FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE   
September 27, 2006 

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

Seattle Attorney Ellen Conedera Dial Sworn In as WSBA President

Seattle, Washington, September 27, 2006 — Seattle Attorney Ellen Conedera Dial has been sworn in as the 116th president of the Washington State Bar Association (WSBA). The ceremony was presided over by Washington State Supreme Court Justice and past WSBA President the Honorable Mary E. Fairhurst. Dial is only the third woman to serve as WSBA president.

During her year as president, Dial will highlight the work being done by volunteer lawyers in the WSBA's committees, sections, and numerous task forces, boards, and other programs, and the ways in which these efforts are strengthening the legal profession and communities throughout the state. She will also focus on educating lawyers about recent changes to Washington's Rules of Professional Conduct, and on working to ensure a smooth move to the WSBA's new headquarters in December. She plans to establish a pilot grant to support a "pipeline" program reaching out to at-risk youth, to inspire them to further their education and aspire to professional success.

Dial will emphasize the Bar's ongoing efforts to support our courts and the judiciary through the Foundations of Freedom program started by Immediate Past-President Brooke Taylor, and to increase funding for, and delivery of, legal services to individuals who have been chronically underserved. She will expand efforts to increase the diversity of the legal profession as a whole and within WSBA leadership.

Dial, a partner at Perkins Coie, graduated magna cum laude with a degree in English from Cornell University. She obtained her law degree from Cornell Law School, graduating magna cum laude, and was admitted to the Order of the Coif (a national legal society that recognizes outstanding academic achievement). Dial served as law clerk to Washington State Supreme Court Justice Charles Horowitz from 1977 to 1979. She was admitted to practice in the state of Washington in 1979.

Since 1981, Dial has participated in a broad variety of WSBA activities and has assumed a number of leadership roles. She has chaired several WSBA committees, including the Ethics 2003 Committee, the Legislative Committee, the Character and Fitness Committee, and the Committee on the Code of Professional Responsibility. She also served as executive editor for the Real Property Deskbook, 2nd edition; first member emeritus of the Real Property, Probate and Trust Section Executive Committee; and since 2001, has actively served on the Facilities Committee. In addition to her leadership and service in WSBA committees, she frequently speaks at Continuing Legal Education courses on ethics as well as real estate matters.
 
Dial is known for her leadership and community service outside of the WSBA as well. She co-chaired the 2004 and the 2005 King County Bar Association Awards Committee and is a fellow of the American Bar Foundation. She has also served as a board member and as president of the Saul and Dayee Haas Foundation, a private charitable foundation that makes individual grants to school children throughout the state of Washington. She served on the board of Leadership Tomorrow, a leadership training program that brings together members of the for-profit, nonprofit, and non-governmental agency sectors, and served as its chair. She currently serves on the Board of the Advisory Committee to the University of Washington World Series at Meany and the YWCA.
 
Through her service to her profession and to the community, Dial has been recognized by her peers. In 2004 she received the Washington State Bar Association's highest honor, the Award of Merit. She has been listed in Washington Law & Politics Washington Super Lawyers, Chambers USA America's Leading Business Lawyers, and in Best Lawyers in America.

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 2006-2007 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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