October 2008

New WSBA President-Elect and Governors: Ready to Serve on Day One

by Stephanie Perry

Salvador A. Mungia, 2008–2009 President-Elect

Tacoma attorney Salvador Mungia received his bachelor’s degree from Pacific Lutheran University and his law degree from the Georgetown University Law Center. Since 1986, Mungia has been with the firm of Gordon, Thomas, Honeywell, Malanca, Peterson & Daheim, where he is now a partner.

Mungia has served on the Board of Directors for LAW Fund (including a two-year term as president of the Board), and as president of the Tacoma-Pierce County Bar Association. He is a past chair of the WSBA Bar Leaders Conference Planning Committee, and was a lawyer representative to the Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference from 2003 through 2005. He has spoken at many continuing legal education seminars for various organizations, including the WSBA, the Tacoma-Pierce County Bar Association, and the Washington State Trial Lawyers Association. He has also served on the Board of Directors of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under the Law. Earlier this year, he was awarded the Bertha M. Snell Award and Outstanding Service Award, both by the Tacoma-Pierce County Bar Association. He was named in 2005, 2006, and 2008 by Washington Law and Politics magazine as a “Super Lawyer.”

Mungia is a past commissioner of the Tacoma Human Rights Commission; has served on the Grand Cinema Board of Directors; and is currently serving as a director for the Palmer Minority Scholarship Foundation. He is a past board member of the ACLU of Washington and has been a cooperating attorney with the ACLU since 1986.

Loren S. Etengoff, 3rd District

Loren Etengoff graduated from the State University of New York at Buffalo. He received his law degree from Gonzaga University School of Law. In 1982, Etengoff moved to Vancouver, Washington, where he served as a partner in a three-person firm until June 2006, when he opened his own practice. He has been actively involved with the Washington State Trial Lawyers Association, where he served on the Board of Governors and on development committees. He is a member of the American Association for Justice and the Clark County Bar Association.

Etengoff lives in the Vancouver area with his wife and children. He is a past board member of the Evergreen School District Foundation. He has managed and coached both youth and adult soccer teams while serving on the board of the Evergreen Soccer Club and the Clark County Youth Soccer Federation.

Patrick A. Palace, 6th District

Patrick Palace received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Washington in International Business and his law degree from Loyola University of Chicago School of Law in 1991. He opened the Palace Law Offices in 1995, a firm that emphasizes workers’ compensation, Social Security, and personal injury matters.

Palace is a past-president of the WSBA Young Lawyers Division, and has served on a number of WSBA committees, including the Public Legal Education Workgroup Task Force and the WSBA President’s Advisory Committee created to promote judicial independence. He moderated and produced two television series designed to help citizens understand the law. “LawTalk” was funded by the WSBA and was recognized by the ABA with its Outstanding Public Service Award. The “People’s Law School,” which aired statewide, also earned an Outstanding Public Service Award. He has served nine terms on the Washington State Trial Lawyers Association Board of Governors and has chaired or served on many of its committees. He is active in the Tacoma-Pierce County Bar Association and is currently serving on their Judicial Qualifications and Bar Convention committees.

Catherine L. Moore, 7th-East District

Catherine Moore received her bachelor’s degree in political science from the State University of New York, and her law degree from Albany Law School. From 1988–1992, she was an attorney for The Defender Association, in Seattle, then went into solo practice. As a legal adviser for the New Zealand Ministry of Consumer Affairs from 1999–2001, she was a national advocate for Maori, Pacific Islander, and low-income consumers. She was the managing family law attorney for the King County Bar Association from 2002–2003, leaving to serve as a tribal court judge. Moore currently serves as commissioner pro tempore for the King County Superior Court.

Moore has been active in the WSBA, serving on the Pro Bono and Legal Aid Committee, the Mediation Panel, and the Hearing Officer Panel, and was appointed to the Judicial Selection Task Force. In addition, she currently serves as a board member for Perinatal Treatment Services of Washington; chairs the King County Municipal League Candidate Evaluations Committee; volunteers with the Washington State Coordinated Campaign Voter Registration Project and the Washington Campaign for Clean Elections; and serves as a Washington Judicial Selection Coalition member. Moore was honored with the King County Bar Association President’s Award in 2002, and the New Zealand Deputy Prime Minister’s Recognition in 2001.

Brian L. Comstock, 8th District

Brian Comstock received his bachelor’s degree magna cum laude from the University of Washington. Following a two-year tour of duty as an officer of the United States Army Counter-Intelligence Corps, he received his law degree from Harvard Law School. Returning to Seattle, he entered private practice with Roberts & Shefelman, eventually becoming its managing partner, and later headed the business practice group at Short Cressman & Burgess. From 2004–2006, he taught as an adjunct professor at the Seattle University School of Law and the Albers School of Business and Finance, and set up a new course for third-year law students entitled Advising Private Companies. In 2006, he and his son, John L. Comstock, formed The Comstock Law Firm, PLLC, in Bellevue.

Comstock has been active in the Business, Securities, and Tax sections of the American Bar Association and the WSBA; he has also served as a trustee of the King County Bar Association. He is a member of Mercer Island Rotary and the Board of Directors of Northwest Center, and in 2006, he was appointed by Governor Christine Gregoire as a commissioner of the Washington State Lottery. During his term of service on the Board of Governors, Comstock will celebrate 50 years of membership in the WSBA; he will be the first sitting member of the Board of Governors to do so.
 
Anthony D. Gipe, At-large

Anthony Gipe studied at the Monterey Institute of Foreign Languages/Defense Languages Institute, where he received his accreditation in Russian Languages and Culture. He served for seven years in the United States Navy as a Russian-language interpreter and intelligence analyst. He earned a bachelor’s degree in Comparative History of Ideas from the University of Washington and received his law degree from the University of Washington School of Law. He is currently a senior associate at the firm of Sheer & Zehnder.

Gipe has been active in the King County Bar Association, the Washington Employment Lawyers Association (where he served as a board member), and the Lesbian and Gay Law Society of Washington. He is a founding board member of QLaw, the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender (GLBT) Bar Association of Washington. He is a founding member of the WSBA Leadership Institute Advisory Board, has served on the WSBA’s Amicus Brief Committee and Rules of Professional Conduct Committee, and has served as chair of the WSBA Civil Rights Committee. Washington Law & Politics readers voted him a “Rising Star” in the legal profession in 2002 and 2003.

Carla C. Lee, At-large WYLD

Carla Lee received undergraduate degrees in English and Philosophy from the University of Washington, and her law degree from Seattle University School of Law. She is a solo practitioner in Seattle.

Lee is a member of the Access to Justice Board Technology Committee, and has served on the WSBA Amicus Brief Committee, and the WSBA Pro Bono and Legal Aid Committee. In addition to her involvement at the WSBA, she is also the co-vice-president of membership for the Washington Women Lawyers State Board; treasurer of the Loren Miller Bar Association; and an at-large board member of Washington Lawyers for the Arts. She has volunteered her time with King County Bar Association Volunteer Legal Services; served as chair of professional development and co-chair of the Young Lawyers Committee Mentor Program with the Loren Miller Bar Association; and served as the co-vice-president of professional development for Washington Women Lawyers. Lee also took a leadership role in the development of the Breast Cancer Legal Resources Guide — Washington (www.wsba.org/public/breastcancerlegalresource.pdf). She has been honored with the 2005 Chapter Member of the Year Award from King County Washington Women Lawyers; the 2007 Loren Miller Bar Association’s President’s Award; and the 2007 Washington Women Lawyers State Board Member of the Year Award. 

Stephanie Perry is the WSBA communications specialist/website editor and can be reached at stephaniep@wsba.org.