|
|
|
 |  |
 |
 |
WSBA Info | |
|
For Lawyers | |
|
For the Public |  |
 |
For the Media |  |
|
CLE |  |
| | Bench Bar Guidelines | News Releases | Publications | |
|
|
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Judith Berrett WSBA Board of Governors to Meet in Seattle September 20-21Seattle, Washington, September 17, 2007 — The Washington State Bar Association (WSBA) Board of Governors will hold its next meeting on September 20 and 21 at its headquarters in downtown Seattle. The public meeting will be held on Thursday from 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., with a break from 12:15 to 1:30 p.m. Friday's meeting will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30, with a break from noon to 1:30. This will be the last Board meeting for the current Board presided over by Seattle attorney Ellen Conedera Dial; at its conclusion, Dial will assume the role of immediate past president, and Wenatchee attorney Stanley Bastian will become the WSBA's 117th president. It will also be the last meeting at which Immediate Past President S. Brooke Taylor, of Port Angeles, and outgoing governors Marcine Anderson, of Seattle; James Baker, of Ephrata; Eron Berg, of Sedro-Wooley; and Lonnie Davis, of Seattle, are seated at the table. On the agenda for Thursday morning is a presentation of the final report of the Trust Account Responsibilities and Retainers Task Force, given by Task Force Chair and WSBA 2007-2008 President-elect Mark A. Johnson, of Seattle. The Task Force was formed by the Board of Governors in December 2005, after the Board withdrew Formal Ethics Opinion No. 186, which addressed the issue of whether and when fees paid to a lawyer in advance must be deposited into a trust account. The Task Force was asked to review the issue and make recommendations to the Board with respect to the handling of various types of advance fee arrangements. The Board will be asked to approve for submission to the Supreme Court adoption of amendments to RPC 1.5, Fees, and RPC 1.15A, Safeguarding Property. More information is available at http://www.wsba.org/lawyers/groups/trustaccounttaskforce/default.htm. Also on Thursday morning's agenda is a presentation by the Legal Foundation of Washington of their annual report. Dedicated to equal justice for low-income persons, the Legal Foundation of Washington was created at the direction of the Washington State Supreme Court to administer the Interest on Lawyers' Trust Accounts (IOLTA) program in Washington state. The Legal Foundation of Washington is governed by a nine-member Board of Trustees; the current board president is Seattle attorney Erika Lim. The Board of Trustees will be the Board of Governors' guests for lunch on Thursday. More information about the Legal Foundation of Washington can be found at http://www.legalfoundation.org. Following lunch will be the sixth and final installment of the report by the Committee on Public Defense. The Committee was established to implement the recommendations of the Blue Ribbon Panel on Criminal Defense (the Blue Ribbon Panel was appointed by the WSBA Board of Governors in spring 2003 as a first step in addressing concerns about the quality of indigent defense services in Washington). Since its formation in fall 2005, the Committee (whose work has been divided into the following subcommittees: Death Penalty, Education, Juvenile Defense/Representation, Mental Illness and Sex Offender Civil Commitments, Non-legislative Fixes for Enforcement of Standards, Standards, and System Efficiencies and Legislative Changes) has been working diligently on developing recommendations for improving public defense in Washington state. Specifically on the agenda are reports from the Standards and Education subcommittees. Committee Co-chairs Jon Ostlund, of Anacortes, and William Hyslop, of Spokane, will make the presentation, along with Standards Subcommittee Chair Joanne Moore, of Olympia. The Board will be asked to approve for submission to the Supreme Court amendments to RPC 1.8, Conflict of Interest. The Board will also be asked to approve the Committee on Public Defense Final Report as meeting its charter mandates. Additional information about the Committee is available at Thursday's final agenda item is the Washington Young Lawyers Division (WYLD) annual report, which will be presented by outgoing WYLD President John Brangwin, of Wenatchee. The 2007-2008 WYLD president, Mark O'Halloran, of Mercer Island, will be sworn in by WSBA President Ellen Conedera Dial immediately following the report. Additional information about the WYLD can be found at http://www.wsba.org/lawyers/groups/wyld. On Thursday evening, the WSBA Annual Awards Dinner and Annual Meeting will be held at the Grand Hyatt Seattle. Nine awards will be presented: Award of Merit, Kenneth Davidson, of Kirkland; Professionalism Award, Eugene Moen, of Seattle; Angelo Petruss Award for Lawyers in Public Service, Norm Maleng (posthumous); Outstanding Judge Award, the Honorable Gregory Tripp, of Spokane; Courageous Award, John McKay, of Seattle; Excellence in Diversity Awards, Ronald Ward, of Seattle, and David Savage, of Pullman; Lifetime Service Award, Dale Carlisle, of Tacoma; and Community Service Award, Robert Wilson-Hoss, of Shelton. The recipient of the 2006 Pro Bono Award, Shelley Ajax, of Richland, who received his award in June at the annual Access to Justice Conference, and the recipient of the President's Award, who will be named at the President's Dinner Wednesday evening, will also be recognized. On Friday, the Board will select the next editor of the WSBA's official publication, Washington State Bar News, from among three finalists selected by a subcommittee of the Editorial Advisory Board. The subcommittee was chaired by Anh Nguyen, of Seattle, with members Kelly Angell, of Seattle, Kellie Pendras, of Port Orchard, and Michelle Szambelan, of Spokane. The new editor is expected to begin his duties in October. The Board will finalize committee appointments for the 2007-2008 year, and will make several appointments to outside organizations. Treasurer Eron Berg, of Sedro-Woolley, will present the final 2008 budget for adoption (the WSBA's fiscal year runs October through September). After lunch on Friday, Governor Douglas Lawrence, of Seattle, who is chair of the Judicial Selection Task Force, will present the first reading of the Task Force's report. Limited Practice Board Chair Mark Schedler, of Seattle, and WSBA Director of Regulatory Services Jean McElroy will present suggested amendments to the administrative rules for the Limited Practice Officer (LPO) program, Admission to Practice Rule 12 (Limited Practice Rule for Closing Officers); suggested rules of professional conduct for LPOs; suggested new LPO discipline rules; and suggested IOLTA-related rules and regulations. The Board will be asked to approve the suggested rule and regulation amendments for submission to the Washington State Supreme Court. The WSBA Long-Range Planning Committee, under the leadership of Governor Salvador Mungia, of Tacoma, has developed recommendations for a revised mission statement, guiding principles, and strategic goals for the next three years. The Board will be asked to approve these items. The meeting will conclude with a report about the annual meeting of the American Bar Association (ABA) from Seattle attorney Paula Boggs, who is the Washington state delegate to the ABA. With more than 400,000 members, the ABA is the largest voluntary professional association in the world. Seattle attorney William Neukom currently serves as ABA president. The WSBA is represented by seven members of the House of Delegates: the Honorable Eileen Kato, of Seattle; Michael Pellicciotti, of Seattle; Deborah Perluss, of Seattle; S. Brooke Taylor, of Port Angeles; Ronald Ward, of Seattle; the Honorable Thomas Warren, of Wenatchee; and James F. Williams, of Seattle. About the Washington State Bar Association # # # |