October 2000

Committee Reports 1999-2000

Excerpted from the committees' recently submitted annual reports.

Amicus Brief

A policy on input from other members and groups within the Bar was adopted. This year, the committee reviewed four requests for amicus briefs; they approved one and turned down the other three. These decisions were approved by the Board of Governors. All WSBA amicus efforts should be reviewed by the committee and submitted to the Board of Governors for approval. The committee welcomes the submission of three-page memoranda on any amicus request before them, but do not normally receive presentations at meetings.

The committee holds hearings concerning bar examination applicants whose character and fitness to practice law have been questioned as a result of past misconduct. The committee also holds hearings concerning petitions for reinstatement by disbarred attorneys, and to otherwise fulfill its tasks as outlined in RLD 9.3. Membership in this 14-person committee includes three nonlawyers. The committee meets five to six Saturdays a year and issues written decisions. The committee was able to conduct all its meetings during the year as scheduled with a quorum present, and issued all written findings of fact, conclusions of law and recommendations within approximately 20 days of the hearing.

Efforts to have the Washington State Insurance Commissioner review and assess certain activities which the committee believed were anti-consumer and amounted to the unauthorized practice of law were continued. The committee supported proposed legislation regarding superior court mandatory arbitrations. The chair testified before the Legislative Committee (which supported the mandatory arbitration proposal with some revisions) as well as the House Judiciary Committee. The committee also considered matters referred to it regarding claims of the unauthorized practice of law.

The committee reviewed and recommended plans for efficient and effective delivery of CLE that meets the needs of members throughout the state. The committee reviewed all proposed seminar topics, and suggested new topics, enhancements and combinations for the coming year. They will continue to address the ways in which new technology can be harnessed to foster greater access and choice for all WSBA members regardless of their location.

With the completion of a survey about the physical accessibility of local courts for persons with disabilities, the committee will continue implementation of education and related strategies to improve physical access to and use of courthouses statewide. The committee reviewed, commented and provided input to WSBA legislative liaisons on proposed legislation affecting the courts and judicial system. They worked toward completion of a matrix about alternative dispute resolution in which local rules and procedures on ADR requirements were summarized. The committee also participated in the Board for Judicial Administration (BJA)-initiated Project 2001 and the BJA-created Public Trust and Confidence Committee.

During the fiscal year, the committee concentrated primarily on the civil rules and the mandatory arbitration rules. They also responded to requests for comments from the Supreme Court on other matters, and completed work on issues carried over from previous years. The committee presented its annual report to the Board of Governors at its June meeting, and the board took action as reported in "The Board's Work" in the August issue of Bar News (page 30).

Outreach included hosting a breakfast and career day program at Gonzaga Law School, and participating in the Law Week 2000 event planned by the Loren Miller Bar Association. The committee reviewed their original mission statement and "new" role with respect to the request to serve as liaison in the Board of Governor's efforts to increase communication with minority and specialty bar associations as part of ongoing Strategic Initiative #10 of the WSBA's Long-Range Strategic Plan (the WSBA will continue to promote diversity and equality in the courts, the legal profession and the Bar). They considered President Eymann's proposal to add a minority seat to the Board of Governors, and hosted a meeting involving President Eymann, leaders of minority and specialty bar associations, and others to further discuss this proposal.

The Board approved additions to the Editor's Handbook Appendix. The Board adopted a policy of annual performance reviews for the Bar News editor and developed the format and content of these reviews. The publication frequency of Bar News was studied and discussed. The Board also began the search for a new Bar News editor.

EC2 subcommittees and study groups are indicative of the scope of the issues and projects the committee is involved in. These groups are: access to justice; administrative task tracking; technology articles; CLE topics; digital signatures; e-filing and privacy; emerging issues; encrypted e-mail; list serves, chat rooms and forums; lawyers practicing online; legal research using the Internet; legislative; public data access; safe e-shopping; speakers; strategic initiative; technology in Washington courtroom;, UETA and UCITA; web backups; web marketing; and web time and billing. During the year, EC2 established a cooperative relationship with like groups at other bar associations; compiled a list of "best practices" for handling documents on the Internet; and compiled, archived, and made searchable the materials and information gathered by the committee.

This has been a year of transition for the committee. Previously, the committee mediated disputes between attorneys and other professionals, primarily health care providers and expert witnesses. In October 1999, they discontinued mediating disputes. The committee's new overall goal is to improve communication between lawyers and other professionals. To this end, the committee is planning to develop a seminar addressing issues involved in working with other professionals.

The committee conducted background checks and evaluated candidates for appointment to the Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court, and forwarded to the Board of Governors all candidates it found to be "well qualified." They submitted recommendations to the Board of Governors regarding the process, as well as an amendment to the committee's guidelines. The committee also adopted changes to the candidate questionnaires.

The committee's main task is to prepare and grade the best bar examination possible, and to continue to streamline and update the bar exam training, preparation and grading process. The committee is near its goal of having a full exam in its "question bank." The bank serves as an excellent training tool, and also provides a reserve of approved questions when the need arises. This year the committee edited, revised and produced an updated version of its Handbook of Procedures, which dictates preparing and grading bar exam questions. At the request of the chief justice, Committee Chair Frank Slak, Governor Stephen Henderson, and Committee Liaison Bob Welden participated in two meetings with representatives of the Idaho and Oregon Bar Associations for the purpose of exploring a tri-state reciprocal practice or admissions agreement. Because Washington has a reciprocity rule, the other states developed a draft rule with special reciprocity for Washington lawyers.

With information gleaned from examining the rules and procedures of 40 other states to determine how other jurisdictions handle issues of confidentiality, determine the type of structure, and set policies and procedures for similar programs, the committee is now drafting a proposed LAP rule, which will be presented to the Board of Governors. A successful, well-attended statewide conference was held in the spring in Blaine, Washington. Efforts were initiated to solicit law schools to provide LAP information to students.

The committee reviews and approves (or disapproves) applications for gifts from the Lawyers' Fund for Client Protection. The committee's work is publicized on a regular basis in Bar News — quarterly reports are published in the January, April and July issues, and the annual report is published every October or November. A new pamphlet outlining the parameters of the work of the committee and the procedure for obtaining a gift from the fund was developed.

In pursuing its goal of expanded roles for paralegals, particularly as it relates to issues of access to justice, the committee adopted the following Statement of Recommendation:

"The 1999-2000 WSBA Legal Assistants Committee recommends that the WSBA actively promote the utilization of legal assistants as one method of enhancing the delivery of affordable legal assistance."

The committee examined other states' actions regarding the licensing of legal assistants. They have established and maintained a strong relationship with the Access to Justice Board, and have been working toward providing legal services to low-income individuals with the use of nonlawyer assistants who work under the supervision of licensed attorneys. The committee spent time commenting on GR22, the proposed Definition of the Practice of Law, and GR21, the proposed Court Facilitator Rule.

The committee deals with proposals for state and federal legislation which relate to the improvement of justice. It also reviews proposed legislation of interest to the Bar and the general public, and may draft proposed legislation for submission to the Board of Governors. This year, the committee made recommendations on nine legislative proposals and conducted a Legislative Roundtable with groups interested in legislation bearing on the Bar. Additional information about the work of the committee can be found on the WSBA website at www.wsba.org/lawyers/groups/legislative/.

The main goal of the board is to make the process of taking approved courses and submitting the results to the WSBA as easy to accomplish and as user-friendly as possible. The board finished comments and changes to the new MCLE rules, and they are now working on the details of the implementation of the changes. Through enhanced communication with members, the number who fail to report their CLE credits on time has been significantly reduced.

PBLAC continues to work to implement the Volunteer Attorney Legal Services Action (VALS) Plan, adopted by the Board of Governors in 1994; in September 1999, PBLAC issued a five-year progress report of the implementation of the VALS Plan. In an effort to determine what motivates attorneys to volunteer, PBLAC developed a survey which was published in Bar News (August 2000, p. 37) and posted on the WSBA website. PBLAC participated in a national effort to develop a resolution for the Conference of Chief Justices, "Providing and Institutionalizing Leadership on Equal Justice." The rule developed by PBLAC two years ago to award CLE credit to attorneys for doing pro bono work was adopted this year by the Washington Supreme Court. Committee members assisted the Equal Justice Coalition in organizing "Summer of Justice" events.

The committee designed a shorter version of its successful CLE seminar "Ethics, Professionalism and Civility: The Hard Questions," which was presented at Celebration 2000. A Civility Code was drafted, which will be presented to the Board of Governors and then taken to local and specialty bar associations for input and discussion. The committee also collaborated with the Bar News editor to increase the number of articles about professionalism, made contact with the Fetzer Institute on the Healing and Law Project, developed enhanced understanding of underlying issues that are at the root of incivility, and began conversations with the judiciary on issues of incivility and professionalism violations within the courtroom.

The committee anticipates that by the end of the fiscal year, it will have issued approximately 45 opinions. Each opinion is researched, briefed, debated, drafted, frequently amended, and then issued. Some issues are so involved that they require extraordinary outside work by an assigned task force selected from the committee membership. The committee worked with the WSBA webmaster, resulting in the availability of ethical opinions and committee information on the WSBA website www.wsba.org/lawyers/ethics/. 

We regret that reports from the following committees were not received in time for publication: Alternative Dispute Resolution, Civil Rights, Corrections, Disciplinary Board, Law Clerk, Law Office Management Assistance Program, Legal Services to the Armed Forces, and Resolutions.

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