FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE   
September 28, 2007     

Contact: Stephanie Perry
Communications Specialist/Website Editor
206-733-5932; stephaniep@wsba.org

Washington State Breast Cancer Legal Resource Guide Available on WSBA Website

Seattle, Washington, September 28, 2007 — The Washington State Bar Association (WSBA) is pleased to announce that the Breast Cancer Legal Resources Guide – Washington State is now available on the WSBA website at www.wsba.org/breastcancerlegalresource.pdf. The Guide was a collaborative effort, with many hours of work contributed by attorneys, law students, and judges, under the direction of Joan Tierney, president of Washington Women Lawyers (WWL) and associate director of the Center for Professional Development of Seattle University School of Law. The Guide is an outgrowth of two continuing legal education seminars, one held in March 2007, entitled “Litigation and the Legal Rights of Breast Cancer Patients,” sponsored by the ABA and WWL, and another in June, entitled “Breast Cancer and Other Cancer Legal Issues Training – Part Two,” sponsored by the WSBA and WWL.

The Guide is the first comprehensive legal resource in Washington state for breast cancer patients, their families, caregivers, attorneys, and others providing services to those facing breast cancer. It addresses issues regarding employment, housing, estate planning, insurance coverage, HIPAA, foreclosure, medical debt, disability benefits, public benefits, viaticals, estate planning, end-of-life issues, issues facing women of color, and liability. The purpose of the Guide is to serve as an educational and informational tool and resource for those facing breast cancer and other catastrophic illnesses. For further information regarding the WSBC-LRG, please contact Joan Tierney at jtierney@seattleu.edu.
 
About the Washington State Bar Association
The WSBA is part of the judicial branch, exercising a governmental function authorized by the Washington State Supreme Court to license the state’s 30,700 lawyers. The WSBA both regulates lawyers 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; provides record-keeping and licensing functions; and administers the lawyer-discipline system. As a professional association, the WSBA provides continuing legal education for attorneys, in addition to numerous other educational and member-service activities.
 
The governance of the WSBA is vested in its 14-person Board of Governors. There are three governors from the seventh congressional district; one from each of the other eight districts; and three at-large
members, one of whom represents the Young Lawyers Division. The 2007-2008 president is Stanley A. Bastian, of Wenatchee. The 2007-2008 president-elect is Mark A. Johnson, of Seattle, and the immediate past-president is Ellen Conedera Dial, of Seattle. The Board meets regularly (every six weeks) at various locations around the state, and its meetings are open to the public. Much of the work of the Bar is carried out through 23 standing committees; 26 sections; and a Young Lawyers Division, with its many committees.

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