Washington State Bar Association Board of Governors To Meet December 1-2, 2000 in Port Ludlow

Seattle, Washington, November 27, 2000 - The Washington State Bar Association (WSBA) Board of Governors will hold its next meeting at the Port Ludlow Resort & Conference Center, December 1-2. Governor S. Brooke Taylor of Port Angeles represents WSBA members from the sixth congressional district. 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.

A report about the Public Legal Education Council will be presented to the board. Making the presentation will be co-chairs Judge Marlin Appelwick, a former state legislator who now sits on the State Court of Appeals, and former Superintendent of Public Instruction Judith Billings. The Council is a partnership of education, legal, media and community groups, and its mission is to educate the people of Washington about their legal rights and responsibilities to enable their effective participation in both the justice system and democracy as a whole. The Council began in 1998 as the Public Legal Education Workgroup, a joint venture of the Washington State Bar Association, the Access to Justice Board, and several other groups.

At its September meeting, the board voted to add an additional seat to the Board of Governors – a position of diversity, to help ensure the WSBA's governance includes and represents all members. At the Port Ludlow meeting, the board will hear recommendations from the Loren Miller (African American), Asian, and Hispanic bar associations and the WSBA Committee on Diversity as to how the new member should be selected, and vote on the selection process.

Also on the agenda is a report by former WSBA President Wayne Blair on Project 2001. Project 2001 was established by the Board for Judicial Administration to make suggestions for court improvements. Approximately 125 lawyers and judges from around the state have participated in this effort, which has resulted in 49 recommendations for court reform.

While in the Port Ludlow and Port Townsend area, members of the board will tour the geographic and cultural high points in the vicinity. The Board of Governors will also have a meeting with Jefferson and Clallam County lawyers and judges to listen to the special needs and issues experienced in the state's northern peninsula.

The Washington State Bar Association is a nonprofit organization authorized by the Washington State Supreme Court to license the state's 26,000 lawyers. Lawyers must be members of the WSBA in order to practice law in the state. Governors are elected for three-year terms by members of the Association — 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 Seattle lawyer Jan Eric Peterson, and the president-elect is Dale Carlisle of Tacoma.

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.