stanley A. Bastian
2006–2007 Ellen Conedera Dial
2005–2006 S. Brooke Taylor
2004–2005 Ronald R. Ward
2003–2004 David W. Savage
2002–2003 J. Richard Manning
2001–2002 Dale L. Carlisle
2000–2001 Jan Eric Peterson
1999–2000 Richard C. Eymann
1998–1999 M. Wayne Blair
1997–1998 Mary E. Fairhurst
1996–1997 Tom Chambers
1995–1996 Edward F. Shea
1994–1995 Ronald M. Gould
1993–1994 Paul L. Stritmatter
1992–1993 Stephen E. Deforest
1991–1992 Joseph P. Delay
1990–1991 Lowell K. Halverson
1989–1990 James A. Vander Stoep
1988–1989 Elizabeth J. Bracelin
1987–1988 Jack R. Dean
1986–1987 William H. Gates
1985–1986 Patrick C. Comfort
1984–1985 F. Lee Campbell
1983–1984 Robert R. Redman
1982–1983 Paul W. Steere
1981–1982 David A. Welts
1980–1981 Bradley T. Jones
1979–1980 Michael J. Hemovich
1978–1979 David D. Hoff
1977–1978 Edward J. Novack
1976–1977 Richard H. Riddell
1975–1976 Robert S. Day
1975–1976 Robert S. Day
1974–1975 Kenneth P. Short
1973–1974 Cleary Cone
1972–1973 Charles I. Stone
1971–1972 E. Frederick Velikanje
1970–1971 Robert Beresford
1969–1970 John Huneke
1968–1969 Payne Karr
1967–1968 Thomas P. Gose
1966–1967 John N. Rupp
1965–1966 George McCush
1964–1965 Grant Armstrong
1963–1964 John Gavin
1962–1963 Alfred McBee
1961–1962 Paul P. Ashley
1960–1961 Justin C. Maloney
1959–1960 Hilton B. Gardner
1958–1959 Thomas L. O'Leary
1957–1958 Fred C. Palmer
1956–1957 George W. Martin
1955–1956 Harold W. Coffin
1954–1955 A.J. Schweppe
1953–1954 F.A. Kern
1952–1953 Philip D. Macbride
1951–1952 Del Cary Smith
1950–1951 R.V. Welts
1949–1950 V.O. Nicholson
1948–1949 Tracy E. Griffin
1947–1948 Richard S. Munter
1946–1947 A.J. O'Connor
1945–1946 Fred D. Metzger
1944–1945 Frank E. Holman
1943–1944 Mark M. Moulton
1942–1943 Scott Z. Henderson
1941–1942 James P. Dillard
1940–1941 J. Speed Smith
1939–1940 Thomas E. Grady
1939 A.A. Hull
1938–1939 Robert E. Evans
1937–1938 J.E. Stewart
1936–1937 William G. McLaren
1935–1936 Laurence R. Hamblen
1934–1935 Elmer M. Hayden
1933–1934 O.B. Thorgrimson
1932–1933 Charles H. Paul
1931–1932 F.L. Stotler
1930–1931 Glenn J. Fairbrook
1929–1930 Edward W. Allen
1928–1929 B.H. Kizer
1927–1928 Maurice A. Langhorne
1926–1927 Geo H. Rummens
1925–1926 J.A. Coleman
1924–1925 Ralph B. Williamson
1923–1924 Stephen James Chadwick
1922–1923 Preston M. Troy
1921–1922 Joseph McCarthy
1921 C.R. Hovey
1920–1921 Otto Burton Rupp
1919–1920 Frank Truman Post
1918–1919 Charles O. Bates
1917–1918 N.C. Richards
1916–1917 Wimon Tucker
1915–1916 Mack F. Gose
1914–1915 Frank Reeves
1913–1914 Ira Englehart
1912–1913 B.S. Grosscup
1911–1912 William Thomas Dovell
1910–1911 Clinton W. Howard
1909–1910 C.C. Gose
1908–1909 J.B. Bridges
1907–1908 A.G. Avery
1906–1907 Elwood Clark Hughes
1905–1906 Francis H. Brownell
1904–1905 Edward Whitson
1903–1904 William A. Peters
1902–1903 R.G. Hudson
1901–1902 Hon. Austin Mires
1900–1901 Samuel Stern
1899–1900 George Donworth
1898–1899 Theodore L. Stiles
1897–1898 George Turner
1896–1897 Harold Preston
1895–1896 Charles S. Fogg
1894–1895 George Foster
1893–1894 Hon. John Arthur
1892–1893 Hon. Elwood Evans
1891–1892 Hon. Elwood Evans
1890–1891 Hon. Elwood Evans
1889–1890 Hon. Elwood Evans
1888–1889 B.F. Dennison, First President
1888 Elwood Evans, Chairman of
Organizational Meeting
