June 2006

Executive's Report:

Attending the Western States Bar Conference — Innovators Sharing Ideas

by M. Janice Michels, WSBA Executive Director

Independent of the American Bar Association exist various regional bar conferences. The "Jackrabbit" States Conference covers roughly the area between the Rockies and the Mississippi River, the New England Bar Association Conference is for the New England states, and the Southern States Conference covers the states in the Southeast. Some of these demarcations follow federal appellate districts, since the states share the development of district precedent. The Western States Conference is one of the largest, in that it encompasses all the states west of the Rockies, plus Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands. The conference meets annually, primarily to share information and update fellow states on state developments. Because the conference is not closed to other states, and since the western states are often innovators, states such as Texas, the Dakotas, Colorado, and Florida often join us at the meeting.

Nationally, the WSBA is considered a large mandatory bar. Following the "jumbo" mandatory state bars of California, New York, Texas, Florida, and Washington, D.C., in size come Washington, Ohio, Illinois, Michigan, and Virginia — all of which have 30,000 to 35,000 members. To learn from our neighboring states and to develop leadership goals for the coming year, the WSBA funds the second-year governors, officers, and key staff to attend the conference each year. This is a group that is well grounded in WSBA issues and forms the senior leadership for the coming year. The 2006 conference was presided over by Washington's own Dale Carlisle, who, in 2004, was elected president of the conference for 2006. The Washington delegation included Dale Carlisle, Brooke Taylor, Marcine Anderson, Stan Bastian, Eron Berg, Paula Littlewood, and me. Also attending the conference as presenters were WSBA General Counsel Bob Welden, chair of the ABA Standing Committee on Client Protection, and Ron Ward and James Williams, who presented the WSBA Leadership Institute program.

An emerging theme at the conference this year was the need for strong lawyer-assistance programs (LAPs). Many states pointed out that these LAPs need to reach beyond addiction services to mental health, stress, and later-in-life transition issues. The Washington delegation is proud to have been an innovator of these full-service LAPs. Two other themes were the politicalization of judicial elections and the need for public education about the fundamentals of freedom — which are President Taylor's themes. Washington stood out as a leader and innovator in these areas and led the conference to recommend a resolution calling on the ABA to develop a national public-education program on the separation of powers, independence of the judiciary, rule of law, and the doctrine of checks and balances.  

WSBA Executive Director Jan Michels can be reached at janm@wsba.org.