Seattle Attorney Matthew R. Kenney to Receive Washington State Bar Association 2004 Pro Bono Award

Seattle Washington, June 1, 2004 — The Washington State Bar Association (WSBA) announced today that Matthew R. Kenney has been chosen to receive its 2004 Pro Bono Award. The Pro Bono Award is presented annually to a lawyer, nonlawyer, law firm, or local bar association for outstanding efforts in providing free or low-cost services to the poor, and is based on cumulative efforts rather than number of pro bono hours or amount of financial contribution. WSBA President David W. Savage will present the award to Mr. Kenney June 12 at the Access to Justice Conference in Yakima.

Mr. Kenney received his J.D. in 1964 from Georgetown University School of Law and, after practicing for five years in Washington, D.C., joined the WSBA in 1970. For the next 17 years he practiced with the Seattle law firm of Lane, Powell, Moss & Miller, focusing his practice on antitrust and commercial litigation. In 1975, Mr. Kenney, along with fellow Lane Powell attorney Jim Stoetzer, began a formal pro bono program at Lane Powell, working at that time with Evergreen Legal Services, the predecessor to Columbia Legal Services. Mr. Kenney was the program's coordinator until 1987, when he left Seattle to join the Peace Corps. During Mr. Kenney's tenure as coordinator, Lane Powell received a number of awards for its pro bono contributions.

From the fall of 1987 until January 1990, Mr. Kenney served in the Peace Corps in Niger, West Africa, living in a village of 500 subsistence millet farmers who spoke only Hausa, which Mr. Kenney learned and spoke with them. "I was the only Peace Corps volunteer in a radius of 25 kilometers [15.5 miles]," he said. While living in the village, Mr. Kenney assisted the residents in starting vegetable gardens, planting trees, and fixing wells in their village and in neighboring villages. He was also the soccer coach, and retired "undefeated." "We played two games against the neighboring village of Malle," he explained, "and the scores home and away were 0-0 and 0-0."

In 1990, Mr. Kenney returned to Seattle and joined Danielson Harrigan Leyh & Tollefson LLP, where he volunteered his services to Evergreen Legal Services. When the Northwest Justice Project created its statewide CLEAR (Coordinated Legal Education Advice and Referral) program in 1998, Mr. Kenney began volunteering at the NJP office two mornings a week—interviewing clients over the telephone, recording the information in a computer program, and assisting clients in attempting to resolve their legal problems. At the same time, he volunteered at neighborhood legal clinics in West Seattle, which he still does today.

Not long before he died, the late Judge William L. Dwyer wrote a moving letter to the WSBA that was read at the 2002 Goldmark Award Luncheon. In that letter, Judge Dwyer singled out Mr. Kenney for his pro bono contributions over the years, calling him "a pro bono hero."

U.S. Attorney John McKay, who nominated Mr. Kenney for the award, wrote the following: "No association has done more than my own Washington State Bar Association, and in my view no single lawyer has made a greater contribution to equal justice than Matt Kenney."

"Matt's pro bono hours over the course of his legal career, which no doubt number in the thousands, would be laudable enough," wrote Joan Kleinberg, director of CLEAR, who also nominated Mr. Kenney for the award. "But the additional hours that he spends spreading the message of the importance of service in the practice of law is what makes Matt a uniquely qualified candidate for this award. . . . Not only does he 'walk his talk,' but he's walked it over countless miles for decades."

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 28,200 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, 23 sections, and a Young Lawyers Division.

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