Karen Dorn Steele Receives Washington State Bar Association Excellence in Legal Journalism Award

Seattle, Washington, September 15, 2000 — Spokesman-Review reporter Karen Dorn Steele was presented with the Washington State Bar Association (WSBA) Excellence in Legal Journalism Award at a luncheon held in Spokane today. This award is given to a journalist who sets the standard for relevance, clarity, accuracy and understanding in reporting. Ms. Steele received the award for her reporting of the questionable behavior of a federal judge.

Earlier this year, Ms. Steele broke the story of a federal judge in Washington who was passing demeaning, racially offensive notes about individuals appearing in his courtroom while presiding over their cases. Her story resulted in House Resolution 416, which seeks to condemn the judge's actions, and prompted a 9th Circuit investigation into the judge's conduct. Ms. Steele's reporting demonstrated a thorough understanding of the subtle legal issues involved.

As an environmental and special projects reporter, she has researched and written extensively on legal issues surrounding such things as radiation exposure by the U.S. Department of Energy, questionable Hanford experiments, and wasted taxpayer dollars in Hanford cleanup. In the 1990s, her investigative reporting earned her a place on former Energy Secretary Hazel O'Leary's "most-disliked" list.

Ms. Steele has also written articles for the New York Times, The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, High Country News and Amicus Journal. She is the recipient of numerous honors and awards including the Washington State Trial Lawyers Association Award for Excellence in Journalism, the George Polk Award for Environmental Reporting, and the Seattle Times' C.B. Blethen Award. She is also a member of the Washington State Hall of Journalist Achievement.

The Washington State Bar Association is a private, non-profit organization authorized by the Washington State Supreme Court to license the state's 26,000 lawyers. The WSBA 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, it administers the bar exam, provides record-keeping and licensing functions, and administers the lawyer discipline program. As a professional association, the WSBA provides continuing legal education for attorneys, in addition to numerous other educational and member-service activities.