FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 11, 2006
Contact Dené Canter
Member and Community Relations Department
206-727-8213; denec@wsba.org
Seattle Attorney Marc A. Boman Receives 2006 WSBA Award of Merit,
Its Highest Honor
Seattle, Washington, September 11, 2006 — The Washington State Bar Association announces that Seattle Attorney Marc A. Boman will receive the 2006 WSBA Award of Merit. First given in 1957, the Award of Merit is the WSBA's highest honor. It is given for long-term service to the Bar and/or the public. 2005-2006 WSBA President Brooke Taylor will present the award to Boman at the WSBA Annual Awards Dinner, to be held on September 14, 2006, at the Madison Renaissance Hotel in Seattle.
Boman receives the Award of Merit in recognition for his dedicated service to improving public defense in the state of Washington and his career-long commitment to professionalism. Serving as co-chair of the WSBA Blue Ribbon Panel on Criminal Defense (2003-2004), Boman worked tirelessly to achieve systemic, lasting improvements in public defense services statewide. The Panel's report was instrumental in the 2005 Washington State Legislature passing HB 1542, the first requirement for state funding for trial-level public defense in the history of Washington state, and, in 2006, the Legislature funded that mandate. Boman participated in drafting HB 1542 and was active in informing the state Legislature of the need for public-defense funding.
Boman's legal career has been dedicated to the ethical and just advancement of the community and the legal profession. He has served on many committees, commissions, and panels, including Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission, 1995-1998; President, King County Bar Foundation, 1998-1999; Perkins Coie Community Service Foundation, 1987 to 1998; King County Bar Association Task Force on Minority Lawyers in the Profession, 2000; WSBA Committee on Public Defense since 2004; and he currently serves on the Committee on Public Defense Executive Committee as chair of the Educational Subcommittee. As chair of the Educational Subcommittee, he has been instrumental in two significant and tangible contributions informing the Bar and the public about the right to counsel. The first is the informative brochure "The Right to Effective Counsel in Washington: A Reference Guide for the Bench and Bar"; and the second is an effective "Right to Counsel" Power point presentation, which is used for presentations on the right to counsel before county commissioners, judges, schools, and other groups.
"He has already inspired a great bench guide on appointment of counsel and is launching other projects as well. His commitment is genuine, productive, and inspiring," wrote Washington State Supreme Court Justice Susan Owens.
Boman received his Juris Doctorate from Case Western Reserve University in 1974. He worked from 1974 to 1978 with the U.S. General Accounting Office, Office of General Counsel as an attorney-advisor. In 1978, he went to work for the Office of the King County Prosecuting Attorney as deputy prosecuting attorney; and in 1981, joined Perkins Coie LLP, where he has a successful litigation practice.
"Marc's distinguished work as a litigator at Perkins Coie, his decades of public service, and his pivotal role in investigating public defense in Washington state and in effectively advocating for public defense improvement are a model of consistent dedication to best traditions of the legal profession," wrote Joanne Moore, director of Washington State Office of Public Defense in her nomination of Boman.
"If we want high ethical standards in our city, we have to follow them ourselves."
Boman, King County Bar Bulletin October 1995
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 — 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 2006-2007 president is Ellen Conedera Dial, of Seattle, and the 2006-2007 president-elect is Stanley A. Bastian, of Wenatchee.
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.
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