July 2000

On the Road to Being a WSBA Past-President…with the Finish Line in Sight

by Richard C. Eymann
WSBA President

Recently, my three-year-old son, Houston, came to me while I was packing for an early flight the next morning. The conversation went something like this:

Houston: Where are you going, Dad?

Me: To Olympia.

Houston: Why Dad?

Me: I have a meeting there and then one in Seattle.

Houston: Why Dad?

Me: Well, because I am president of the Washington State Bar Association and I need to go to these meetings.

Houston: Why are you president, Dad?

Me: I wonder sometimes.

Houston: Why Dad?

Me: Well Houston, because I don’t get to see you as much and my office misses me too.

Houston: [walking away, Houston concludes] I know, Dad.

Thoughts about that conversation do not fade quickly. My daily reminders are the beleaguered looks of my secretary and my paralegal, who remind me that over 60 percent of my work week is wrapped up in Bar-related activities. My wife, Sue, is extraordinarily understanding and supportive, but I get hints that she will be relieved when my term as president ends.

I know that a great percentage of my friends and colleagues are supportive of the effort that goes into the commitments and goals I set out for myself and the Bar Association this year. An incredible amount of communication arrives through my e-mail and fax machine. I try to respond as best I can, but there are days when I get over 30 Bar Association e-mails, not to mention at least that many more that are unrelated to Bar activities (for me, e-law has definitely arrived). Fortunately, most of what I receive is positive feedback, and it keeps me going.

Throughout the year, I have been blessed with a wonderful Board of Governors and Bar staff, and with only three months to go, I know that with them working as tirelessly as they do, we will all survive. Looking back over the past nine months, the quantity and importance of the various issues that confront your leadership are amazing. While lawyers across the state are divided on some key issues, everyone has one objective in common — the preservation of our profession and the freedoms it protects.

They tell you at the National Association of Bar Presidents workshop, while you are president-elect, that the absolute peak of your presidency will be the day you take office and that everything thereafter is downhill. Well, in some respects that is true and in other ways it is not. A lot of what hits your plate as president has its genesis months or even years before you actually take office, while some of what you face is brand new or self-generated. For example, did you know that in 1933 the Board of Governors tried to define the practice of law? Sixty-six years later, after many attempts and an extraordinary amount of hard work during the past three years, a definition of the practice of law was passed and forwarded to the Supreme Court.

Meanwhile, huge accounting firms, and some lawyers, would like us to approve a multidisciplinary practice rule that allows accounting firms to share fees with lawyers, among other cross-discipline practices. What is to be our position on this? What is to be the official position of the Washington State Bar Association on the death penalty, now that we know DNA proof has taken no less than 87 innocent Americans off death row? No matter what you believe is right, the question must be asked: How many innocent men and women have died? Should the Bar Association take over the responsibility of licensing, servicing and disciplining limited practice officers? To what extent is the Bar Association responsible for finding additional funding to help address the immediate crisis and availability of legal services for low-income individuals in our state? How do we deal with waning professionalism and civility? What is the appropriate level of responsibility of the Bar Association in recommending its members for the judiciary? How should the Bar Association cope with dishonesty and downright deception in discovery and similar injustices when we cannot get lawyers to file grievances against violating lawyers? How do we convince the legislature and various county commissioners to fund much needed courthouse equipment, courtrooms and staff? What is the most effective way to deal with diversity and sensitivity issues, problems and long overdue changes?

These are but a few of the questions that keep me awake at night. But when I think back to the difficult question my son asked me about why I do this, I know one of the reasons is because I am one of those people who earnestly wants to improve the public perception of our profession, and make this world a place where our children can have a more positive outlook and equal chance to safely survive; I dream of a place where each child has the opportunity to be the best he can be, where domestic violence ceases, where there is equal access to justice, where these goals and many more are achieved. Fortunately, from the smallest county bar to the committees and sections of the Washington State Bar Association, specialty bars, our judiciary, the Access to Justice Network, and such organizations as Inns of Court, American Judicature Society, etc., there are thousands in our profession who give their time, resources and talent to meet some of these seemingly insurmountable needs and problems.

As a soon-to-be past-president of the WSBA, I know I will always feel that I did not do enough. However, I want to be able to say, as Teddy Roosevelt said in 1899, "It’s far better to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the great twilight that knows not victory, nor defeat."

Among potentially "mighty things," we are going to have a heck of a Bar convention called Celebration 2000. The extraordinary planning that has gone into Celebration 2000 dictates that it could not happen every year, or even every two or three years. This undertaking was certainly a "mighty" risk, given our recent history. But hotels are filling up fast, everybody is talking about Celebration 2000, and most agree that it’s time to celebrate our past achievements and set a focus for the future.

Some say that I dared to upset the apple cart by proposing the addition of new minority and young lawyer positions to our Board of Governors. Perhaps, but I know this to be true: Lawyers are talking, they are writing letters and e-mails, and we have already been substantially educated from the experience of considering this change. Proponents, critics and pessimists have come out of the woodwork, and the resulting dialogue is positive.

There are sharp and contrasting views on tackling the definition of the practice of law and the unauthorized practice of law, as well. It will be debated long after I leave office, but I might as well wade in — I haven’t drowned yet. Here is my view: Given all of the considerations, I think the Bar Association should take over the administration and discipline of limited practice officers, as well as providing the basis for implementing our definition of the practice of law. That means providing a mechanism to weed out the unscrupulous nonlawyer practitioners who rip off the public and consumers, separating them from the worthy courthouse facilitators, access-to-justice paralegals, and other competent individuals who can and will enhance our profession and its delivery of legal services. I am sure your governors would like to hear from you on this. Please share your thoughts.

I still have three months to go as I write this message — only three months to take even more crucial activism toward a new, vibrant Bar Association and respected legal profession in Washington. Encourage me, criticize me, but whatever you do, speak up. Like my hobby of running, I like to give it my all when the finish line comes into sight. Better yet, join me for this final sprint.

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