Washington State Bar Association General Counsel Robert Welden Appointed Chair of the American Bar Association Standing Committee on Client Protection

Seattle, Washington, June 17, 2003 — The Washington State Bar Association (WSBA) announced today that its general counsel, Robert D. Welden, had been appointed chair of the American Bar Association (ABA) Standing Committee on Client Protection for 2003-2004. Welden was appointed by ABA President-elect Dennis Archer. "We have a challenging and exciting time ahead," said Archer, "and I look forward to working with Mr. Welden and the committee in furtherance of the client-protection work of the association." Welden, who is staff liaison for the WSBA Lawyers' Fund for Client Protection, was appointed to a one-year term commencing at the adjournment of the 2003 ABA Annual Meeting in August.

The ABA Standing Committee on Client Protection, which works closely with the National Client Protection Organization (NCPO), provides support for client-protection programs in every jurisdiction in the United States and Canada. These client-protection programs administer funds that have been allocated to compensate those few clients who have been the victims of dishonesty in connection with the practice of law or the rendering of legal services. The committee also examines practice issues concerning the protection of the public when an unlicensed or unqualified provider has claimed to be qualified and licensed to provide legal services, provides effective model fee arbitration and mediation rules to resolve disputes between clients and their lawyers, and promotes other client-protection programs.

Each year, the committee, in conjunction with the NCPO, holds a national forum in which lawyers, nonlawyers, judges, law professors, fund administrators, and board members come together from all over the country to discuss common problems and limitations inherent in administering client-protection funds. The 20th Annual National Forum for Client Protection will be held in May 2004.

Washington was one of the earliest states in the United States to champion client protection, and has had a client-protection program in place since 1960. In 1992, the WSBA and the Washington State Supreme Court instituted a mandatory client-protection assessment for all its active lawyers. "Washington has been a leader in the realm of client protection," said Welden, who has been involved in issues relating to client protection since 1985, and a member of the ABA Standing Committee on Client Protection since 2001, "and we have one of the best programs. It is a great privilege to be appointed to this position."

Welden was a staff attorney for the WSBA from 1981 to 1988, and in 1988 became the Bar's general counsel. Prior to coming to the WSBA, he was in private practice with Smith, Welden, Kaplan, Young and Withey, and staff attorney for Seattle Indian Center Legal Services and the Seattle-King County Public Defender's Office. Since 2002 he has been administrator of the Washington Practice of Law Board, and from 1998 to 2001 was vice president of the NCPO. He has been chair of the ABA Advisory Commission on Lawyers' Funds for Client Protection since 1999, and was a member of the ABA Access to Legal Services Committee and the ABA Task Force on the Model Definition of the Practice of Law. Welden earned his J.D. in 1970 from the University of Washington, and is licensed to practice law in Washington, the United States District Courts for the Western and Eastern Districts of Washington, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and the United States Supreme Court.

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. The WSBA is governed by an elected president, president-elect, and a 14-member Board of Governors— three from the seventh District (King County), one from each of the remaining eight congressional districts, and three at-large members (one representing the Young Lawyers Division). The board sets WSBA policy and speaks for the association. It meets every six weeks at various locations around the state, and its meetings are open to the public. For more information, visit www.wsba.org.

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