November 1999

Some Big Thanks, My Goals and Celebration 2000

Before I lay out my goals for the next year, I must recognize our four departing Governors and my immediate predecessor, President Wayne Blair. Outgoing Governors Marijean Moschetto, Don Powell, Mary Alice Theiler and Terry Lee are hopefully returning to much less stressful lives without the daily rigors of being members of the Board of Governors of the Washington State Bar Association. I say "daily," because that is exactly the commitment that is required for three long years. At times, the commitment can be staggering. Not only did these four lawyers serve you and our profession diligently, they brought to the table extraordinary ideas, thoughtful criticism and a tremendous ability to listen. They are not "big law firm people." They are not "rich" lawyers. Their egos are way down on their list of priorities. The members of their districts can take great credit in the wisdom of electing them, for there has been no finer class of Governors than Mary Alice, Marijean, Don and Terry. I wish each of them well, but I know that the end of their tenure on the Board will not be the end of the commitments they made to us and others throughout their careers, which include improving our profession and the image of lawyers, and ensuring access to justice. On behalf of the 24,000 members of this Bar Association, I thank you.

Your Immediate Past President, Wayne Blair, wore some very big shoes. For me, they are hard to fill. Wayne worked tirelessly during his year as your President. His sense of compassion, dedication to process, and great desire to set a focus for our Bar Association for the coming years are just three of his remarkable traits. He led us through an amazing learning process of town meetings, held throughout the state, to arrive at a long-range strategic plan as we enter the new millennium. I am truly fortunate to be able to begin the implementation of what is important to you, knowing the key issues that we in the profession of law must address; next, we will define the commitments that must be made. The Bar would have been well-served to have Wayne continue on as President for several more years, but we all recognize that the gift of an entire year (after three years on the Board and one year as President-elect) away from his family and law partners is more than enough. Thanks, Wayne!

In identifying our goals as lawyers, one wonders if it is like looking up at the stars and thinking that you might be able to touch one. Just when I feel that we might be making some inroads toward improving our image in society, I hear that a speaker at the Fall Judicial Conference said that having rank-and-file lawyers speak up and defend judges when they are trashed by the media makes things even worse for them, because of the extremely negative public perception of attorneys. Wow! Nevertheless, my number-one goal is to do my utmost to restore the noble image of our profession and confidence in our system of justice. I will speak, I will yell — whatever else it takes — this year and for the rest of my life.

One of the great ideas that has come forth regarding the preservation of our system of justice and restoration of trust and confidence in our profession, lawyers and the judiciary is the establishment of a Council on Public Legal Education to implement a comprehensive plan for the delivery and coordination of public legal education. This supports one of our goals from the Long-Range Strategic Plan: "The WSBA will conduct a public legal education program to broaden public knowledge about the law, the rule of law, and the role of lawyers and judges in the justice system." Public Legal Education Workgroup co-chairs Judith Billings, formerly our Superintendent of Public Instruction, and the Honorable Marlin Appelwick, of the Division II Court of Appeals, have worked on this project with many others, both lawyer and lay, since the fall of 1998. The goal of the Public Legal Education Workgroup is to find a way to empower the public to understand, respect and utilize the formal legal process, as well as to find ways to improve the process itself. Their vision of a legal system in which each participant has confidence in the justice system, and where each person is equipped with the information and tools needed to both fulfill obligations and advocate effectively for his or her rights, is obviously not where we are today, but it is achievable. Your Bar Association has been intimately involved with the Public Legal Education Workgroup, and it is my goal to do everything possible to make this proposal for public legal education a reality.

I am certainly not the first, nor will I be the last, to say that one of my goals this year as President is to provide meaningful access to justice for those who cannot afford it. In case you did not know, Washington is viewed as a model state throughout the rest of the country for finding ways of providing services to those who most sorely need it. Yet, we recognize that in excess of 100,000 people go unrepresented every year in Washington in legal crises that virtually demand representation. For every lawyer who volunteers his or her time, there are five who do not. With the privilege to practice law comes the responsibility to provide some of our services free of charge. It is my goal to convince every lawyer in this state to participate in this absolutely necessary program of access to justice.

While asking for more from you, there should still be the opportunity to reflect and to celebrate our achievements. A large part of my past year as President-elect was spent heading up a committee of judges, including Supreme Court Justices Richard Guy and Faith Ireland, numerous attorneys, Bar staff and Access to Justice leaders to put together a mega-convention that we have named "Celebration 2000." For four to five days in Spokane in mid-September 2000, we will be able to renew friendships with our many colleagues in the profession, law school classmates, professors and judges (active and retired) — re-establishing camaraderie while enhancing professionalism and civility, and acquiring knowledge regarding the issues facing our profession and the role that we should be playing in our society and American system of justice. Through CLEs, speakers, special events, receptions and an unprecedented tradeshow, we will not only reflect upon the past century, we will have ample opportunity to look into the future of the practice of law. We will concentrate on reaching out to the populous, correcting our errors and improving that which we already do well. We will learn, share, party, golf, run and reminisce. It may be many years before we have another convention like this (it has been eight years since the last WSBA convention) and, at the risk of sounding like a salesperson, Celebration 2000 is shaping up into an event not to missed. You may pre-register by calling the WSBA Service Center at 800-945-WSBA or 206-443-WSBA, or by e-mailing questions@wsba.org.

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