Seattle Attorney Gregory R. Dallaire Receives Washington State Bar Association President's Award

Seattle Washington, September 16, 2003 — At its President's Dinner on September 10, the Washington State Bar Association (WSBA) honored Gregory R. Dallaire with the President's Award, which is given for special accomplishment or service to the WSBA during the term of the current president. J. Richard Manning, 2002-2003 WSBA president, presented the award to Mr. Dallaire.

"Greg Dallaire has been awarded the WSBA President's Award for 38 years of unwavering commitment to equal access to justice for all persons, regardless of economic or social status, and his proven ability to implement innovative ideas and significant change in our profession," said WSBA outgoing President J. Richard Manning, who presented the award to Mr. Dallaire. "He makes all of us very proud of our profession."

Mr. Dallaire's innovative contributions and leadership are legendary. He joined the WSBA in 1970 and was one of the first bar leaders in the early 1970s to emphasize the need for diversity in the legal profession, by sponsoring a minority clerkship program in Puget Sound. Known as the "architect of IOLTA" (Interest on Lawyers' Trust Accounts), he first proposed the concept of IOLTA to the WSBA Board of Governors in 1972; in 1985, after 13 years of advocacy, the Washington State Supreme Court adopted the IOLTA rule. (IOLTA accounts are used by lawyers and real estate closing officers to deposit client funds that, because they are nominal in amount or expected to be held for a short period of time, would not provide a positive net return to the client. However, by pooling these funds into one account, positive net interest accrues. The pooled interest is paid to the Legal Foundation of Washington to be used to provide access to justice in civil cases for poor people throughout Washington.)

In 1994, along with then-WSBA President Tom Chambers, Mr. Dallaire met with the Supreme Court to speak in favor of creating the Access to Justice Board. Past chair and current member of the Commission on Judicial Conduct, and co-chair of the Legal Services Funding Task Force, he also co-chaired the WSBA committee that created the Lawyers' Fund for Client Protection. "Greg has always been the leadership template from which I and many other members of the equal justice community nationwide have modeled our own leadership approaches," said Columbia Legal Services Director Ada Shen-Jaffe.

Mr. Dallaire has demonstrated his unwavering commitment to equal access to justice since 1965. In 1967, he joined the Legal Aid Society of Alameda County, California, as deputy director. As chair of the Legal Services Programs Project Advisory Board, he led the effort to create the Legal Services Corporation in 1973-74, and to save it from defunding by Congress in the early 1980s. He also served as director of Seattle Legal Services, Georgia Legal Services, and Evergreen Legal Services (now Columbia Legal Services), which he helped to organize. "Virtually everything legal services is today," wrote WSBA Governor Howard Graham in his nomination letter, "is due to Greg's efforts in the 1970s and 1980s."

In 2000, Greg Dallaire received the Goldmark Award, which recognizes exceptional efforts in assuring equal access to justice. "As we enter a new decade," he said in his acceptance speech, "we must not forget that poverty and racism are still alive and well in our state. Farmworkers still sleep on riverbanks in Eastern Washington, and there is a disproportionate number of African-Americans in our state prisons. The institutional safety nets designed to protect the poor are many times illusory, and lines at the food banks are still long. In addition, something akin to the Industrial Revolution is taking place around us. Technology and globalization promise to increase wealth, but we must recognize that these developments also have the potential to increase inequality."

It is my view that Greg's approach to others—his ability to interact with persons of disparate backgrounds and viewpoints—grows from a genuine respect for human beings," wrote attorney William Michael Hanbey. "This attitude infuses his actions. Would that more of us could follow his model."

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 2002-2003 president is J. Richard Manning of Seattle, and the 2003-2004 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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