FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 8, 2007
Contact: Stephanie Perry
Communications Specialist
206-733-5932; stephaniep@wsba.org
Washington State Bar Association Names Bernie Friedman Local Hero
Seattle, Washington, January 8, 2007 — The Washington State Bar Association (WSBA) announces that it will posthumously present former Olympia attorney Bernie Friedman with their Local Hero Award, presented to lawyers who have made noteworthy contributions to their communities. Friedman, who was nominated for this award by the Government Lawyers Bar Association, passed away in August 2006 of a heart attack at age 63. WSBA President Ellen Conedera Dial will present the award to his widow, Kathleen Downey. The WSBA Board of Governors will be meeting at the Tumwater Valley Lodge, and looks forward to hosting the Government Lawyers Bar Association and the Thurston County Bar Association for luncheon at the Heritage Room in Olympia on Friday, January 12, where the award will be presented.
Friedman was raised in New York City, earned a bachelor's degree in biochemistry from the University of California, Berkeley, and did graduate studies in organic chemistry and meteorology. He spent 12 years as an Air Force meteorologist, giving weather reports to astronauts at the Kennedy Space Center for Apollo 11, and rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel before retiring.
After earning a law degree from Duke University in 1982, Friedman and his family moved to Washington state, where he was elected to the Mukilteo City Council and joined a Seattle law firm. In 1995, Friedman became a law clerk for the Washington State Supreme Court, a position he held until becoming the risk manager for the Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) in 2000.
Friedman demanded that the Attorney General's Office, which represents DSHS, do a better job of quickly settling cases DSHS could not win and litigating more vigorously those it could win. By the time Friedman left, DSHS had spent less in lawsuit payouts in 2004 and 2005 combined than it had in 2000 alone, according to the state Office of Financial Management.
Friedman was active over the years with slow-growth advocates at The Carnegie Group and in other causes. He was involved in local politics, active in Candlelighters, Seattle Rotary, and Seattle Children's Theater, and had most recently been appointed chair of the State Bar Disciplinary Board. He also dedicated time to his law-school alumni association; he was to celebrate his 25-year reunion from law school.
"He lived by the motto 'when in doubt, do the right thing,'" said his daughter Alana Friedman.
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 30,600 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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