FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

September 17, 2007

Contact: Stephanie Perry
Communications Specialist/Website Editor
206-733-5932; stephaniep@wsba.org

Stanley A. Bastian to Be Sworn In as 2007-2008 WSBA President

Seattle, Washington, September 17, 2007 — The Washington State Bar Association is pleased to announce that Wenatchee attorney Stanley A. Bastian will be sworn in as the 117th president of the WSBA at the WSBA Annual Awards Dinner on September 20, 2007, at the Grand Hyatt Seattle.

Born in Beaverton, Oregon, Bastian earned his bachelor’s degree at the University of Oregon, and his law degree from the University of Washington School of Law. Bastian practices in Wenatchee, where he is a shareholder in the firm of Jeffers, Danielson, Sonn & Aylward P.S., which he joined in 1988. His practice focuses on civil litigation, labor and employment, police liability, and municipal law. Bastian is married to Chelan County District Court Judge Alicia Nakata; they have two teenage daughters, Audrey and Elenore.

Bastian was admitted to the Washington Bar soon after graduating from the University of Washington School of Law in 1983, and then to the Oregon Bar in 1988. From 1984 to 1985, he served as law clerk for Washington State Court of Appeals Judge Ward Williams, and from 1985 to 1988 as an assistant city attorney in the criminal division of the Seattle City Attorney’s Office.

Bastian’s community involvement includes serving as president of the United Way of Chelan and Douglas County from 1997 to 1998 and president of the Chelan-Douglas County Bar Association from 2004 to 2005. From 1992 to 2004, he was a board member of Legal Aid for Washington (LAW) Fund, a nonprofit organization committed to ensuring the promise of equal justice for residents of Washington state regardless of income level. He also conducts continuing-legal-education courses and has contributed articles to the Wenatchee Business Journal. He served on the WSBA Board of Governors representing members in the Fourth Congressional District from 2004-2006, and has served as WSBA president-elect for the past year.

“Serving as president of the WSBA will be the opportunity of a lifetime,” says Bastian. “The WSBA is one of the premier state bar associations in the country, blessed with strong leadership and professional management. I look forward to my term, and the opportunity to continue this tradition of excellence.”

As president, Bastian intends to focus on developing programs already in place. “My primary goal as president of the WSBA is to continue the process of long-range planning and strategic review,” he said. “The intent is to identify the issues most important to the Bar Association and then tailor bar programs and efforts to meet those goals. This will help create a more focused, efficient, and effective organization. Issues such as access to justice, diversity, the Justice in Jeopardy initiative, lawyer services, and professionalism/civility have always been, and will remain, important to the WSBA.”

“Stan and I have worked closely together over the course of the last year, and I know that he will serve the WSBA with vision, insight, a warm heart, and a deep commitment to the membership,” said outgoing President Ellen Conedera Dial of Bastian.

About the Washington State Bar Association
The WSBA is part of the judicial branch, exercising a governmental function authorized by the Washington State Supreme Court to license the state’s 30,700 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, the WSBA 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. The 2006-2007 president-elect is Stanley A. Bastian, of Wenatchee, and the immediate past-president is S. Brooke Taylor, of Port Angeles. 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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