FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE       
September 15, 2005

Contact: Alfredo Tryferis
Communications Specialist
206-733-5932; alfredot@wsba.org

Port Angeles Attorney S. Brooke Taylor
Sworn In as WSBA President

Seattle, Washington, September 15, 2005 — The WSBA announced today that Port Angeles attorney S. Brooke Taylor was sworn in as the WSBA's 115th president. The ceremony was presided over by Washington State Supreme Court Chief Justice Gerry L. Alexander at the WSBA's Annual Awards Dinner, held in conjunction with its Annual Business Meeting, at the Fairmont Olympic Hotel in Seattle on September 15.

Mr. Taylor's presidency is the culmination of dedicated service to the WSBA and the Washington legal community. He was elected to the Board of Governors in 2000 and served a two-year term. He served as WSBA treasurer from 2001-2002, and was elected president-elect in June 2004. He was the 2003-2004 WSBA liaison to the District and Municipal Court Judges' Association, and founder and co-chairman of the Washington State Trial Lawyers Association (WSTLA) Super Seminar. He is also a frequent WSTLA seminar presenter.

Born and raised in Port Angeles, Mr. Taylor has practiced law there since his admission to the Bar in 1968. He earned a degree in political science from Stanford University and a law degree from the University of Virginia School of Law.

In 1970, the ambitious 27-year-old was elected prosecuting attorney for Clallam County. He later went into private practice as an owner and partner in the law firm of Taylor & Taylor. In 1991, the two oldest law firms in Clallam County merged to form Platt Irwin Taylor, where he is now an owner and partner. Mr. Taylor's practice focuses on plaintiffs' personal injury, civil litigation, estate planning, and probate. The firm has offices in Port Angeles, Sequim, and Port Townsend.

Mr. Taylor is well-known for his commitment to serving the people of the North Olympic Peninsula. His community honored him in 1999 by naming him Clallam County "Citizen of the Year." Mr. Taylor's community involvement includes serving as member and director of the Port Angeles Kiwanis Club, director and president of the Clallam County Family YMCA (which honored him with its National Distinguished Service Award), director of the G.M. Lauridsen Foundation, director and president of the Clallam County Community Mental Health Center, member and director of the Port Angeles Chamber of Commerce, and director and president of the Peninsula College Foundation.

During the year, Mr. Taylor will be focusing on increasing public understanding of what he terms "the four corners of freedom" — the rule of law, the separation of powers, checks and balances, and judicial independence. He believes it is time to "get back to basics," and he will be working with the Council on Public Legal Education to advance public legal education throughout the state. "It is essential that we rebuild public faith in an independent judiciary," he stated. "Our judicial branch of government, which Oliver Wendell Holmes characterized as 'the crown jewel of our democracy,' is not well understood, and I will be encouraging lawyers and judges throughout the state to look for teaching opportunities in our daily lives ¯ with clients in our offices, with friends and neighbors in our service clubs or across the fence, with our children at the dinner table, and with citizens in our public courtrooms."

In addition to his public education focus, Mr. Taylor is dedicated to making the Association relevant to all members, especially those in rural communities and those representing diversity. "Bar leaders must continue to reach out to all segments of our membership, and to involve our members in governance at all levels." Indeed, Mr. Taylor says reaching out to a diverse constituency, those elements of the profession who have historically been underrepresented (persons of color; women; those who are gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender; and those with disabilities), will be a theme of his presidency. "Our profession will be the stronger for it," he says.

"Brooke has consistently evidenced a deep commitment to the needs of the membership now and well into the future," wrote WSBA President-elect Ellen Conedera Dial. "He is a leader and a fine steward of the goals, aspirations, and practical needs of the profession."

About the WSBA
The Washington State Bar Association is an instrumentality of the state exercising a governmental function authorized by the Washington State Supreme Court to license the state's 29,200 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; 24 sections; and a Young Lawyers Division, with its many committees.

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