FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 20, 2002

CONTACT
Allison Parker
Communications Specialist 
206-733-5932
allisonp@wsba.org 

Washington State Bar Association Elects Five New Governors

Seattle, Washington, September 20, 2002 — The Washington State Bar Association is pleased to announce the election of five new members to its Board of Governors: Andrea Brenneke (Seattle), Howard L. Graham (Tacoma), Joni R. Kerr (Vancouver), Fawn R. Sharp (Ocean Shores), and Ronald R. Ward (Mercer Island). They will serve three-year terms.

Andrea Brenneke (District 7-east) is a shareholder of MacDonald, Hoague & Bayless, and a member of the firm's litigation and employment groups. She is a long-time member of the Northwest Women's Law Center Legal Committee and has served on its board. Ms. Brenneke is an active member of the Washington Employment Lawyers Association, the Washington State Trial Lawyers Association, and the Washington chapter of Trial Lawyers for Public Justice. She is a past-chair of the King County Young Lawyers Division board of trustees. Ms. Brenneke was a contributing editor and author of the treatise Violence Against Women Act: Law and Practice, and has authored several articles on women's issues.

Howard L. Graham (District 6) is a sole practitioner in Tacoma, where his practice emphasizes disability issues, Social Security, federal employees' compensation appeals, and fair-housing litigation. He served as executive director of the Puget Sound Legal Assistance Foundation (now Tacoma's Columbia Legal Services), and helped start the Tacoma-Pierce County Bar Association Volunteer Lawyer Program. Mr. Graham was co-chair of the Systems Impediment Committee of the Washington State Access to Justice Board, and served on the Board of Judicial Administration Best Practice Committee in 2001-2002. Additionally, he is the author of the Federal Employees' Compensation Act Practice Guide.

Joni R. Kerr (District 3) is a solo practitioner in Vancouver, Washington, where her practice is limited to representing public school districts in Washington. She graduated from The Ohio State University College of Law in 1979 and clerked for the Ohio Court of Appeals from 1979 to 1981. Ms. Kerr was admitted in Nebraska in 1981 and in Washington in 1990. Before moving to Vancouver, she was a shareholder with Vandeberg, Johnson & Gandara in Tacoma. She served as president of the state board of Washington Women Lawyers in 1998-1999, and as its liaison to the WSBA Board of Governors in 1999-2000.

Fawn R. Sharp (At-large) grew up on the Quinault Reservation and now serves as lead counsel for the Quinault Indian Nation. She manages comprehensive legal services for the nation; provides counsel; and represents the nation at court, tribunal and administrative hearings. Ms. Sharp previously served as a special-hearings officer for the Grand Ronde Tribe of Indians, an administrative law judge for the Washington State Department of Revenue, and an associate judge in Quinault Tribal Court. She has also been in private practice. Ms. Sharp is co-chair of the National Congress of American Indians Sovereignty Protections Initiative, and is vice-president of the National Intertribal Tax Alliance.

Ronald R. Ward (District 8) is a partner and shareholder in the Seattle law firm Levinson Friedman PS, where he concentrates on auto accidents; construction-site personal injuries; fisherman, seaman and processors' injuries; and wrongful death. Before going into private practice, he was an assistant attorney general. Mr. Ward has served as vice-president and a seven-term board member for the Washington State Trial Lawyers Association. He is also a member of the Association of Trial Lawyers of America, the National Bar Association, King County Bar Association, and Loren Miller Bar Association. He was appointed to the 1996-1997 Court Composition Committee convened to study the Washington Supreme Court, and is a past member of the WSBA Judicial Recommendation Committee.

The Washington State Bar Association is a private, nonprofit organization authorized by the Washington Supreme Court to license the state's 26,600 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.

The governance of the WSBA is vested in its 13-person Board of Governors. There are three governors from the seventh congressional district, one from each of the other eight districts, plus three at-large members (one representing the Young Lawyers Division). The Board meets regularly (every six weeks) at various locations around the state, and its meetings are open to the public. Much of the work of the Bar is carried out through its 23 standing committees; 24 sections; and a Young Lawyers Division, with its many committees.