FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 6, 2006

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

Washington State Bar Foundation Awarded LexisNexis® Martindale-Hubbell® Legal Fellowship for WSBA Leadership Institute

Seattle, Washington, September 6, 2006 — The Washington State Bar Foundation has been awarded a $15,000 LexisNexis Legal Fellowship for use in helping to underwrite the costs of the WSBA Leadership Institute, an innovative leadership-training program specifically geared toward increasing leadership skills and opportunities among lawyers from diverse and underrepresented groups throughout the state. The LexisNexis Martindale-Hubbell Legal Fellowship promotes education, the practice of public-interest law, and diversity in the legal profession. The grant to the Washington State Bar Foundation is one of two such fellowships awarded this year.

R. Michael Gibeault, vice president, peer review ratings & strategic relations for LexisNexis Martindale-Hubbell, will present the check at the WSBA Annual Awards Dinner, to be held September 14 in Seattle. Accepting the check on behalf of the Washington State Bar Foundation will be Washington State Bar Association (WSBA) President S. Brooke Taylor and 2005-2006 WSBA Leadership Institute Advisory Board Chair James F. Williams.

"By selecting the WSBA Leadership Institute for this generous grant, Martindale-Hubbell is making a very conscious investment in the future of the legal profession and helping us to cultivate the next generation of leaders in our state," said Williams. "The goal of this program is to make sure that promising young lawyers of diverse backgrounds do not slip through the cracks in our profession. We are striving to fill the talent pipeline by reaching deeper into diverse communities throughout the state of Washington, and these funds from Martindale-Hubbell will help us accomplish that goal."

Although the WSBA Leadership Institute is still quite new (having just completed its second year of operation), this is the second time the Institute has received national recognition. In 2005, the WSBA Leadership Institute received an American Bar Association Partnership Program Award, which recognizes efforts by bar associations throughout the country to increase diversity in the legal profession.

Remarked WSBA President Taylor: "We are absolutely delighted that Martindale-Hubbell has awarded this grant to the Washington State Bar Foundation for the WSBA Leadership Institute. We are very proud of the success of the Institute, and the bar at large has already reaped many benefits from the Institute — a number of graduates have assumed leadership positions within the legal community. We are looking forward to expanding the program into other areas of the state, which the grant will allow us to do."

About the WSBA Leadership Institute
The mission of the WSBA Leadership Institute is to recruit and train Washington attorneys who have been admitted to practice for 10 years or less for leadership positions in the legal community and in the Washington State Bar Association. Significant features of the program include its core curriculum, which combines professional development leadership techniques; seminar modules and experiential-based learning not typically found in law-school classrooms; and the Leadership Institute Handbook. Program participants (fellows) are selected with an emphasis on diversity, although all applicants meeting the selection criteria are considered.

The WSBA Leadership Institute Advisory Board is composed of attorneys and judges with diverse backgrounds from throughout the state, and the Institute is supported by WSBA Diversity Advocate Joslyn K.N. Donlin. The next class will begin in January 2007; applications were due on September 1.

About the Washington State Bar Foundation
The Washington State Bar Foundation is a nonprofit organization whose focus is to improve the delivery of legal services to all segments of the public; foster improvement of relations among the Bar, the judiciary, and the public; advance programs related to new-lawyer development; support diversity efforts; and promote the administration of justice.

The Foundation has undertaken projects to help attorneys enter and stay in public-service work through its Loan Repayment Assistance Program (LRAP); established a Presidents' and Governors' Diversity Scholarship fund to benefit law school students; and administers grants and donations in support of WSBA programs and services. For more information about the Foundation, see http://www.wsba.org/lawyers/wsbf.htm.

About LexisNexis
LexisNexis (www.lexisnexis.com) is a leading provider of information and services solutions, including its flagship web-based Lexis® and Nexis® research services, to a wide range of professionals in the legal, risk management, corporate, government, law enforcement, accounting, and academic markets. A member of Reed Elsevier Group plc [NYSE: ENL; NYSE: RUK] (http://www.reedelsevier.com), LexisNexis serves customers in 100 countries with 13,000 employees worldwide.

LexisNexis Martindale-Hubbell (www.martindale.com) provides client development solutions for the legal profession, partnering with its law firm customers to meet their practice development goals. The Martindale-Hubbell database of more than one million lawyers and law firms, accessible at http://www.martindale.com and http://www.lawyers.com, is the number-one lawyer directory on the Internet as measured by Nielsen//NetRatings. The company provides lawyers, business executives, and consumers with detailed information to help them identify, evaluate, and select legal counsel.

About the Washington State Bar Association
The Washington State Bar Association 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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