FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

September 17, 2007

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

John McKay Receives WSBA Courageous Award

Seattle, Washington, September 17, 2007 — The Washington State Bar Association (WSBA) announces that former U.S. Attorney John McKay will be honored with the 2007 Courageous Award. This award is presented to a lawyer who has displayed exceptional courage in the face of adversity, thus bringing credit to the legal profession. WSBA President Ellen Conedera Dial will present the award at the WSBA Annual Awards Dinner, to be held on September 20, 2007, at the Grand Hyatt Seattle Hotel.

This is McKay's third WSBA award – in 1995, he received the Pro Bono Award, and in 2001 he received the Association's Award of Merit, its highest honor.

A Seattle native, McKay attended the University of Washington, where he received his bachelor's degree in political science in 1978. After working as an aide to Congressman Joel Pritchard in 1978-79, McKay earned his law degree at Creighton University in 1982. He joined the Seattle law firm of Lane Powell Spears Lubersky in 1982, eventually becoming a litigation partner with that firm. During this time, he was admitted to practice before the U.S. District Court, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and the United States Supreme Court. From 1989-1990, McKay served as a White House Fellow, where he worked as a Special Assistant to the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Washington, D.C. McKay then returned to Seattle and joined the law firm of Cairncross & Hempelmann, later becoming the firm's managing partner.

Between 1997 and 2001, McKay served as president of the Legal Services Corporation (LSC) in Washington, D.C. Congress established the LSC in 1974 as a private, nonprofit corporation to ensure equal access to justice under the law for all low-income Americans. McKay's tenure at LSC was characterized by a bipartisan approach to working with Congress, driven by a deeply held commitment to the principle of equal justice. McKay was nominated by President George Bush to serve as U.S. attorney for the Western District of Washington in September 2001, and he was confirmed by the Senate in October 2001. McKay served in this position with distinction until December 2006. He is currently a visiting professor of law at Seattle University School of Law and is the senior vice president and general counsel for Getty Images.

During his legal career, McKay has taken on leadership responsibilities with the American Bar Association (ABA) and the WSBA. He has been a member of both the ABA Board of Governors and House of Delegates, and has served on the WSBA's task forces on Opportunities for Minorities in the Legal Profession and on Governance. From 1988 to 1989, he was president of the WSBA Young Lawyers Division. From 1995 to 1996, McKay served as the chair of the Equal Justice Coalition.

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 30,700 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.

# # #