FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

January 17, 2008

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

Scott Neilson Receives Washington State Bar Association Local Hero Award

(SEATTLE) — The Washington State Bar Association (WSBA) announces that it has presented retired Court Commissioner Scott Neilson with the Local Hero Award for his years of community service and dedication to the people of Thurston County and beyond. The Local Hero Award is presented to lawyers who have made noteworthy contributions to their communities. The WSBA Board of Governors met at the Tumwater Valley Lodge in Tumwater on January 17, where the award was presented by WSBA President Stanley Bastian at a luncheon attended by members of the WSBA Board of Governors, Thurston County Bar Association, and Government Lawyers Bar Association.

Neilson received a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Washington, and received his law degree from Gonzaga University School of Law. He was a co-founder of the Gonzaga Law School Clinic, later named "Most Outstanding Law School Clinic" in the United States by the American Bar Association.

From 1973 to 1984, Neilson served as Assistant Attorney General, performing defense jury trial work for the Tort Claims Division of the Attorney General’s Office. He defended state agencies on tort claims, including wrongful deaths, serious brain injury cases, assaults, discrimination, highway design, medical malpractice, and others. From 1984 to 1993, Neilson worked in private practice as a tort claims plaintiff trial attorney, where his trial practice emphasized discrimination cases, wrongful death, and class actions seeking permanency for children with special needs. He also represented businesses and homeowners in condemnation and inverse condemnation claims. In addition, Neilson served as the sole guardian ad litem for children in foster care in Thurston County.

In 1993, Neilson was appointed Superior Court Commissioner by the Board of Judges of Thurston County. Since then, he has presided over hundreds of criminal and civil juvenile cases, including dependency (child abuse and neglect), termination of parental rights, youth at risk, children in need of services, and truancy actions. Prior to being appointed court commissioner, Neilson served as a pro tem judge of Thurston County for two years.

In addition to his work, Neilson has been an active volunteer in his community. In 1980, he was a founding board member of the World Association for Children and Parents, a nonprofit child welfare agency working in four states and 10 nations, which has now placed more than 8,000 children into adoptive homes and provided child welfare services to more than 200,000 children. For the Habitat for Humanity International Global Village Project, he recruited and led teams to build homes for low-income families in Nicaragua and Botswana in 1999 and 2001.

Since leaving the Thurston County bench, Neilson has been the legal and program advisor to the Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Foundation, a Swiss foundation, working four months a year in rural villages of China to improve the lives of children affected by HIV/ AIDS. This demonstration project works in collaboration with UNICEF and Harvard University. Last year, Neilson provided training on the rights of children to government officials, medical providers, and social workers in China, Thailand, and Switzerland. This year, the training will also be provided in Rwanda and India.

Neilson’s nomination is based on his years of service to the children and families of Thurston County. He was instrumental in the formation of Family Treatment Court for dependency families, a program designed to achieve the successful recovery of addicted parents and the reunification of their families.

"Commissioner Neilson spent his career making a positive difference for juvenile offenders and their families; foster children and their foster families; and families traumatized by dependency actions," said Corinn Wohl, executive director of the Thurston County Bar Association. "He wanted no special attention or recognition. He is very deserving of this award."

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 31,850 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 2007-2008 president is Stanley A. Bastian, of Wenatchee. The 2007-2008 president-elect is Mark A. Johnson, of Seattle, and the immediate past-president 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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