FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE     

October 24, 2007         

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

WSBA Board of Governors to Meet in Winthrop October 26

(SEATTLE) — The Washington State Bar Association (WSBA) Board of Governors will hold its next meeting on October 26 at Sun Mountain Lodge in Winthrop. The public meeting will be held from 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., with a break from noon to 1:30 p.m. During the noon break, the Board will host a luncheon for Okanogan County Bar Association members. Ronald Hammett is the Okanogan County Bar President. The WSBA governor for the Fourth District, Edward Shea Jr., of Pasco, will welcome the Board to Winthrop.

The October meeting marks the first Board meeting for the new Board presided over by Wenatchee attorney Stanley Bastian, the WSBA's 117th president. New officers are Mark A. Johnson, of Seattle, president-elect; Ellen Conedera Dial, of Seattle, immediate past-president; and Douglas Lawrence, of Seattle, treasurer. New Board members are District 2 Governor G. Geoffrey Gibbs, of Everett; District 7-Central Governor Lori Haskell, of Seattle; District 9 Governor David Heller, of Burien; and At-large Governor Brenda Williams, of Seattle.

The Board will welcome the co-chairs of the Counsel on Public Legal Education (CPLE), Judge Marlin Appelwick, of the Washington Court of Appeals, and Judith Billings, former superintendent of public instruction, who will present an overview of the CPLE's past work and plans for the coming year. They will also discuss the CPLE's role in fulfilling the WSBA's public legal education goals. The CPLE is a WSBA advisory committee and it reports to the Board of Governors. The Council's mission is to promote public understanding of the law and civic rights and responsibilities. For more information about the CPLE, please go to:  www.wsba.org/ple. 

Treasurer Douglas Lawrence and WSBA Deputy Director for Finance and Administration Julie Mass will review and ask the Board to adopt proposed changes to WSBA Fiscal Policies and Procedures Manual. Following fiscal matters will be the Governors' and Liaisons' Forums, during which governors and others in attendance may bring non-agenda items to the attention of the Board.

The Board will consider a request to support the Federal Judicial Salary Restoration Act of 2007. This bill is currently before the Senate Judiciary Committee; numerous other bar associations, deans from 130 law schools, and other groups support the bill. For more information, please go to: www.uscourts.gov/judicialcompensation/support.html#edit.

Also on the agenda are a report from a Board subcommittee working on marriage and the law issues, and a discussion of plans for enhancing outreach to the public and WSBA members by Executive Director Paula Littlewood and Deputy Director for External Relations Gregg Hirakawa.

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 30,850 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 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 president is Stanley A. Bastian, of Wenatchee. The president-elect is Mark A. Johnson, of Seattle; and the immediate past-president 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.

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