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May 2008Executive’s ReportRear-Window Viewby WSBA Executive Director Paula Littlewood “What makes you so committed to enhancing access to the justice system for all?” The question seemed to stump the other panelists as much as it did me. How do you explain something that you believe at your core, which is part and parcel of who you are? As I listened to the other panelists take a swipe at answering, I reflected on the question. I remember sitting in my office in Colorado and thinking about all the various bar efforts I had been involved in back in Washington. After leaving the UW Law School as assistant dean in 2002, my husband and I relocated to Telluride, Colorado, where he had been living for 20-plus years heading up the Telluride Freestyle Ski Team. I left both the state and the legal profession for that year, and it was from this new vantage point that I began to realize how proud I am to be a member of the Washington State Bar Association. There was never any question, whether at the law school or through the numerous bar committees I had served on, that access to justice and diversity were core ideals that permeated our culture. Are we an unusual bar association? I don’t know. But having worked for the WSBA now for close to five years, I know it is a solid structure that supports our membership’s ability to be committed to the ideal of a justice system that is open and accessible to all in our society. The Board of Governors commits extensive resources through funding and staffing to support this principle. Indeed, in the Guiding Principles adopted by the Board last year, access to the justice system is prominent in a list of five basic ideals: The WSBA will operate a well-managed association that supports its members and advances and promotes: WSBA’s efforts in the access to justice arena are handled by the staff in the Justice and Diversity Initiatives Department. The staff in this department supports, among other things, the Access to Justice Board (a Supreme Court-created entity that is responsible for oversight and coordination of the delivery of civil legal aid in our state), the Council on Public Legal Education, the Pro Bono and Legal Aid Committee, the Committee for Public Defense, and our diversity and legislative outreach efforts. The opportunities for getting involved in public-service work in Washington surround us, so as you read this issue of Bar News, I hope you will find useful information about the access to justice landscape in our state and the numerous ways to get involved. As for the question posed to the panelists that day, I don’t recall exactly how the other panelists answered, but all of us had spent most of two hours talking with law students about the various opportunities available to maintain an integral place for public service in their careers and lives, no matter where their careers take them.1 When it was my turn to respond, I reflected on how sometimes it takes looking at a situation from a new perspective to appreciate what was in front of you all that time. Then I shared a quote from the side of a shopping bag that had been staring me in the face for two weeks: “Whether you think you can or think you can’t, you’re right.” So if your thinking says “I can,” please don’t hesitate to visit the WSBA’s website or call us for more information! Paula Littlewood is executive director of the WSBA and can be reached at paulal@wsba.org. 1. The panel was facilitated by John McKay and Don Horowitz and was one session in a four-part symposium they moderated called “Making a Difference: Using Your Law Degree to Make the World a Better Place No Matter Where You Go in Your Career — and Life.” To view the symposium online, visit http://media.law.seattleu.edu/public/events/events.htm.
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