Seattle University School of Law Associate Professor David Boerner Receives Washington State Bar Association's Award of Merit, Its Highest Honor

Seattle Washington, September 22, 2004 — The Washington State Bar Association (WSBA) announces that Seattle University School of Law Associate Professor David Boerner received the 2004 Award of Merit, the WSBA's highest honor. The Award of Merit is given for long-term service to the bar and/or the public, and both lawyers and nonlawyers are eligible.

Professor Boerner, who received both a B.S. and an LL.B. from the University of Illinois, joined the WSBA in 1963. He is also licensed to practice before the U.S. District Court, Western District of Washington; the U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit; and the U.S. Supreme Court; and he is a member of the American Bar Association (ABA), the King County Bar Association (KCBA), and the Law and Society Association.

Since 1987, Professor Boerner has been an Associate Professor of Law at Seattle University School of Law. From 1981 to 1987, he was associate dean and an associate professor of law at the University of Puget Sound School of Law. For 10 years prior to embarking on a teaching career, he was chief criminal deputy prosecuting attorney for King County. From 1967 to 1970 he was assistant attorney general for the state of Washington, and from 1965 to 1967 assistant U.S. attorney for the Western District of Washington. Since being admitted to the Bar 41 years ago, he has spent only two years in private practice — his first two years in the profession were spent as an associate with Johnson, Jonson and Inslee in Seattle.

"Professor David Boerner has contributed so much over the years to the bench and bar of this state that one hardly knows where to begin," wrote Washington State Supreme Court Chief Justice Gerry A. Alexander, who nominated Professor Boerner for the award. But he cited two of Professor Boerner's recent activities "that have been of invaluable assistance to the judiciary as well as to the bar and the general public." Professor Boerner was chair of the Washington State Supreme Court's Time for Trial Task Force, a broad-based task force charged with evaluating the "speedy criminal trial rules," Criminal Rule (CrR) 3.3 and Criminal Rule for Courts of Limited Jurisdiction (CrRLJ) 3.3, and preparing changes to those rules as the task force deemed necessary. "I think that only a person of Professor Boerner's skill and ability could have brought all the interested parties together and produced such a well-accepted proposal in such a short period of time," wrote Chief Justice Alexander. "This was a great public service." Additionally, Professor Boerner is former chair of the Board for Court Education, a board on which he has served for over 20 years, which is charged with "improving the quality of justice by fostering excellence in the courts through effective education."

Professor Boerner has also served as a member of numerous other committees, including the WSBA Special Committee for the Evaluation of the Rules of Professional Conduct (Ethics 2003 Committee), the Washington State Legislature Joint Select Committee on the Drug Sentencing Grid, the WSBA Committee to Define the Practice of Law, the WSBA Future of the Legal Profession Study Group, the King County Inquest Procedures Review Committee (2000-2001 chair), the WSBA Character and Fitness Committee (2000-2001 chair), and the Governor's Action Group on Domestic Violence.

He was selected by the King County Bar Association as Outstanding Lawyer of 2001, and in 1991 he received the Outstanding Achievement Award by a Scholar from the Washington Council on Crime and Delinquency.

Over the years, Professor Boerner has delivered scores of professional presentations on the topics of legal and judicial ethics, and criminal law, for the ABA, Seattle University School of Law, the WSBA, the Washington Defense Trial Lawyers Association, the KCBA, the Federal Bar Association, the Washington Association of Health Care Lawyers, the University of Washington School of Law, the Washington Criminal Justice Institute, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, the Washington Association of Prosecuting Attorneys, the Federal Bar Association of Western Washington, the Kitsap County Bar Association, and numerous other organizations.

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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