FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE      
May 18, 2005

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

Chief Justice to Open Youth Court Conference at Seattle University School of Law

Seattle Washington, May 18, 2005 — The Council on Public Legal Education (CPLE) announced today that the Honorable Gerry Alexander, Chief Justice of the Washington State Supreme Court, will serve as the opening speaker for the Youth Court Start-Up Conference, to be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Seattle University School of Law this Saturday, May 21. The purpose of the conference is to bring together teams of young people, judges, probation and law enforcement officers, school administrators, and others interested in creating youth courts in their communities.

Youth courts — also known as teen or peer courts — give young people an opportunity to help their peers who have committed nonviolent misdemeanors or traffic infractions, are truant from school, or have engaged in other problem behaviors. Research has shown that youth who participate in youth courts are less likely to engage in problem behavior than those who go through the traditional justice or discipline system. There are currently 30 youth courts in Washington state, including a few still in the formative stage.

Saturday's start-up conference is the third offered by the CPLE since it began partnering in 2001 with the Washington Judges Foundation, a charitable organization interested in improving young people's understanding of the legal system. In a youth court, both the volunteers and offenders learn through experience the role of the judge, the lawyer, and the jury, and promote the concept of restorative justice, which holds offenders accountable to the victim and the community. Participants in Saturday's program will come from Asotin, Auburn, Bellevue, Burien, Ephrata, Kelso, Kennewick, Lynnwood, Mercer Island, Mount Vernon, Mukilteo, Olympia, Seattle, Tukwila, and Woodinville.

The conference will be led by attorney Margaret Fisher, a nationally recognized expert on law-related youth education. Fisher is the author of Youth Courts: Young People Delivering Justice, and creator of a national award-winning youth court curriculum. In addition to Chief Justice Alexander's remarks, the program will include mock hearings put on by youth courts from Whatcom County and Shoreline/Lake Forest Park, a truancy presentation by the Thurston County Youth Court, and a jury training session by the Clallam County Youth Court. The CPLE, along with the Administrative Office of the Courts and the Washington Judges Foundation, are joined by cosponsors: the Washington State Bar Association, the Family and Juvenile Law Committee of the Superior Court Judges' Association, the Public Trust and Confidence Committee of the Board for Judicial Administration, the Washington State Council for Social Studies, and the Seattle University School of Law.

Access to Justice Board
The CPLE is a standing committee of the Access to Justice (ATJ) Board, which is administered by the WSBA. The ATJ Board was established by the Washington State Supreme Court in 1994 at the request of the WSBA Board of Governors, in response to a growing need to coordinate the access-to-justice efforts throughout the state and ensure continuity and focus. The mandate of the ATJ Board is to ensure access to the civil justice system for low- and moderate-income Washington residents. The ATJ Board consists of nine members nominated by the WSBA Board of Governors and appointed by the Supreme Court. Greenbank, WA, attorney Christine E. Crowell is the current chair.

About the Washington State Bar Association
The Washington State Bar Association (WSBA) is a private, nonprofit organization authorized by the Washington Supreme Court to license the state's 28,800 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 exam, provides record-keeping and licensing functions, and administers the lawyer discipline program. 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 president is Ron R. Ward of Seattle. The board meets every six weeks at various locations around the state, and its meetings are open to the public. Much of the work of the WSBA is carried out through its 23 standing committees, 23 sections, and a Young Lawyers Division.