FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 20, 2006
Contact: Stephanie Perry
Communications Specialist/Website Editor
206-733-5932; stephaniep@wsba.org
Kitsap County Bar Association Young Lawyers Section Receives 2006 WYLD Outstanding Affiliate Award
Seattle, Washington, November 20, 2006 — The Washington State Bar Association (WSBA) announced that the WSBA Young Lawyers Division has chosen the Young Lawyers Section of the Kitsap County Bar Association to receive WYLD 2006 Outstanding Affiliate Award for its consistent work on providing programming and events geared towards young lawyers, as well as the organization's dedication to serving its members. The award was presented on November 3rd at the Kitsap County Bar monthly luncheon in Port Orchard. WYLD Peninsula District Trustee Jennifer Durcan and former Peninsula District Trustee Jennifer Brugger (2003-06) presented the award.
"We were certainly proud to learn that we had won the award," commented Kylie Purves, section president.
The Kitsap County Bar Young Lawyers Section was started last year with Steve King as president, Matt Kaser as secretary, and John Purves as treasurer. Since its creation, the section's activities have included sponsoring a courthouse orientation Continuing Legal Education session; writing a Kitsap chapter of the Washington Lawyers Practice Manual; planning the annual picnic for the Kitsap County Bar; and holding monthly section meetings, which local judges are invited to attend and speak to the group about how to become better lawyers. "Being in court can be intimidating, and we have judges come out and talk about what they'd like to see in an attorney," Purves explained. "It makes it less intimidating, as far as being prepared, addressing the court, and addressing co-counsel or opposing parties or even your client."
The section is currently working on a clothing drive to provide professional courtroom attire for low-income clients, planning social events for its membership, and working on increasing member participation. "We'd like to get more people involved," said Purves of the section's goals for the future.
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 Young lawyers Division is comprised on WSBA members under age 35 or with under five years of practice. 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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