Law Week 2003: A Lawyer or Judge in Every School

Seattle Washington, December 30, 2002 — Educators, students, lawyers and judges are looking forward to Law Week 2003. In an effort to expand public legal education, the Law Week planning committee hopes to have a volunteer lawyer or judge in every school in Washington during the week of April 28.

Last spring, nearly 16,000 Washington students, 58 judges and more than 400 lawyers participated in Law Week. Lawyers and judges in 34 Washington counties met with students to discuss current legal issues and specific areas of the law. Some presentations also included mock trials in which students played all the courtroom roles.

Law Week is one of the many Washington State Bar Association programs designed to increase citizen understanding of the important role that the law plays in their lives. Washington’s Law Week coincides with the American Bar Association’s Law Day, celebrated on May 1st across the country. Law Day was established in 1958 by President Dwight D. Eisenhower to strengthen the United States’ heritage of liberty, justice and equality under the law.

The Washington State Bar Association is a private, nonprofit organization authorized by the Washington Supreme Court to license the state’s 27,300 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.