FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE   

September 17, 2007

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

Eugene Moen Receives WSBA Professionalism Award

Seattle, Washington, September 17, 2007 — The Washington State Bar Association (WSBA) announces that Seattle attorney Eugene Moen will be honored with the 2007 Professionalism Award. The Professionalism Award is awarded to a member of the WSBA who exemplifies the spirit of professionalism in the practice of law. "Professionalism" is defined as the pursuit of a learned profession in the spirit of service to the public and in the sharing of values with other members of the 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.

Moen is a graduate of the University of Oregon and a 1968 graduate of Yale Law School. He has been listed in the book "Best Lawyers in America" and in "Best Lawyers in Seattle" published by Seattle Magazine. Moen also was recognized by his peers as a "Top 100 Super Lawyer" and a "Top 40 Plaintiffs Personal Injury Super Lawyer" in surveys conducted and published by Washington Law and Politics magazine during the past several years.

A member of the Board of Governors of the Washington State Trial Lawyers Association from 1987-1993, Moen also served as vice president, chair of the Medical Negligence Section, and editor-in-chief of the monthly newspaper Trial News. He has been a speaker at many legal seminars on a variety of aspects of law, including family law, adoption law, discrimination law, trial practice, personal injury law, and medical negligence law. He has served as chair of the WSBA Civil Rights Committee and the Pro Bono and Legal Aid Committee. He also served on the Board of Directors of Evergreen Legal Services for a number of years.  In addition, Moen has actively participated in legislative and lobbying activities in Olympia on behalf of the Washington State Trial Lawyers Association. 

"Gene Moen not only mentors other lawyers with no expectation of any return to himself, but he epitomizes all of the ethical and professional ideals expected of all of us, and achieved by few," wrote Indira Rai-Choudhury in her nomination letter. "He follows not just the letter of our professional and ethical obligations, but the spirit as well, and he does so at all times and without exception."

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.

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