"SHARING VISIONS OF EQUAL JUSTICE"

Washington State Bar Association and Access to Justice Board to Host Eighth Annual ATJ Conference and Annual WSBA Bar Leaders Conference June 6-8 in Wenatchee

Seattle Washington, May 30, 2003 — The Washington State Bar Association (WSBA) announced today that its Access to Justice (ATJ) Board will host Washington's eighth-annual ATJ Conference, in conjunction with the WSBA Bar Leaders Conference, June 6-8, 2003, at the Coast (formerly WestCoast) Wenatchee Hotel and Convention Center. The conference will bring together an array of leaders and representatives from the ATJ network, including the private bar, the judiciary, court clerks and facilitators, law librarians, law schools, legal services programs, paralegals, pro bono programs, specialized legal services, community services and the alternative dispute resolution community — all with a common commitment to this year's theme, "Sharing Visions of Equal Justice."

A highlight of the conference will be a plenary session planned jointly by the ATJ Conference, the Bar Leaders Conference and the Council on Public Legal Education, featuring Clay Jenkinson in his famous role as Thomas Jefferson. Jenkinson, whose ability to masterfully portray the life, vision, wisdom and achievement of one of the most fascinating men ever to hold the office of U.S. President, is considered the finest exemplar of first-person historical interpretation in the United States. For over 20 years, his performances have won him the respect of U.S. Presidents, Supreme Court Justices, members of the cabinet, state legislators, and hundreds of public audiences in 49 states and beyond. In 1989,President Bush awarded Jenkinson the highest honor of the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Charles Frankel Prize. Jenkinson will facilitate a lively and entertaining presentation regarding the ever-changing world of technology, the ATJ Technology Bill of Rights initiative, and the impact that technology has on the legal system and ATJ issues.

Presenting the keynote address Friday evening will be Gene R. Nichol, Dean and Burton Craige Professor of Law at University of North Carolina Law School. Dr. Leticia Nieto, back by popular demand, will facilitate two workshops — "Strategic Interventions for Anti-Oppression," designed to facilitate communication and empowerment; and "Inclusion, Diversity and Multicultural Competence," designed to further work by those who have been trained on anti-oppression frameworks. Other substantive workshops will address unique legal issues presented by client communities who face disparate treatment or experience disproportionate burdens of poverty. An informal Saturday evening reception will provide the equal justice community with a timely opportunity to brainstorm ideas for dealing strategically with the current funding crisis. Sunday morning, conference participants will gather for a final plenary session, "Current Access to Justice Issues," which will include topics such as the Washington state legal needs study, the impact of the IOLTA litigation, the impact of federal and state cuts to human services, and rural/remote isolation issues.

At noon on Saturday, WSBA President J. Richard Manning will present the WSBA Pro Bono Award. The Pro Bono Award is given annually to lawyers, nonlawyers, law firms or local bar associations for outstanding efforts in providing free legal services to the poor. This year's recipients are the Spokane County Bar Association Volunteer Lawyers Program (accepted by Holland McBurns) and the Tacoma-Pierce County Bar Association Volunteer Legal Services Program (accepted by Terry McCarthy).

The conference also features an all-day I-CAN! demonstration Saturday. I-CAN! is a free kiosk- and web-based legal-services system developed by the Legal Aid Society and Superior Court of Orange County to provide lower-income people with convenient and effective access to vital legal services. I-CAN! creates professional-looking, ready-to-file court forms using a touch-screen interface with easy-to-follow menus available in English, Spanish and Vietnamese. "I-CAN! takes the principal [of access to justice] to practice," says Donald J. Horowitz, president of the Horowitz Foundation and chair of the ATJ Technology Bill of Rights Project, "and could truly make justice available to everyone."

On Friday the WSBA Board of Governors will meet all day as well. The board's agenda includes a report on how to foster the professional development of new lawyers, and the election of the WSBA president for 2003-2004, who will serve the coming year as the president-elect.

About the ATJ Board
The Access to Justice Board was established by the Washington State Supreme Court in 1994 at the request of the WSBA Board of Governors, in response to a growing need to coordinate the access-to-justice efforts throughout the state and ensure continuity and focus. Its mandate is to assure access to the civil justice system for low- and moderate-income Washington residents. The board consists of nine members nominated by the WSBA Board of Governors and appointed by the Supreme Court. Seattle attorney Scott Smith is the current chair.

About the WSBA
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. For more information about the WSBA, visit www.wsba.org.

# # #