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July 2007Bar News welcomes letters from readers. We do not run letters that have been printed in, or are pending before, other legal publications with overlapping readership. Letters should be no more than 250 words in length, and e-mailed to letterstotheeditor@wsba.org or mailed to WSBA, Attn: Letters to the Editor, 1325 Fourth Ave., Ste. 600, Seattle, WA 98101-2539. Bar News reserves the right to edit letters. Bar News does not print anonymous letters, or more than one submission per month from the same contributor. More on guarding the guardians Margaret Dore’s proposal to regulate guardians through the executive branch, not the courts, has little to recommend it. Consider the record of some executive branch agencies in supervising others: • The Department of Corrections responded to large verdicts for negligent supervision by seeking greater immunity from suit. Having successfully sued guardians, guardianship agencies, lawyers, and thieving family members — and caused referral of one guardian’s misconduct for discipline by the Certified Professional Guardian Board — I have found the courts willing and able to rein in guardianship abuses when abuses are competently raised. While Ms. Dore did litigate Guardianship of Stamm, as the Bar News states, the latest appellate opinion in that case rejected every challenge she made against the guardian and stated: “[T]he record supports the trial court’s findings that Dore greatly contributed to the litigious nature of the guardianship … repeatedly ignored the court’s orders, driving up the professional fees, and providing no appreciable benefits. 2005 WL 3163901.” Full disclosure: I have been an adversary of, and a lawyer for, the guardianship agency sued in Stamm. Franklin W. Shoichet, Seattle
Bar newsradio? On a recent trip back east I came upon a pleasant reminder of my 43 years as a member of the Washington State Bar Association. While the powers that be at Radio 910 in York, Pennsylvania, undoubtedly had something other than our Bar Association in mind when they selected their call letters, in my mind the letters WSBA can refer to nothing other than the Washington State Bar Association. Warm thanks I would like to personally thank the Environmental and Land Use Law Section (ELUL) leadership for the excellent midyear meeting/seminar held recently in Chelan. In addition to valuable updates on the current state of environmental and land use law, and the opportunity to mingle and network with peers, the seminar presented a very timely emphasis on global warming issues that the Bar (and the greater world) will be challenged with in the years to come. More importantly, as an ELUL Section and WSBA member, I would like to express my appreciation to the firms that graciously provided financial support to the ELUL Section’s Mid-Year Meeting Scholarship Fund: Buck & Gordon, Charles R. Wolfe, Foster Pepper, PLLC, Hillis Clark Martin & Peterson, K&L Gates, Marten Law Group PLLC, and Stoel Rives LLP. For the law student considering whether to focus in environmental and land use law, or the young attorney just getting started, or the nonprofit agency attorney, or the non-practicing attorney in a land use or environmental career such as myself, the scholarship program enables individuals to attend and to participate in a very focused review of current environmental and land use law issues at a reduced cost that is more likely to be within her/his personal budget or employer’s budget. In addition to the financial benefit for the scholarship recipients, I believe that the scholarship program also provides for a more balanced and diverse discussion, which can only lead to a more balanced and diverse Section. I would encourage other WSBA Sections to establish similar scholarship programs if they have not done so already. Michael Smith, Ellensburg
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