Washington State Bar Association Board of Governors to Meet June 23 – 24 in Portland, Oregon

Seattle, Washington, June 20, 2000 - The Washington State Bar Association (WSBA) Board of Governors will hold its next meeting at the Hilton Portland June 23 – 24. Governor Stephen Henderson of Olympia represents WSBA members from the third congressional district (southwest Washington). The WSBA Board of Governors chose Portland so they could meet with the officers and Board members of the Oregon State Bar and the Multnomah County Bar Association, and because many lawyers practicing in the Portland area are WSBA members.

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 highlight of the meeting will be the election of the new WSBA president-elect (who will assume the presidency during the 2001-2002 fiscal year). The three candidates for this position will give presentations to the Board of Governors, and voting by the Board will follow. Additionally, the Awards Committee will make its recommendations for this year's recipients of the annual WSBA Awards. Other items on the agenda include the WSBA Court Rules Committee's annual report; a report about Law Week 2000; an update on the Public Legal Education Council; and a report by the WSBA Diversity Committee regarding the potential addition of a lawyer of diversity seat on the Board of Governors. There will also be discussion of a proposed resolution reaffirming the existence of a crisis in the availability of civil equal justice services for low-income people in Washington state, and calling upon the Governor and the Legislature to substantially increase state support for civil legal assistance.

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, and the President-elect is Jan Eric Peterson of Seattle.

The Washington State Bar Association (like the Oregon State Bar) 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.