Leonard W. Schroeter Receives Washington State Bar Association Special Lifetime Service Award

Seattle, Washington, September 15, 2000 — Seattle lawyer Leonard W. Schroeter was presented with the Washington State Bar Association (WSBA) Special Lifetime Service Award at a luncheon held in Spokane today. Mr. Schroeter received the award for his long and distinguished career as an access to justice activist. Though officially retired, he continues to devote considerable time to public service.

For more than four decades, Mr. Schroeter has been a staunch advocate of constitutional rights. During the Civil Rights Movement, he prepared school desegregation cases for the NAACP. In 1956, he founded Schroeter Goldmark & Bender, the Seattle firm which still bears his name. During his 35 years as a plaintiffs' trial lawyer, Mr. Schroeter earned a national reputation for his innovative and record-breaking verdicts for his clients, as well as for his passionate advocacy of constitutional rights. In 1990, The National Law Journal called him "one of the nation's most eloquent plaintiff's advocates" and the "conscience of the bar." As a result of his efforts, the American Trial Lawyers Association honored him with the Harry M. Phil Award, and the Washington State Trial Lawyers Association named him Trial Lawyer of the Year in 1993.

Grounded in the belief that access to justice is a fundamental right, Mr. Schroeter is an active member of Washington's Access to Justice Board. Since 1995 he has served as chair of the Board's Jurisprudence Committee. He also coordinates the Committee's workshop at the annual Access to Justice Conference. Mr. Schroeter is a frequent contributor to Washington State Bar News, writing on access to justice issues. He is a member of the WSBA Court Rules Committee, and the Washington chapter of the American Judicature Society. Mr. Schroeter is a graduate of the University of Chicago and Harvard University Law School.

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.