March 2007

The Board's Work

by Lindsay Thompson

Spokane, October 27, 2006
La Conner, December 8-9, 2006
Tumwater, January 11, 2007

In the October and December meetings, the Board made a bunch of appointments to committees and boards. They approved changes in various sections’ bylaws, mostly technical and updating sorts of alterations.

In October, the Practice of Law Board told the BOG they are thinking of trial programs, letting qualified nonlawyers engage in limited practice in the fields of family, housing/landlord-tenant, immigration, and elder law. It’s still very much a work in progress, with lots of things to sort out.

The Board approved a three-year investment totaling $75,000 in a Pipeline Program, for which WSBA will entertain proposals for funding programs targeting at-risk youth and steering them toward legal careers.

Joe Nappi, a trustee of the Washington State Bar Foundation, reported on the body’s work in 2006. It has given five Loan Repayment Assistance grants to lawyers in public service, and is looking at a credit-card affiliation scheme as another means of raising money. They are also a quarter of the way to a $100,000 Presidents and Governors Diversity Scholarship Fund in 2007.

President-elect Stan Bastian brought up an idea from the Board’s retreat last summer — creating an executive committee of the BOG to act between meetings. A good bit of discussion followed, especially about what senior staff should be on it. Governor Anthony Butler expressed concerns about so much power potentially flowing from the elected Board to a largely unelected executive committee, and after a while, a consensus emerged that everyone needed to think about the idea some more. So it was tabled for a while.

The Board also had an interesting discussion with the Mandatory CLE Board and Washington’s two U.S. attorneys, John McKay and James McDevitt, over getting WSBA CLE credit for government lawyers who take courses through a government entity that produces the CLEs. The rub is that CLE requires the materials be open to review by “any inquirer,” and some of the government CLEs contain highly classified information in the written materials. There was agreement that something needs to be done, and the MCLE folks will come back with ideas later this year.

In December, the Board got final reports on WSBA’s move to new office space, then about to occur. The move went pretty well, considering the complexity of the adventure, and the space is well laid-out. It gives staff much-needed room. The old space had gotten so crowded it looked a Roman galley in places.

The Environmental and Land Use Law Section gave the Board a report on its work, part of President Dial’s emphasis on the work of WSBA sections. By every account, they are a happy and active section, doing lots of useful things.

The CLE Committee chair, Jennifer Willner, and CLE director, Mark Sideman, gave a report on that department’s work: lots of CLEs, well attended by members, and making some money, too.

WSBA Immediate Past-President Brooke Taylor, who is chairing the search for WSBA’s next executive director, told the BOG that 57 applications had come in. His committee will winnow them down to some finalists. Current ED Jan Michels retires in May.

From time to time, the Board is asked to take positions on amicus briefs before Washington courts. This time it was for one in a case called In re Marriage of King, where some issues of the right of court-appointed counsel in non-criminal cases are raised. The Board thought it a worthy matter, and voted to approve a brief.

When ex-ABA President Michael Greco visited the Access to Justice Conference in Yakima last summer, he unveiled a Statement of Legal Profession Principles the Board liked so much they voted to adopt them. The Board also thought it worthwhile to support adoption of an ABA Model Rule regarding letting lawyers provide services during disaster relief situations in states they aren’t admitted in.

Attorney Fred Tausend and MCLE Board Chair Mark Baum and Regulatory Services Director Jean McElroy talked with the BOG about some CLE credit wrinkles that arise for in-house counsel and lawyers in big firms who get CLE inside their firms. Everyone agreed this needed some looking at, and there will be ideas brought back in spring.

Klaus Snyder chairs the WSBA Legislative Committee, which is very busy this time of year. He led a presentation by many section members on bills they’d like the WSBA to support or endorse. There will be more to come. Most are technical in nature, designed to make existing law work better. We’ll have a summary of them all after the legislative session ends.

So much for the Cockney gecko and the caveman: the BOG decided not to renew its sponsorship of an auto insurance program through GEICO. It didn’t do very well with members.

The Board wrapped up the year with some discussion of potential legislation from Governor Gregoire leading toward some public funding of judicial elections. The BOG went so far as to make a general statement that they favor efforts that will promote a fair and impartial judiciary, but will otherwise take a wait-and-see about the details of what’s proposed.

In January, the Board of Governors traditionally meets in the Olympia area, and this year was no exception. The Board held its annual meeting with the Supreme Court, discussing items of mutual interest such as pending court rules, Limited Practice Board rules, Justice in Jeopardy provisions, judicial election reform, and the work of the WSBA Committee on Public Defense. The Board hosted a reception for the House and Senate Judiciary Committee members and other lawyer legislators, and lunched with members of the Thurston County Bar Association and the Government Lawyers Bar Association. At the luncheon, the Local Hero Award was presented to Thurston County District Court Judge Clifford L. “Kip” Stilz Jr., and to Bernie Friedman (posthumously).

At the January Board meeting, a number of individuals spoke about the recently adopted RPC 1.15A(e), which requires the annual reporting of “property” held by a lawyer. After discussion, the Board recommended an amendment which would change the word “property” to the word “funds,” clarifying that the annual reporting to clients applies only to funds held for the client. The proposed amendment now goes to the Supreme Court for their consideration.

The Board voted to cosponsor a resolution to be submitted to the ABA House of Delegates to adopt a model rule on provision of legal services following determination of a major disaster. The ABA model rule has provisions to allow lawyers from areas declared a disaster to temporarily practice in other states, and allows lawyers from other states to offer legal services to disaster victims.

Director of Legislative Affairs Gail Stone presented an update on bills supported and sponsored by the WSBA. (Updated reports are posted on the WSBA website at www.wsba.org/info/operations/legislative.) 

Additional information about the Board of Governors and minutes of meetings can be found at www.wsba.org/info/bog.