FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE       
September 11, 2006      
        
Contact Judith Berrett
Director of Member and Community Relations
206-727-8212; judithb@wsba.org

Pierce County Superior Court Judge D. Gary Steiner Receives 2006 WSBA Outstanding Judge Award

Seattle, Washington, September 11, 2006 — The Washington State Bar Association (WSBA) announces that Pierce County Superior Court Judge D. Gary Steiner will be honored with the Outstanding Judge Award, presented for outstanding service to the bench and for special contribution to the legal profession at any level of the court. 2005-2006 WSBA President S. Brooke Taylor will present the award to Judge Steiner at the WSBA Annual Awards Dinner, to be held September 14, 2006, at the Madison Renaissance Hotel in Seattle.

Appointed to the Pierce County Superior Court bench in 1981, Judge Steiner has presided over some of the most complex and high-profile criminal trials in Pierce County history, and is known for conducting a firm and orderly court while maintaining a warm sense of humor.

In 1994, Judge Steiner was instrumental in forming the first drug court in Pierce County, which has been credited with helping to break the cycle of drug abuse and violence. A study of 65 drug-court graduates revealed that 63 percent remained crime-free five years later, almost three times as many as non-graduates, making the drug court a nationally recognized success.

“[The Pierce County drug court] was started…when the whole idea of problem-solving courts, like drug courts, was a new and largely unproven concept,” wrote Washington State Supreme Court Chief Justice Gerry L. Alexander in support of Judge Steiner’s nomination for the award. “Judge Steiner believed that such a court could help redeem the lives of persons caught up in the drug world, and his optimism and hard work has paid dividends to the individuals who come before this court as well as for the citizenry of Pierce County.”

No stranger to awards, Judge Steiner was honored with the 1996 Washington State Council on Crime and Delinquency Award for Outstanding Achievement by a Public Official; the 2003 Tacoma-Pierce County Bar Association Humanitarian Award; and the Washington State Trial Lawyers’ Association Brandeis Award.

In a letter nominating Judge Steiner for this award, Gerald A. Horne, a Pierce County prosecutor who has tried several cases before Judge Steiner, wrote: “This extraordinarily well-liked and well-respected judge…has served the bench, the legal community, and all our citizens with great distinction.”

A graduate of the University of Washington and Gonzaga University School of Law, Judge Steiner was in private practice in Puyallup and Eatonville for 17 years prior to serving on the bench, and spent two years as a captain in the Army in Viet Nam.

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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