FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE   
August 3, 2007      

Contact: Stephanie Perry
Communications Specialist/Website Editor
206-733-5932; stephaniep@wsba.org

Jerald Hamley Receives Washington State Bar Association Local Hero Award

Seattle, Washington, August 3, 2007 — The Washington State Bar Association (WSBA) announces that it has presented Ephrata attorney Jerald Randall Hamley with their Local Hero Award. The Local Hero Award is presented to lawyers who have made noteworthy contributions to their communities. The WSBA Board of Governors met at the Cave B Inn in Quincy on July 27-28, and hosted the Adams, Grant, and Lincoln County bar associations for luncheon on Friday, July 27, where the award was presented.

Hamley received a bachelor's degree from Illinois Wesleyan University and his law degree from Northern Illinois University. He began working for the Grant County Prosecutor's Office in 1980, and was the first deputy prosecuting attorney to work full-time in the child support office. In 1983, Hamley was assigned to criminal prosecution in both superior and district courts. He was elected secretary/treasurer of the Grant County Bar Association, and served as its president in 1985.

In 1985, Hamley was chosen one of the "Most Outstanding Young Men" in America by the Outstanding Americans Foundation. In 1995, he was selected to "Who's Who in American Law." He also became the full-time deputy in District Court in Ephrata. Later, he was appointed chief prosecutor by the County Commissioners, and was the only deputy in the history of the Grant County Prosecutor's Office to practice full-time in all its divisions, including juvenile and civil. Cases he prosecuted are reported in nine published opinions in Washington, including three from the Washington State Supreme Court.

In 2002, Hamley was awarded the WSBA Angelo Petruss Award for Lawyers in Public Service for his work for "leadership in strengthening families and protecting children." He co-founded the North Central Washington National Fatherhood Initiative (NCW NFI) in 1999, prepared symposiums in Ephrata in 2000 and Wenatchee in 2002 on father absenteeism, and developed parenting classes in 2001, which continue today. He remains the Chairman of NCW NFI.

Hamley is currently the president of the Ephrata Rotary, and has been a member for over 20 years. Last year, the United Nations recognized his club project of providing books for Guatemalan children. Over the past eight years, his club has spearheaded the effort to provide more than 144,000 books to low-income children of Guatemala. He has made numerous radio appearances to explain the procedures of the criminal justice system, has made public appearances from Seattle to Spokane to explain the National Fatherhood Initiative, and has given lectures on topics such as criminal law and civil rules of practice.

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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