Washington State Bar Association Board of Governors to Meet February 9-10 in Gig Harbor

Seattle, Washington, February 5, 2001 — The Washington State Bar Association (WSBA) Board of Governors will hold its next meeting February 9-10 at the Inn at Gig Harbor. The meeting will be held from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Friday, and from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Saturday. The meeting is open to the press and public both days.

Robert Boruchowitz of the Washington Defender Association will update the Board on the status of public defense in Washington. Pierce County lawyer Tom Quinlan will present the Young Lawyers' Division Annual Report, highlighting their many public-service activities. The Board of Governors will also discuss legislative items of interest, including prison law library funding, student loan repayment and wrongful death statutes.

Additionally, the Board will continue to work on developing a process within constitutional guidelines that achieves their goal of diverse board membership representative of the diversity of the WSBA's members.

The Washington State Bar Association is a private, nonprofit organization authorized by the Washington Supreme Court to license the state's 26,500 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. Port Angeles lawyer Brooke Taylor is the WSBA governor representing sixth congressional district, which includes Gig Harbor and most of the peninsula.

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.