FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 5, 2007

Contact:
Gregg Hirakawa
(206) 727-8240
greggh@wsba.org

Teens to Serve as the Judge and Jury at Youth Court Conference

(SEATTLE) – About 170 teens, advisers, and juvenile justice experts will meet November 9-11 at the University of Washington School of Law for the first Washington/Alaska Youth Court Conference.

The conference will bring together teens who volunteer in youth courts in the two states to learn from experts and each other how to better administer justice to their peers. Youth courts — also known as teen or peer courts — give young people an opportunity to help other teens who have committed nonviolent misdemeanor offenses or traffic infractions, are truant from school, or have engaged in other problem behaviors.

Interactive workshop topics will range from the rise of cybercrime, to mediation skills, to the impact of graffiti on communities. The conference organizer, Seattle attorney Margaret Fisher, is a nationally recognized expert on youth courts and law-related youth education.

Youth court volunteers learn through experience the role of the judge, the lawyer, and the jury. Participants practice "restorative justice," which holds offenders accountable to the victim and the community. Research has shown that teens who participate in youth court proceedings are less likely to engage in problem behavior than those going through the traditional justice system. There are currently 30 youth courts in Washington state.

Workshop sessions are as follows:

Saturday, November 10

10:30 a.m. – noon

1. Mediation
2. Youth Courts for Grades 4-6
3. Tagging – Its Impact on the Community

1:30 – 3:00 p.m.

1. Ethics for Judges and Lawyers
2. Truancy in Youth Court
3. Cybercrime: Policy and Applications

3:15 – 4:45 p.m.

1. Police Patrol
2. Shoplifting – Does It Really Hurt Big Stores?
3. Washington State Youth Court Organization Meeting

Sunday, November 11

10:00 – 11:30 a.m.

1. Teaming with Interpreters
2. Advocacy Skills for Attorneys
3. Diversity

(No Afternoon Sessions)

Keynote speakers are U.S. Representative Dave Reichert on Saturday morning, and Washington State Supreme Court Justice Bobbe Bridge on Sunday morning.

The conference is being co-sponsored by the Washington State Bar Association’s Council on Public Legal Education, the Washington State Administrative Office of the Courts, United Youth Courts of Alaska, the Washington Judges Foundation, the University of Washington School of Law, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention of the U.S. Department of Justice, and the Division of Juvenile Justice of the State of Alaska.

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 30,850 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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