FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 10, 2006        

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

New WSBA Governors Sworn In

Seattle, Washington, October 10, 2006 — The Washington State Bar Association (WSBA) announces that five new governors — Russell Aoki, 1st District; Anthony Butler, 7th-West District; Peter Karademos, 5th District; Edward Shea, Jr., 4th District; and Jason T. Vail, At-large — were sworn in at its Board of Governors meeting, held in conjunction with its Annual Business Meeting and Awards Dinner, on September 15. The WSBA is governed by a 14-member board, each of whom serves three years on staggered term.  The governors were sworn in by King County Superior Court Judge Jay White.

Russell M. Aoki, 1st District
Mr. Aoki is currently the Washington State Supreme Court's appointee to the State Office of Public Defense Advisory Committee. His current practice at Aoki Sakamoto Grant LLP involves civil litigation and criminal defense. He has previously served as Asian Bar Association of Washington president, King County Bar Association trustee, board president of Northwest Defenders Association, U.S. District Court Technology Working Group member, and Federal Magistrate Judge Merit Selection Panel member. Mr. Aoki formerly served as the Criminal Justice Act Panel representative for this district's federal court-appointed criminal defense lawyers.

Anthony L. Butler, 7th-West District
Mr. Butler received his law degree from the University of Washington in 1983, and has served on the Washington State Bar Association Legal Aid Committee, Committee for Diversity, Civil Rights Committee, and Court Rules and Procedures Committee. He is a former WSBA disciplinary counsel, and a past-president of the Loren Miller Bar Association.  Mr. Butler is currently an adjunct professor of law at the Seattle University School of Law, and also practices in the areas of personal injury litigation and legal ethics. Mr. Butler has lived and worked in Seattle for many years; however, he is a native of Tulsa, Oklahoma, where he attended Booker T. Washington High School (Class of 1963).

Peter J. Karademos, 5th District
Mr. Karademos received his law degree in 1974 from Gonzaga University and is currently the chair of the WSBA Legislative Committee and Family Law Section. He has been the Committee Pro Tem for the Spokane County Superior Court since 1990. He is also the liaison to the Board of Governors for the Family Law Section. In 2006, Mr. Karademos was named a "Super Lawyer" by Law & Politics magazine.

Edward F. Shea, Jr., 4th District
Mr. Shea is a graduate of Gonzaga University and has been practicing law in the Tri-Cities for the past 13 years. His current practice involves civil litigation, including plaintiff personal injury, medical malpractice, family law, and representing the Washington Education Association and Washington teachers on various issues in the southeastern part of the state. In 2005, he was named a "Rising Star" in general litigation by Washington Law & Politics magazine.

Jason T. Vail, At-large
Mr. Vail is a staff attorney with the Seattle office of Northwest Justice Project, and a legal editor on Clearinghouse Review, a poverty law journal published by the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law. He frequently teaches legal ethics and legal writing for Highline Community College's paralegal studies program. Mr. Vail's volunteer activities include pro bono work for Kitsap Legal Services and on the Board of Directors for the Wonderland Birth-to-Three Developmental Center.  He is also the editor of De Novo, the official publication of the Washington Young Lawyers' Division.

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 29,900 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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