August 2001

"Voices for Justice" Heard at Sixth Annual Access to Justice Conference

The sixth annual Washington State Access to Justice Conference was held at the WestCoast Wenatchee Center, June 8-10, 2001. In attendance were more than 250 representatives from access to justice network organizations, including courts (judges, clerks, courthouse facilitators), the private bar, legal services programs, volunteer attorney programs, law schools, alternative dispute resolution centers, domestic violence advocates, paralegal associations and social services.

The conference kicked off Friday evening with the welcoming reception. Justice Tom Chambers presented Judge T.W. (Chip) Small, outgoing ATJ board chair, with the ATJ Judicial Leadership Award, in recognition of his outstanding and tireless commitment to equal justice. Don Kinney, Northwest Justice Project, presented Bob Cryder, managing editor of the Yakima Herald Republic, with the 2001 Civil Equal Justice Community Award, in appreciation of a series of articles published in December 2000 titled "A Look at Race in the Yakima Valley." Special posthumous tributes were made to two people who dedicated their lives and careers to diversity and access to justice. Santiago Rodriguez, director of diversity for Microsoft, was a nationally recognized authority on the subject of diversity. Rosa Hernandez was a paralegal and dedicated farm worker advocate with Columbia Legal Services in Yakima.

Conference participants were entertained by The Moderately Talented (Yet Plucky) Repertory Theatre of Justice, which presented Alice in Access Land written by Judge Michael Donohue, Spokane County Superior Court. Alice, played by Marla Elliott, struggles to find her way through the justice system in spite of many barriers, such as finding herself homeless when her car is towed away by the Repo Dude (Jan Eric Peterson). The Honorable Mad Hatter was played by Judge Paul Bastine, Spokane County Superior Court. More than a dozen judges, including Washington Supreme Court Justices Bobbe Bridge, Tom Chambers, Faith Ireland and Susan Owens, marched as guerrilla soldiers.

On a serious note, substantive workshops were held Saturday and Sunday. Topics included public legal education, legal services funding challenges, media training (which included a presentation by Elizabeth Arledge, communications director of the National Legal Aid & Defender Association), diversity training (facilitated by Dr. Leticia Nieto), children’s issues, disabilities, domestic violence, and paralegal and other nonlawyer roles in access to justice. William Hornsby, staff counsel of the American Bar Association Standing Committee on the Delivery of Legal Services, facilitated "Technology Show & Tell."

The workshop provided updates on several access to justice/technology projects in the works, such as the role of judicial information systems, public legal education Web site, technology bill of rights, domestic violence online interactive forms project, proposed moderate-means integrated phone/Web site system, Legal Service Corporation technology innovation grants, and the Corporate Counsel Partnership for Justice videophone client counseling project.

The ATJ Conference and Bar Leaders Conference plenary session (planned jointly by both conference planning committees), "Strategies for Improvement of the Judicial Selection Process, or Hey That Name Sounds Familiar," was a stimulating and provocative discussion regarding qualifications of judges and how they are selected. Denny Heck, president of TV Washington, moderated the panel discussion, which was filmed as TV Washington’s Inside Olympia program. Panelists were Washington Supreme Court Justices Tom Chambers, Susan Owens and Charles Z. Smith; the Honorable Marlin Appelwick, Court of Appeals; Everett Billingslea, General Counsel to the Governor’s Office; Dr. Ruth Walsh McIntyre, Walsh Commission; and Charlie Wiggins, American Judicature Society. The conversation continued through lunch in a town-hall format to allow maximum time for audience participation.

The keynote speaker at the conference was john powell [sic], founder and executive director of the Institute on Race and Poverty. The institute, a strategic research center located at the University of Minnesota Law School, is directly addressing the underlying causes of problems created at the intersection of racial injustice and poverty.

The Access to Justice Conference was once again held in conjunction with the WSBA Bar Leaders Conference and Board of Governors meeting, as well as several other ATJ network organization board meetings. The conference is made possible with a grant from the Legal Foundation of Washington and donations from many generous Washington law firms.

The 2002 conference is scheduled for June 7-9 at the Yakima Convention Center. If you would like more information or would like to be placed on the conference mailing list, please contact Sharlene Steele, WSBA access to justice liaison, at 206-727-8262 or sharlene@wsba.org.

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