FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 28, 2000

CONTACT
Judith Berrett, Director of Communications
206-727-8212
e-mail: judithb@wsba.org

Washington State Bar Association Board of Governors to Meet March 31 – April 1 in Kelso

Seattle, Washington, March 28, 2000 - The Washington State Bar Association (WSBA) Board of Governors will hold its next meeting at the Red Lion Hotel in Kelso March 31 – April 1. Governor Stephen J. Henderson of Olympia represents WSBA members from the third congressional district.

Items on the agenda include review of a proposal to define the practice of law; a presentation about the consumer affairs function of the Office of Disciplinary Counsel (the WSBA department that handles lawyer complaints); and a report on a 1999 survey conducted for the Office of the Administrator for the Courts, "How the Public Views the Courts." A report on diversity within the WSBA and the legal profession will also be presented.

The Board of Governors, the body responsible for the governance of the WSBA, meets every six weeks at various locations around the state. Its meetings are open to the public.

Governors are elected for three-year terms by members of the Washington State Bar Association, a nonprofit organization authorized by the Washington State Supreme Court to license the state's 25,000 lawyers. Lawyers must be members of the Washington State Bar Association in order to practice law in Washington. There are three governors from the seventh congressional district, and one from each of the other eight districts. The current President of the WSBA is Spokane attorney Richard C. Eymann.

The Washington State Bar Association both regulates lawyers under the authority of the Court and serves its members as a professional association - all without public funding. As a regulatory agency, the WSBA administers the bar examination, provides record-keeping and licensing functions, and administers the lawyer discipline program. As a professional association, it provides continuing legal education for attorneys, in addition to numerous other educational and member-service activities.