FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 7, 2006
Contact Judith Berrett
Director of Member and Community Relations
206-727-8212; judithb@wsba.org
WSBA Board of Governors to Meet in Yakima, June 9
Seattle, Washington, June 7, 2006 — The Washington State Bar Association (WSBA) Board of Governors will hold its next meeting on June 9 at the Red Lion Yakima Hotel. The public meeting will be held from 9:30 to noon, and from 1:30 to 5 p.m. Governor Stanley A. Bastian, of Wenatchee, who represents WSBA members in the Fourth Congressional District, of which Yakima is a part, will welcome the Board to Yakima.
Each June, the Board of Governors elects a new president-elect. Stanley Bastian, of Wenatchee, is the only candidate, and the Board will hear a presentation by Mr. Bastian and vote to confirm him as president-elect. Mr. Bastian will take office as president-elect in September, and his term as WSBA president will begin in September 2007.
The Board will interview and select the new at-large governor who will represent the Washington Young Lawyers Division (WYLD). The new governor will serve a three-year term, beginning in September. Additionally, WYLD President Noah Davis will give the WYLD's annual report to the Board. The purpose of the WYLD is to encourage the interest and participation of young lawyers in WSBA activities, develop and conduct programs of value to young lawyers and the public, to improve the legal system, and to enhance the quality of the legal profession.
WSBA Court Rules and Procedures Committee Chair David Swartling and WSBA Assistant General Counsel Douglas Ende will seek the Board's guidance on citations to unpublished opinions; discuss whether either the Committee or a task force should undertake an analysis of the possible abolition of local rules; and discuss a proposed amendment to Superior Court Civil Rule 45, Subpoena.
Joining the Board at lunch will be members of the Access to Justice (ATJ) Board. The ATJ Board was established by the Washington State Supreme Court in 1994 at the request of the WSBA Board of Governors, in response to a growing need to coordinate the access-to-justice efforts throughout the state and ensure continuity and focus. Its mandate is to ensure access to the civil justice system for low- and moderate-income Washington residents. Chair of the ATJ Board is Christine E. Crowell. The annual ATJ Conference will be held in Yakima Friday through Sunday.
American Bar Association President Michael S. Greco, supported by the ATJ Board and many other prominent Washington members of the Access to Justice Alliance, will present American Bar Association resolutions on civil right to counsel, and Scott A. Smith will present a resolution on principles of a state system for delivery of civil legal aid. (Mr. Greco will also be the keynote speaker on Saturday at the Access to Justice/Bar Leaders conferences luncheon.)
WSBA Treasurer Mark A. Johnson will present the WSBA's 2006-2007 preliminary budget. WSBA President-elect Ellen Conedera Dial, who serves as chair of the Facilities Committee, will report to the Board (the WSBA is moving its office in December 2006). Also on the agenda is a report from WSBA Director of Continuing Legal Education Mark Sideman.
The Board will vote on whether to form a new Juvenile Law Section, which would provide a forum to discuss issues of concern and act as an agent of change to improve the law and practice related to civil and criminal matters involving children and youth in Washington. Governor Liza Burke will speak on behalf of forming the new section.
The Board will consider a request by the WSBA Amicus Brief Committee to file an amicus (friend of the court) brief in the case of Ehsani, et al. v McCullough Family Partnership, in support of the petition for review by the Washington State Supreme Court.
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 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, 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 2005-2006 president is S. Brooke Taylor, of Port Angeles, and the 2005-2006 president-elect 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; 25 sections; and a Young Lawyers Division, with its many committees.
