FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE       
May 23, 2006

Contact: Dené Canter
Member and Community Relations Department
206-727-8213; denec@wsba.org

Seattle Attorney Leonard J. Feldman Receives 2006 WSBA Pro Bono Award

Seattle, Washington, May 23, 2006 — The Washington State Bar Association announced that Seattle attorney Leonard J. Feldman will receive the 2006 WSBA 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 the number of pro bono hours or amount of financial contribution. WSBA President Brooke Taylor will present Mr. Feldman with the Award at the 2006 Access to Justice Conference in Yakima, on June 10.

Feldman, a shareholder at Heller Ehrman, received his law degree from Harvard Law School in 1991. He clerked for Judge Jerome Farris in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals from 1991 to 1992. In 1992, Feldman joined Heller Ehrman, where his litigation practice includes an emphasis on appeals, commercial disputes, and pro bono service.

In 1995, Feldman became a district coordinator for the Ninth Circuit Pro Bono Program, a position he still holds. The program provides pro bono counsel to pro se parties with meritorious or complex appeals, provides a valuable learning experience to young attorneys and law students, and assists the court in processing pro se civil appeals more equitably and efficiently. As district coordinator, Feldman is responsible for enlisting attorneys to participate in the program, circulating memoranda to the pool of attorneys who have signed up for such service, and recruiting attorneys to take the referred appeals. Feldman has participated as pro bono counsel on 16 appeals himself, and currently has one pending before the Ninth Circuit.

In 1995, Feldman proposed that the University of Washington School of Law establish an externship program for law students to participate in federal appeals. The externship program was established, and operates under Feldman and UW professor Eric Schnapper's supervision.

"Over and above the exceptional legal training that they received, Leonard's work and example have impressed upon the students the importance of a lawyer's obligation to provide pro bono representation, and the considerable satisfaction that is to be found in meeting that obligation," Schnapper wrote in support of Feldman's nomination.

Feldman also plays a large role in the pro bono program within Heller Ehrman. In the last several years, five of Heller Ehrman's litigation associates took on pro bono appeals with Feldman. "Thus, rather than seizing the limelight for himself, based on his own appellate record, Leonard looked to the professional development and public-service commitment of our young lawyers, and thereby enhanced the pro bono culture at our law firm," wrote Steven Anderson, pro bono coordinator at Heller Ehrman in support of his nomination of Feldman.

In 1996, Feldman was awarded Heller Ehrman's Guggenheim Award for pro bono service, given to the Heller Ehrman lawyer, among all its offices nationwide, who best exemplifies the firm's commitment to the community through pro bono service.

"The WSBA Pro Bono Award is based on outstanding cumulative efforts, not just pro bono hours. Nevertheless, given the demands of his practice and duties as a shareholder, it is noteworthy that over the last 10 years, Leonard has averaged more than 210 hours of pro bono service each year," Anderson wrote.

Feldman is a member of the WSBA, Federal Bar Association, Appellate Practice Committee, and King County Bar Association. He is admitted to practice in Washington, in the Ninth and Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals, and in the U.S. Supreme Court.

"The 9th Circuit Pro Bono Program: Public Service and Personal Satisfaction." Leonard Feldman, Bar News, Dec. 2003.

About the WSBA

The WSBA is part of the judicial branch, exercising a governmental function authorized by the Washington State Supreme Court to license the state's 29,800 lawyers. The WSBA both regulates lawyers under the authority of the Court and serves its members as a professional association ¨D all without public funding.

As a regulatory agency, it administers the bar admission process, including the bar exam; provides record-keeping and licensing functions; and administers the lawyer-discipline system. 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 2005-2006 president is S. Brooke Taylor, of Port Angeles, and the 2005-2006 president-elect is Ellen Conedera Dial, of Seattle.

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; 26 sections; and a Young Lawyers Division, with its many committees.