FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 6, 2006
Contact Judith Berrett
Director of Member and Community Relations
206-727-8212; judithb@wsba.org
De Novo, WSBA Young Lawyers Division Publication, Receives National Award
Seattle, Washington, September 6, 2006 — At the 2006 Annual Meeting of the American Bar Association (ABA), held in Honolulu August 2-8, 2006, it was announced that the Washington State Bar Association Young Lawyers Division (WYLD) newsletter, De Novo, was awarded a first-place Award of Achievement.
The annual Awards of Achievement Program provides state and local young lawyer organizations affiliated with the ABA Young Lawyers Division the opportunity to submit their best projects for evaluation and recognition by a jury of their peers.
Seattle attorney Jason T. Vail is editor of De Novo, which is published six times a year. De Novo is available online at www.wsba.org/media/publications/denovo.
About the WSBA Young Lawyers Division
The purpose of the Washington Young Lawyers Division (WYLD) is to encourage the interest and participation of young lawyers in WSBA activities, to 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. Active WSBA members are automatically members of the WYLD until the end of the year in which they reach the age of 36 or until the end of the fifth year in which they have been admitted to practice in any state, whichever is later.
About the WSBA
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, it 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; 26 sections; and a Young Lawyers Division, with its many committees.
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