FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 
July 26, 2007
  
Contact: Judith Berrett
Director of Member and Community Relations
206-727-8212; judithb@wsba.org

WSBA Board of Governors to Meet in Quincy July 27-28

Seattle, Washington, July 26, 2007 — The Washington State Bar Association (WSBA) Board of Governors will hold its next meeting on July 27 and 28 at the Cave B Inn in Quincy. Pasco attorney Edward Shea Jr., who represents members in the Fourth District, and WSBA President-elect Stanley Bastian, of Wenatchee, will welcome the Board to Grant County. The public meeting will be held on Friday from 9:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., with a break from noon to 1:30 p.m., and on Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to noon.

Treasurer Eron Berg, of Sedro-Woolley, along with Deputy Director of Finance and Administration Julie Mass, will present the first draft of the fiscal year 2008 budget (the WSBA's fiscal year runs October through September).

Members of the Adams, Grant, and Lincoln county bar associations will join the Board for lunch on Friday. President of the Adams County Bar Association is Steve Sackman, of Othello; the Grant County Bar Association is headed by Ephrata attorney Melissa Chlarson; and Lee McGuire Jr., who practices in Davenport, serves as president of the Lincoln County Bar Association. A highlight of the luncheon will be the presentation of the Local Hero Award by WSBA President Ellen Conedera Dial. As the Board travels around the state for its meetings, this award is presented to lawyers who have made noteworthy contributions to their communities.

After lunch, Tacoma attorney Lee Pence, chair of the Law Clerk Committee, will present some proposed changes to the Law Clerk Program. The changes would add Indian law to the list of approved courses for the Program, and address some administrative issues. Washington's Law Clerk Program, an alternative to law school, has been in effect in one form or another since territorial days. One of a handful of similar programs in the country, it reflects the traditional common-law method of reading law in a lawyer's office to seek admission to the Bar – law clerks are employed and tutored in the law by practicing Washington lawyers and judges – and provides legal education sufficient to qualify clerks to take and pass Washington's bar exam.

Court Rules and Procedures Committee Chair Roger Wynne, of Seattle, and Assistant General Counsel Douglas Ende will present the Committee's annual report. The Committee will seek the Board's action on four proposed changes to court rules, and if approved, the proposed changes will go to the Supreme Court with a request for adoption.

Director of Continuing Legal Education (CLE) Mark Sideman will report on the department's work. With more than 150 programs a year (through live seminars, video-replay seminars, programs developed in conjunction with WSBA sections, audio and video programs, telephone seminars, and live webcasting), WSBA-CLE is the largest provider of continuing legal education in the state.

On Saturday, 2007-08 President-elect Mark A. Johnson, of Seattle, who chairs the Trust Account Responsibilities and Retainers Task Force, and Douglas Ende will present the Task Force's report. The Task Force has been working for a year, and it is expected that the Board will take action at its September 20-21 meeting.

There will also be a continuation of a report begun in March, April, and June 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 Mental Illness and Sex Offender Civil Commitments, Non-legislative Fixes for Enforcement of Standards, and System Efficiencies and Legislative Changes subcommittees. Committee Co-chair Jon Ostlund, of Anacortes, will make the presentation. Additional information about the Committee can be found at
http://www.wsba.org/lawyers/groups/committeeonpublicdefense.htm.

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 30,900 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 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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