FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 7, 2004

CONTACT
Judith Berrett
Director of Member and Community Relations
206-727-8212
judithb@wsba.org

WSBA Board of Governors to Meet in Yakima June 10-11

Seattle Washington, June 7, 2004 — The Washington State Bar Association (WSBA) Board of Governors will hold its next meeting June 10-11 at the Red Lion Hotel, Yakima Center. Governor Robert Boggs, who represents members in the 4th District, will welcome the board to Yakima. The public meeting will be held from 2:30 to 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, and 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Friday. It is open to the press and public.

A highlight of the Board of Governors meeting will be the election of the new WSBA president-elect. This individual will assume the presidency of the WSBA in September 2005.

An at-large governor will also be elected at the meeting. The three at-large seats on the Board of Governors (one specifically for a member of the Washington Young Lawyers Division) were created in 2001, to ensure representation from underrepresented members of the association, and with the goal of making the Board of Governors a more diverse body.

President of the Washington Young Lawyers Division (WYLD) J.D. Smith and other WYLD representatives will present their annual report. Public-service programs are an important part of the WYLD’s work. Programs include the Pre-Law Student Leadership Conference, designed to encourage at-risk youth and minority students to pursue higher education, consider careers in law, and take active leadership roles in their communities; the Aspiring Youth Project, which provides after-school activities for at-risk middle-school students; and the Youth and Law Forum, which provides middle-school students the opportunity to participate in workshops where they debate and analyze case studies with the guidance of volunteer attorneys and judges.

Chair of the Court Funding Task Force and former WSBA President Wayne Blair will report on task force’s initial recommendations. The Board for Judicial Administration (BJA) and the WSBA Board of Governors will both be asked to take action at their separate July meetings. The task force was created in 2002 in response to a resolution by the BJA to study the funding of Washington’s trial courts. Its mission is to develop and implement a plan to achieve stable, adequate, long term funding of Washington’s trial courts to provide equal justice throughout the state. Additional information can be found on the Washington Courts’ website at http://www.courts.wa.gov/programs_orgs/pos_bja/?fa=pos_bja.funding.

Seattle attorney Ellen Dial, chair of the Ethics 2003 Committee (a special committee formed to evaluate Washington’s Rules of Professional Conduct, the mandatory standards of ethical conduct for lawyers practicing in the state), and Douglas Ende, committee reporter, will continue, from the April and May board meetings, a report on the committee’s recommendations. The board expects to take action of Titles 3, 4, and 5 at this meeting, with action on other titles at the July meeting. (The committee’s report and recommendations can be found on the WSBA website at www.wsba.org/lawyers/groups/ethics2003/ report.htm.)

Also at the meeting, WSBA Treasurer and Governor from the 9th Congressional District Bryce Dille will present the preliminary budget for fiscal year 2005.

At a special luncheon on Friday, the Board of Governors will honor members of the Access to Justice (ATJ) Board for all of their work. Established by the Washington State Supreme Court in 1994, the ATJ Board’s mission is to promote and facilitate equal access to justice in Washington for low- and moderate-income people through high-quality legal services. The ATJ Board’s ninth-annual Access to Justice Conference will be held in Yakima through Sunday.

At a dinner on Thursday evening, WSBA President David Savage will present the WSBA’s Local Hero Award to Yakima County Superior Court Judge Michael E. Schwab, in recognition of, and appreciation for, his outstanding 35 years of service to the residents of Yakima County.

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 2003-2004 president is David W. Savage of Pullman. The board meets regularly (every six weeks) at various locations around the state, and its meetings are open to the public. Much of the work of the Bar is carried out through 23 standing committees; 23 sections; and a Young Lawyers Division, with its many committees.

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