August 1999

Raising the Bar — Planning for the Future

by M. Wayne Blair
WSBA President

During the last year, we have, together, endeavored to "Raise the Bar" and plan for the future of the Washington State Bar Association. Now, at the close of the WSBA’s year, we dedicate this issue of Bar News to long-range planning.

A primary focus of the Board of Governors over the past six years has been reform of the lawyer discipline system. Beginning with the presidency of Mary Fairhurst, whose term immediately preceded mine, the focus of the Board of Governors shifted from an emphasis on our role as a regulatory body under the Washington Supreme Court to our role as a professional association of lawyers with approximately 24,000 members.

Prior to the July 1998 Board of Governors’ annual retreat, the planning committee polled members of the Board; presidents of local, minority and specialty bars; and committee and section chairs about the issues they thought the Board of Governors should be discussing at the retreat, and what priorities they would place on those issues. Three broad categories of issues emerged from that survey: internal communications, including communications with the 58 other bar associations and legal organizations in this state; external communications, including communications with the courts, the legislature and the public; and governance, including how to make the Board, committees, sections and staff work more effectively together. The planning retreat included the Board; WSBA senior staff; and representatives of other legal organizations, committees and sections who chose to attend. Out of that retreat, an abundance of ideas emerged. By the end of the day, the WSBA had taken the first step in a long-range strategic planning process.

The last time the State Bar engaged in such a process was 1990, under a committee chaired by Bill Gates. The Board of Governors agreed that it was time to engage in such a process again, with the idea that the long-range plan emerging from this process would be a dynamic document, updated from time to time. In September 1998 the Board formally authorized the WSBA to engage in a long-range strategic planning process. The Long-Range Strategic Planning Committee of the Board of Governors would be the steering committee for the process. Serving on the committee were Lish Whitson, Walter Krueger, Dick Eymann, Jim Deno, John Powers, Rafael Gonzales, Mary Fairhurst, Douglas Fair, Kathleen Hopkins, Terry Lee, Marijean Moschetto, Jan Michels, Pat Dieken and I.

Under the authority of the Board of Governors, the committee engaged Christine Veit of SMG/Columbia Consulting Group to assist with our long-range planning.

Because the WSBA is its members, we asked you — the members — to help us plan for the future. The committee sought your input in a variety of ways: solicitation of written comment; individual conversations; personal visits by Jan Michels, me or others; "Town Meetings"; and a survey in the March issue of Bar News.

We asked you to tell us what you believe to be the trends in the profession that affect your practice, and what you think the WSBA can do to ameliorate the affect of any adverse trends. What is it about your practice that keeps you up at night, and how could the WSBA help? We asked if you have suggestions for modifying the purposes of the WSBA, as expressed in GR12. Should the services that the WSBA presently provides be changed? Should there be any changes to WSBA governance? If there was one thing you could change about the WSBA, what would it be?

In an effort to address these questions, the Long-Range Strategic Planning Committee conducted 12 Town Meetings around the state between February and May. Town Meetings were held in Bellevue, Wenatchee, Kennewick, Bellingham, Seattle, Vancouver, Spokane, Everett, Tacoma, Olympia and at the Washington Young Lawyers Division (WYLD) Annual Meeting.

The issues discussed most often were (in no particular order of significance): professionalism and civility, access to justice, the unauthorized practice of law, the changing nature of dispute resolution, the public’s poor perception of lawyers and the legal profession, technology and its impact, maintaining professional competence, the education and development of new lawyers, and balance in the life of a lawyer. Most Town Meetings shared similarly in discussion on these issues.

Importantly, the Town Meeting held at the WYLD Annual Meeting in Skamania (on a Sunday morning in May), with approximately 30 young lawyers present, was different. The new practitioners raised issues that I had not heard before.

Specifically, some young lawyers are struggling with the practice of law and are not satisfied with what they are doing. Others are grappling with whether they really want to practice law. Still others are having difficulty making an adequate living, particularly when confronted with repaying student loans.

While many young lawyers enjoy what they are doing, they are looking for balance in their lives. They are putting in long hours, and are regretting the long days and lack of adequate time for family or for themselves. While they are working hard to develop their practices, they are not finding it easy to do.

Some women lawyers are struggling to make the profession and the practice more user-friendly for women. Some want to practice law where it is acceptable to work 40 hours, or even 30 hours per week.

Based upon the responses to the survey, and the replies at the Town Meetings and at stakeholder meetings, i.e., other bar association meetings, and miscellaneous letters received over a period of time, the Long-Range Strategic Planning Committee developed a list of 234 issues.

The Committee members and the Board of Governors met all day on May 27, June 17 and July 8 to discuss and begin clarifying, revising, defining, categorizing and combining the issues into a manageable number to discuss in depth and then prioritize.

We also have discussed in these sessions a vision for the WSBA. While a vision is not yet complete, these values are guiding its development:

• open and accessible;
• progressive, responsive to your needs as a lawyer and service-oriented;
• relevant to your practice;
• financially stable;
• good value for the money;
• statewide voice for lawyers on issues of concern;
• well-run, well-managed;
• a leader, a champion of justice, an advocate for the interests of lawyers;
• diverse, inclusive — in which all members feel fairly and equally treated;
• responsible, accountable, timely and fair, as the WSBA acts in its regulatory role to protect the public.

At the Board of Governors’ meeting on July 29, the Board will prioritize the issues we will address. We anticipate that the Board will select five or six issues that are of such strategic importance that the Board will focus the WSBA’s efforts and resources on those issues over the next couple of years. There will also be a number of significant long-term strategic issues that have had the Board’s attention in the past and will continue to be an important focus. We also anticipate there will be other issues of less strategic importance that the Board will decide, working with staff and others, to address in due course. Finally, there will be issues that simply will not be addressed at this time. The September issue of Bar News will publish the list of issues, both strategic and non-strategic, that have been developed with effort and care.

Thanks for your help so far. We will keep you advised.

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