FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 
  
January 29, 2008     

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

Washington State Bar Association Announces 2007 WYLD Award Recipients

(SEATTLE) — The Washington State Bar Association announced the recipients of the 2007 Washington Young Lawyers Division (WYLD) 2007 Awards.  The Outstanding Young Lawyer of the Year Award will be presented to Seattle attorney Breena M. Roos; the Thomas Neville Pro Bono Award was presented to Poulsbo attorney Sara Lingafelter; the Professionalism Award was presented to Bainbridge Island attorney Charles K. Wiggins; and the Outstanding Affiliate Organization Award will be presented to the Clark County Young Lawyers Division.

Breena Roos received her law degree from the Boston University School of Law. She is currently an associate with the Seattle firm of Perkins Coie LLP, focusing on general commercial and intellectual property litigation. Roos has volunteered with several organizations, including Community for Youth, a school-based mentoring program for at-risk high school students, and Volunteer Advocates for Immigrant Justice. “Breena is a lawyer who has shown outstanding commitment to the provision of pro bono services to those in need in a myriad of ways,” wrote Sarah A. Dunne, legal director of the ACLU of Washington. “Her generosity in committing her time and efforts to provide legal services for the public good is truly extraordinary.”

Sara Lingafelter, a graduate of Seattle University School of Law, is an attorney with her solo practice, First Ascent Law PS, in Poulsbo. Among a variety of other pro bono activities, Lingafelter serves on the board of directors for Kitsap Legal Services, and volunteers at the monthly Kitsap Legal Services Clinic in Bremerton, where she provides civil legal aid to low-income clients. “Sara's enthusiastic attitude and endless energy is an asset to the board,” wrote Jennifer Brugger, president of Kitsap Legal Services. “Her generous support of the program and its clients demonstrates that she is the epitome of an outstanding pro bono attorney.” Lingafelter’s award was presented at the Kitsap Bar Installation Dinner on January 25, 2008.

Bainbridge Island attorney Charles Wiggins received his law degree from Duke University School of Law. He is currently a partner in the firm Wiggins & Masters PLLC. Previously, Wiggins served on the Washington Court of Appeals, and was also a judge pro tem in various small communities on the Peninsula. Wiggins has also provided pro bono legal services at the Union Gospel Mission, traveled to areas such as Mexico and New Orleans to help build housing for the homeless, and was instrumental in the development of the votingforjudges.org website, which provides an unbiased, objective source of information on judicial candidates. Wiggins’s award was presented at the Kitsap Bar Dinner on January 25, 2008.

The Clark County Young Lawyers Division was selected to receive the Outstanding Affiliate Organization Award. The organization was started as a grassroots effort by local young lawyers seeking to energize the young-lawyer community. The Clark County Young Lawyers Division has been in existence for almost three years, and in that time has hosted many networking events for young lawyers in Clark County, building collegiality among members of the Bar.

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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