Seattle Attorney Mark A. Johnson Elected to WSBA Board of Governors

Seattle Washington, August 22, 2003 — The Washington State Bar Association (WSBA) Board of Governors announced the election of Seattle Attorney Mark Johnson as governor for the Seventh-West Congressional District, which includes the western third of Seattle and all of Vashon Island. Mr. Johnson will be sworn in September 11, 2003, and will serve a three-year term as Seventh-West governor.

Listed in every edition of The Best Lawyers in America since 1997, Mr. Johnson received his J.D. in 1978 from Drake University and joined the WSBA the same year. He represents plaintiffs in medical and legal malpractice, and serious personal-injury cases, and has done so in the states of Alaska, Nevada, Minnesota, and California, in addition to Washington. He is a member of Johnson Flora PLLC, whose offices contain, besides law and medical books and client files, "the largest display of antique baseball equipment in the Pacific Northwest."

Mr. Johnson is the chair of the WSBA's Character and Fitness Committee and a member of the Professional Development Committee. He is also a member of the Washington State Trial Lawyers Association (WSTLA), a past chair of WSTLA's Professional Liability Section, and a member of the Association of Trial Lawyers of America. He is co-chair of the WSBA's First Annual Conference on the Law of Lawyering to be held December 5 and 12, 2003. As governor-elect he has been appointed to the WSBA Budget and Finance Committee.

Mr. Johnson is the author of a host of articles on lawyer liability and medical negligence that have appeared in Washington State Bar News and WSTLA's Trial News, including "Washington Law of Lawyer Liability" (Bar News, April 2000); "Washington Supreme Court Declares Medical Negligence Statute of Repose Unconstitutional" (Trial News, October 1998); "Medical Malpractices, Medical Records and the Uniform Business Records as Evidence Act" (Trial News, June 1999); "Washington Law of Lawyer Liability" (Trial News, January 2000); "Washington Rule of Professional Conduct 1.8(e)(1) Should Be Amended to Permit Repayment of Litigation Costs Advanced by an Attorney to Be Conditioned upon Recovery" (Bar News, February 2001); and "Mishandled Medical Malpractice Case Leads to Legal Malpractice Verdict" (Trial News, October 2001) (co-author with Donovan Flora). He is also a frequent lecturer on professional liability and medical malpractice issues.

"In my work for clients in Washington and elsewhere, and based on my experiences and interactions with attorneys who practice in Washington and elsewhere," said Mr. Johnson, "I can state with complete confidence that Washington's attorneys practice at the highest levels of ethics, professionalism, and competence—a fact of which we have every right and reason to be immensely proud. The cornerstone of a democracy is its justice system, and attorneys are its guardians. Washington's justice system and the public it serves are well guarded."

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 current president is J. Richard Manning of Seattle, and the president-elect is David 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.

# # #