November 2004
The Board’s Work
by Lindsay Thompson
Seattle, September 16-17, 2004
September marks the changing of WSBA’s leadership. President David Savage returns to Pullman, full of honors; President Ron Ward takes the helm. Governors Rob Boggs, Carl Carlson, Bryce Dille, Zulema Hinojos-Fall, and Jon Ostlund departed with a full record of achievement; Governors Marcine Anderson, Jim Baker, Stan Bastian, Eron Berg, and Lonnie Davis take their places at the Big Table.
This month’s briefing book was only 441 pages, but it was vitamin-enriched, and with new additives. The Board took to it with a will, and, after 12 hours over two days, put most of it to rest. By any measure, President Savage moved a remarkable amount of legislation, initiatives, and studies through the BOG in his year. Not easily impressed, your obedient servant has to confess he was impressed.
Professional Development Implementation Committee: former presidents Dick Manning and Steve DeForest, and outgoing Seattle University law dean Rudy Hasl presented the committee’s recommendations arising from their July report to the BOG. The committee’s charge was to develop means of improving the lawyers’ professional skills: the practical stuff law schools tend not to teach very well.
The committee recommended these actions: (1) that all lawyers admitted to the WSBA do four hours of orientation and skills training prior to admission; (2) that all new lawyers complete 15 hours of approved skills-training courses in their first year of admission, five to be required courses, and all to be offered at a low cost ($75 or less); (3) that all new lawyers complete, by the end of year two, 15 more hours of skills-training courses; (4) that all new lawyers, in the third, fourth, and fifth years after admission, complete 45 more CLE hours, including 15 in approved skills training; and (5) that a task force be created to work on creating more opportunities for new lawyers to get mentored (supervised) client-representation experience.
A long debate followed. People had various concerns, from the projected price tag for the enterprise to what specific course content would be. Proponents said the details would follow, with implementation no sooner than late 2006 or early 2007. In the end, all the recommendations were adopted unanimously, though not without some comments that the WSBA seemed to be taking on things law schools ought to be doing.
Oral Reprimands Get a Preliminary Stake Through the Heart: For years a debate has gone on within the BOG about what to do about reprimands. As the WSBA disciplinary system has evolved over time, the reprimand is the only sanction administered orally, and in person, by the Board of Governors. Lesser ones and greater are all done in writing.
Any number of committees and groups have studied the question, and all came back with the same recommendation: keep things the way they are. My observation was always that those committees were predisposed to that point of view, so it was not surprising when that was the point of view they took. The arguments tended to be anecdotal: it has a deterrent effect, however unquantifiable; we have always done it that way, and should not change things lightly; and so on. The countervailing argument tended to be that the WSBA made attorneys drive long distances to stand before the Board of Governors, have a two-minute reprimand read them, and then go home. By contrast, notices of disbarment come by mail.
This year President Savage appointed Governor Mike Pontarolo to chair another committee to look at the issue. To their credit, they looked at all sides fairly and concluded that reprimands should be given in writing, “as there seems to be no showing that oral reprimands deter future misconduct at any greater rate than a written reprimand might.”
Governors felt warmly about the issue on both sides, and discussed it at great length. When the vote was called, they voted 8-5 to ask the Supreme Court to change the rules on the use of oral reprimands.
Expanding the Admission Pool, Slightly: Governor Zulema Hinojos-Fall persuaded the BOG to recommend changes to APR 3 to allow lawyers who have completed law studies in another country, and who have completed an LLM., SJD, or Ph.D. program in a U.S. law school, to sit for the Washington State Bar exam. The proposal was adopted.
Consent calendar actions
Amendments: addition of “disability” to WSBA Bylaw Section M, approved; technical corrections to Bylaw Article II (c) (2 and 3), approved.
Reports: Board Chair David Leen and Executive Director Barbara Clark gave the Board of Governors the 2003 Annual Report of the Legal Foundation of Washington. Chair Wilda Heard gave the 2003 Annual Report of the Lawyers’ Fund for Client Protection. ABA delegates Llewellyn Pritchard and Bill Neukom gave a report on the 2004 Annual Meeting of the American Bar Association. The Long-Range Planning Committee, chaired by Governor Carl Carlson, presented its 2004-2005 Operating Plan for the WSBA, which the Board approved. The Ad Hoc Committee on Election of WSBA Presidents and Governors gave an interim report. Committee Chair Jim Macpherson outlined the committee's work to date. The Court Rules and Procedures Committee’s recommended changes to CR 26 and 35 will be carried over to next year.
The Committee to Study General Rule 12 gave a report that concluded the rule is subject to varying interpretations. The Young Lawyers Division Greater Access and Assistance Project (GAAP) won an endorsement from the BOG to continue filling the legal-services needs on an expanded basis. The Student Loan Crisis Committee and Washington State Bar Foundation reported on their plan to choose Sallie Mae as a student-loan consolidator, and on the beginning of a plan to forgive student loans for lawyers who go into public service. Federal Judge Ed Shea urged the BOG to plan ahead for the WSBA’s 125th anniversary in 2014 by starting to capture the recollections of elders of the bar while they are still alive.
The Panel on Criminal Defense recommended goals for improving funding operation of public defense programs. The Washington State Bar Foundation reported on its work over the last year.
That’s it. I’m outta here.
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