Kennewick Lawyer Fran Forgette Receives "Local Hero" Award

Seattle, Washington, December 18, 2000 — Kennewick lawyer Fran Forgette was recently honored with the Washington State Bar Association (WSBA) "Local Hero" Award. He received the award for outstanding volunteer service to the residents of the Tri-City area. The award was presented by WSBA President Jan Eric Peterson.

Mr. Forgette is a partner in the firm of Rettig, Osborne, Forgette, O'Donnell, Iller & Adamson LLP, which he joined in 1977. He has been active in numerous Tri-City civic groups, including the Mid-Columbia Education Alliance, a business/education partnership. He founded the Adopt-A-Disk Program, now part of the Alliance, in 1994. It is a continuing partnership between local businesses and education that provides technology funding for computer software and peripherals to every elementary school in the Tri-City area. Mr. Forgette is the administrator of the program and serves on the executive committee of the Alliance.

Mr. Forgette is a member of the board of directors and the executive committee of TRIDEC, the economic development entity for the greater Tri-City area, and he previously served as volunteer legal counsel for TRIDEC. He is the immediate past-president and current member of the Tri-Cities Cancer Center Board of Directors, and is a past-president of the Tri-City Area Chamber of Commerce and the Tri-Cities Estate Planning Council.

The Washington State Bar Association is a private, nonprofit 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.