FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE   

June 5, 2008      

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

Washington State Bar Association and Access to Justice Board to Host 13th Annual Access to Justice and Bar Leaders Joint Conference June 6-8 in Vancouver

(SEATTLE) — The Washington State Bar Association (WSBA) and the Access to Justice (ATJ) Board will host the 13th annual Access to Justice Conference in conjunction with the Bar Leaders Conference June 6-8 at the Red Lion Hotel at the Quay in Vancouver, Washington. The conference theme is “Justice Without Borders.”

The Access to Justice Conference brings members of the legal community together to discuss equal justice issues. Conference participants include members of the Washington State Alliance for Equal Justice, a network of organizations providing civil legal aid to those with nowhere else to turn (volunteer lawyer programs, statewide legal services programs and specialty legal services programs). Also present are Supporters of the Alliance, including the ATJ Board, Legal Foundation of Washington, Office of Civil Legal Aid, Legal Aid for Washington Fund (LAW Fund), the private bar, the judiciary, court clerks and facilitators, law school faculty and students, paralegals, community services, the alternative dispute resolution community, administrative law judges, and others dedicated to providing equal access to the legal system for low- to moderate-income individuals.

The WSBA Bar Leaders Conference is designed for the leadership and future leadership of the bar, including leaders of county, minority, and specialty bar associations, as well as WSBA committee and section chairs, the Washington Leadership Institute, and the Washington Young Lawyers Division. The Bar Leaders Conference provides an excellent opportunity to share ideas, challenges, and strategies to enhance the success of bar leaders.

The conference will begin on Friday with several preliminary board and group meetings throughout the day. The Friday evening welcoming reception will feature a keynote address from Shelley Davis, deputy director of Farmworker Justice. The first-ever ATJ Board/WSBA Norm Maleng Leadership Award will be presented to Seattle attorney M. Wayne Blair.

Saturday’s schedule includes sessions on topics such as workplace health and safety for indigenous farm workers; minimizing difficulties faced by pro se individuals in courts and administrative tribunals; and the right to and role of counsel for children in dependency proceedings. The Bar Leaders Conference will conduct a roundtable discussion with the Washington State Supreme Court justices and the WSBA Board of Governors on the past, present, and future of the Lawyers’ Fund for Client Protection, as well as a session on the changing face of the profession. Other topics to be discussed include Native American women and sexual assault; workplace health and safety for indigenous farm workers; and economic justice and legal issues of the homeless and imminently homeless. Four sessions will focus on immigration: “American Immigration Policy and its Impact on the Justice System”; “Immigration 101: A General Overview of the Immigration Legal Framework in the United States”; “Representing Immigrants in Family, Employment, and Criminal Cases”; and “ICE: Immigration Raids, Retaliation, and Lawyers’ Ethics.”

Several awards will also be presented at Saturday’s luncheon, including the Civil Equal Justice Community Partnership Award, presented to Representative Patricia Lantz, of the Washington House of Representatives, and Ricardo Garcia, former executive director of Northwest Communities Education, Radio KDNA; the ATJ Leadership Award, presented to Matt Adams, of the Northwest Immigrants Rights Project; and the Judicial Leadership Award, presented to Judge Marlin Appelwick, of the Washington State Court of Appeals, Division I. The WSBA Pro Bono Award will be presented to Mount Vernon attorney Gail Smith. Additionally, special recognition will be given to the ATJ Board Impediments Committee.

The conference will conclude on Sunday at noon, after a session on creating statewide support for pro bono programs, and a leadership group meeting and conference wrap-up.

About the Access to Justice Board
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. Its mandate is to ensure access to the civiljustice system for low and moderate income Washington residents. The board consists of nine members nominated by the WSBA Board of Governors and appointed by the Washington State Supreme Court. Seattle attorney Daniel Gottlieb is the current chair.

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 32,600 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 numerous standing committees; 26 sections; and a Young Lawyers Division, with its many committees.

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