October 2001

The Board's Work

by Mark A. Panitch , Bar News Editor

After more than a year of debate and preparation, the WSBA Board of Governors quickly chose two new at-large members, Zulema Hinojos-Fall and David W. Savage, and then authorized creation of a third new position reserved for young lawyers. The new governors were each chosen on the first ballot.

The move to create the YLD seat came at the close of the Friday session. It was led by outgoing Governor Lindsay T. Thompson, and supported by several other outgoing governors. The decision was made with virtually no debate.

On Thursday, the board considered applications from 16 WSBA members, and heard presentations from 14 members for the two previously created at-large seats. Seven of the 14 applicants who were interviewed by the board were either Hispanic or African American. The balance was made up of white lawyers who argued that they represented some specific "underrepresented" geographic area or practice specialty.

Ms. Hinojos-Fall, an administrative law judge at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), previously served as a senior trial attorney at EEOC, as a King County deputy prosecutor, and as a Seattle assistant city attorney. She graduated from law school at the age of 40 after working for many years in the airline industry. She was born in Mexico, and immigrated to the United States with her family when she was 10 years old.

Mr. Savage is a well-known Pullman lawyer and a partner in the law firm Irwin, Myklebust, Savage & Brown. He stated in his application and in his interview: "If Section M had simply provided for a single at-large position, I would not submit this application, as I feel strongly that the board should first be enhanced by the inclusion of traditionally under-represented lawyers. The second position, however, gives me confidence that the board can achieve this important first goal while also providing for the inclusion of segments of the Bar that have been underrepresented for other reasons."

Several nonminority lawyers made essentially the same argument to the board. Pamela B. Loginsky, counsel at the Washington Association of Prosecuting Attorneys and a long-time Kitsap County deputy prosecutor and appellate specialist, told the board that she would represent the state’s 781 deputy prosecutors and 500 municipal attorneys.

Michele Earl-Hubbard, a lawyer at Davis Wright Tremaine in Seattle, voluntarily acted as the firm’s pro bono coordinator before a full-time paralegal was appointed to the job. She told the board that she would represent her various pro bono constituencies — the indigent, children, and the mentally and developmentally disabled — as well as her main practice area — the media.

Among the six minority attorneys not chosen for a BOG seat were King County Superior Court Judge Donald D. Haley, attorney and teacher Stephanie A. Delaney, public defender Howard L. Phillips and Yakima legal services attorney Sonia M. Rodriguez.

Judge Haley described a life of experience that could have come from an Alex Haley novel. He attended segregated schools in Louisiana and went to high school at a blacks-only "training academy" where the curriculum was limited to teaching trades and farm skills. In 1951, at the urging of a relative, he came to Seattle where he was able to enter the University of Washington and get the education he was denied in his home state. Seven years later, he graduated from the UW law school. Since that time he has been active in the King County Bar Association; the WSBA; the National Bar Association and its local affiliate, the Loren Miller Bar Association; and the NAACP. Judge Haley has been on the bench since 1983.

Stephanie Delaney ran for election to the BOG in the last election cycle, but was defeated by Governor Bryce H. Dille of Puyallup. Ms. Delaney teaches in the paralegal program at Highline Community College and volunteers with the Northwest Women’s Law Center. She has been active in WSBA technology initiatives.

Howard Phillips is a managing attorney with the Northwest Defenders Association. He is a Seattle native who, except for years away at college or in the Army, has always lived in the Central District or Rainier Valley. He is a graduate of the UW law school.

Sonia Rodriguez is a Spanish-speaking legal services attorney who lives in Yakima, and also serves clients in Benton, Franklin, Kittitas, Klickitat and Walla Walla counties. She was admitted to the Bar in November 2000 and is an active member of the Hispanic Bar Association. In an interesting example of mentoring, Ms. Rodriguez listed new Governor Zulema Hinojos-Fall as a reference.

Although there was virtually unanimous agreement that a minority person should be appointed to one seat, there was intense debate among governors over the second seat; however, Mr. Savage was elected on the first ballot for the second seat. Governor Brooke Taylor of Port Angeles argued that Savage represented small town and rural attorneys and would enhance the BOG’s geographic diversity. He also noted that Spokane lawyers have a "lock" on the Fifth District, virtually ensuring that a Pullman lawyer could not be elected. Taylor himself was appointed by BOG in a special selection process.

[Editor’s Note: Deadline pressure forces an abbreviated report on this important meeting. We may carry further reports on the September BOG meeting in the November Bar News.]

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