Elder Law Section of the Washington State Bar Association Donates $25,000 to Legal Aid for Washington Fund

Seattle, Washington, October 8, 2003—The Washington State Bar Association announced that its Elder Law Section has made a $25,000 contribution to Legal Aid for Washington Fund (“LAW Fund”). The WSBA Elder Law Section’s financial support to LAW Fund is intended to meet critical resource needs for legal aid programs. Since 1999, the Elder Law Section has made annual financial commitments to the LAW Fund and other programs that help the poor achieve meaningful access to justice. The recent gift is in recognition of the current crisis in legal aid funding for seniors.

“The practitioners of the Elder Law Section recognize the importance for all seniors to have access to legal services,” reads a statement on the Elder Law Section website. “While financial constraints and/or physical limitations may impede seniors in seeking elder law services, it is recognized that community services exist to assist these people with their legal issues. Therefore, the WSBA Elder Law Section has established a grant program to financially assist with the continual operation of these community-service programs.” All currently operating programs offered by Washington state-based nonprofit organizations that provide legal services to Washington state senior residents are encouraged to apply for grants.

Speaking of this latest contribution to the LAW Fund, Barbara West, the section’s immediate past chair, said, “We’re all justifiably proud of the Elder Law Section for this contribution and for our highly successful grants program. Through the elder-law Continuing Legal Education seminars that we offer, we have been able to raise significant funds, and this contribution to LAW Fund is a way of giving back. By doing so, we are helping to ensure that our seniors with limited or no access to legal services—the underserved—can have that access.”

Thanking the Elder Law Section for its most recent contribution, LAW Fund President Salvador A. Mungia stated, “We applaud the Elder Law Section, which has demonstrated, with this gift, its convincing leadership at a crucial juncture.” Mungia added, “The Elder Law Section’s decision to elevate its gift to $25,000 is an inspiration for bar sections and private attorneys across the state.”

About the Elder Law Section of the Washington State Bar Association
The WSBA Elder Law Section focuses on matters related to serving elderly clients. Senior clients present unique problems. Attorneys who wish to provide top-quality legal service to their senior clients must be cognizant of their special needs and how those needs manifest in all areas of law. Therefore, education is a significant goal of the section. The majority of section members are legal practitioners practicing in areas of law serving the senior citizens of Washington state, including Medicare/Medicaid, estate planning, guardianship, probate, and real estate. The section began in the early 1990s and currently comprises 600 members. A chairperson and an executive committee govern the section. Congeniality among members is marked by frequent exchange of ideas through the section's Internet chat room and annual meeting, in addition to participation in and cooperation the Washington Chapter of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys (NAELA).
The practitioners of the Elder Law Section recognize the importance for all seniors to have access to legal services. While financial constraints and/or physical limitations impede seniors in seeking elder law services, it is recognized that community services exist to assist these people with their legal issues. Therefore, the WSBA Elder Law Section has established a grant program to financially assist with the continual operation of these community service programs. For more information, visit www.wsba.org/lawyers/groups/elderlaw.

About the Legal Aid for Washington (LAW) Fund
The LAW Fund was created in 1991 by three members of the Washington State Bar Association—Jack Dean of Spokane, Mark Hutcheson of Seattle, and Paul Stritmatter of Hoquiam—who were committed to establishing an organization dedicated to providing private support for civil legal aid programs across Washington state. The LAW Fund helps people all over the state of Washington protect themselves and their families from homelessness, unsafe working conditions, and domestic violence by supporting access to civil legal aid programs. The mission of the LAW Fund is to ensure equal access to justice by raising funds to preserve and expand civil legal services for low-income people in Washington state. For more information about the LAW Fund, visit www.lawfund.com.

About the Washington State Bar Association
The Washington State Bar Association is a private, nonprofit organization authorized by the Washington Supreme Court to license the state’s 27,600 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 14-person Board of Governors. There are three governors from the seventh congressional district; one from each of the other eight districts; and three at-large members, one of whom represents the Young Lawyers Division. The president is David W. Savage of Pullman. The board meets every six weeks at various locations around the state, and its meetings are open to the public. Much of the work of the WSBA is carried out through its 23 standing committees, 24 sections, and a Young Lawyers Division.

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