Washington State Bar Association's Five New Governors Sworn in at Bar Association Annual Meeting

Seattle Washington, September 22, 2004 — The Washington State Bar Association (WSBA) announces that five new governors — Marcine Anderson (At-large), James E. Baker (District 9), Stanley A. Bastian (District 4), Eron M. Berg (District 2), and Lonnie G. Davis (District 7-Central) — were sworn in at its Annual Business Meeting held in conjunction with its Annual Awards Dinner September 16 at the Seattle Marriott Waterfront Hotel. Washington State Supreme Court Justice Mary Fairhurst swore in the five new governors.

James E. Baker, who grew up in Ephrata, received his J.D. in 1979 from Gonzaga University School of Law, where he graduated cum laude. Upon graduation, he served as the first law clerk for U.S. Magistrate Judge Smithmoore P. Myers of the U.S. District Court in Spokane. From 1980 to 1985, he was a lawyer at the law firm of Lyon, Beaulaurier, Weigand, Suko & Gustafson in Yakima. While living in Yakima, he began a monthly CLE program for members of the Yakima County Bar Association, served on the Washington Young Lawyers Division (WYLD) Board of Trustees, and edited the WYLD newsletter.

In 1985, Mr. Baker opened a law practice in Port Townsend, and one year later was hired by the Seattle law firm of Miracle & Pruzan, where he continues to practice (the firm is now known as Miracle, Pruzan, Pruzan & Baker), focusing primarily on representing injured patients in medical-negligence actions. A member of the Washington State Trial Lawyers Association (WSTLA) since 1982, he is a former editor of WSTLA's Trial News and served on WSTLA's Board of Governors. In 1987, he received WSTLA's Certificate of Appreciation.

Mr. Baker contributes a substantial amount of his time to pro bono work, including the representation of disabled veterans before the Board of Veterans Appeals. He currently serves on the Access to Justice Board's Impediments to Access to Justice Committee, and has served on numerous other federal, state, and county bar committees. He is also a member of the American Civil Liberties Union, Amnesty International, the Association of Trial Lawyers of America, the American Bar Association, Trial Lawyers for Public Justice, and the Democratic National Committee.

Marcine Anderson received a B.A. and Certificate in Ethnic Studies from the University of Oregon in 1977, and in 1984 a J.D. from Suffolk University Law School in Boston, where she made the Dean's List.

Since 1997, Ms. Anderson has been a judge pro tempore, first for the Municipal Court of Seattle and then for the King County District Court. For the past nine years, she has been a King County senior deputy prosecuting attorney, drafting ordinances, litigating, and providing legal advice and assistance to King County departments on technology issues. Prior to 1995, she was in private practice with law firms in Seattle. Before moving from New England to Seattle, Ms. Anderson served as assistant general counsel and special assistant for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority in Boston, clerked for Hon. Joyce London Alexander in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, and was a staff attorney for Southeastern Massachusetts Legal Assistance Corporation.

Ms. Anderson has been a frequent Continuing Legal Education seminar presenter on issues surrounding technology and the law both in the Northwest and in New England, and taught legal writing at New England School of Law and Katherine Gibbs School in Boston.
She is a former member of the King County Bar Association and the Asian Bar Association of Washington.

Over the years, Ms. Anderson has volunteered her expertise and services in numerous community organizations, including Angeline's Legal Clinic, the Japanese American Citizens League, The Odessa Brown Children's Clinic, the International District Legal Clinic, and the Northwest Women's Law Center in Seattle.

Stanley A. Bastian is a former public defender for the City of Renton and prosecutor for the City of Seattle, is a shareholder in the Wenatchee and Moses Lake firm of Jeffers, Danielson, Sonn & Aylward, P.S., which he joined in 1988. His practice focuses on civil litigation, employment law, labor negotiations, and insurance defense.

In 1980 he earned a B.S. from the University of Oregon, and in 1983 a J.D. from the University of Washington, where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa. He was admitted to both the Washington and the Oregon bars in 1983, and the current president of the Chelan-Douglas County Bar Association. He is also a member of the American Bar Association.

From 1984 to 1985, Mr. Bastian served as the law clerk for Washington State Court of Appeals Judge Ward Williams. He also served as the Assistant City Attorney for the Seattle City Attorney's Office, Criminal Division, from 1985 to 1988.

Mr. Bastian is a former member of the Chelan-Douglas Counties United Way Board of Directors, and served as the board's president from 1998 to 1999. Since 1992, he has been a member of the Board of Directors of Legal Aid for Washington (LAW) Fund, a nonprofit organization committed to ensuring the promise of equal justice for all in Washington state regardless of financial standing or position.

Eron M. Berg received his law degree from the University of Washington School of Law. In 2000 he opened the Law Office of Eron M. Berg, PLLC, in Mount Vernon, where he continues to practice, with an emphasis on civil law.

A member of the WSBA since 1999, he is also a member of the Skagit County Bar Association, and is admitted to practice in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, all Washington superior and district courts, and the Washington State Court of Appeals.

Mr. Berg has an impressive record of community service. He has served as La Conner's planning commissioner and a member of the La Conner Town Council, and in 1999 he was elected to a four-year term as mayor of La Conner. From 2001 to 2003 he served as chairman of both the Skagit Council of Governments and the Skagit Regional Transportation Policy Organization, and for several years was a board member of the Skagit Emergency Management Council, the Skagit County Law and Justice Council, and the Skagit County Economic Development Public Facilities Program.

Currently he is vice president and president-elect of Youthnet, a nonprofit corporation that serves Skagit, Island, Whatcom, and Snohomish counties by providing youth and family services, including an alternative high school, foster placements, a teen shelter, and other social-service programs.

Lonnie G. Davis graduated from the University of California at Davis in 1970 and received his J.D. from Gonzaga University School of Law in 1973. He worked with the Legal Services office in Everett as a Volunteers In Service To America (VISTA) volunteer, staff attorney, and directing attorney before joining the faculty at the University of Puget Sound School of Law's Disabilities Law Project (DLP), which is now a part of the Washington Coalition of Citizens with disAbilities (www.wccd.org). In addition to his work at DLP, Mr. Davis will be teaching a course on disabilities law at Seattle University School of Law in the fall.

Mr. Davis is a technical advisor to the Washington State Supreme Court's Minority and Justice Commission, and an associate member of the Governor's Committee on Disability Issues and Employment. He also serves on several WSBA committees, including Civil Rights, Access to Justice (ATJ) Technology Bill of Rights, ATJ Conference Planning, and ATJ Impediments to Access to Justice. He is a past chair of the Civil Rights Committee, and has served on the Washington Young Lawyers Division Board of Trustees, as well as on the WSBA Corrections and Diversity Committees.

He has served on the Boards of Directors of the Seattle Community Services Center for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, United Cerebral Palsy of King County, and VSAW (an organization of artists with disabilities); and he is a former consultant to the Washington Coalition of Sexual Assault Programs. He has also served as a member and chair of the Seattle Human Rights Commission.

About the WSBA
The Washington State Bar Association is a private, nonprofit organization authorized by the Washington State Supreme Court to license the state's 28,400 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 Ronald R. Ward of Seattle. 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, 23 sections, and a Young Lawyers Division.

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