Washington Young Lawyers Division to Sponsor Community Legal Forum and Children's Hope Festival

Seattle, Washington, June 5, 2001 — The Washington State Bar Association (WSBA) Young Lawyers Division will sponsor a Community Legal Forum and Children's Hope Festival on Saturday, June 16 at El Centro De La Raza in Seattle (2524 16th Ave. South). The forum, aimed at families of AIDS patients, will feature legal workshops on wills, power of attorney, and third-party custody actions. The children's festival will include face-painting and a youth mural project. Workshops begin at 9:30 a.m. and the festival begins at 2:00 p.m. Both events are free and open to the public. For more information, contact Lisa Castilleja at 206-464-7470 or lisac@atg.wa.gov.

This event is co-sponsored by the WSBA Family Law Section, Rise-n-Shine Foundation, Children's Garden of Hope Project, and El Centro De La Raza. El Centro, a community center in the Beacon Hill neighborhood, was chosen as part of a project sponsored by the Rise-n-Shine Foundation to establish a memorial garden for families of AIDS patients. The Garden of Hope is dedicated to deceased family members, and is a place for children to plant flowers and trees in their memory.

The Washington State Bar Association is a private, nonprofit organization authorized by the Washington Supreme Court to license the state's 26,500 lawyers. Any active member of the WSBA is also a member of the Young Lawyers Division until December 31 of the year in which he turns 36, or December 31 of the fifth year in which he has been admitted to practice, whichever is later.

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.