FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

June 9, 2008

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

M. Wayne Blair Named 2008 Norm Maleng Leadership Award Recipient

(SEATTLE) — The WSBA Board of Governors takes great pleasure in announcing that the recipient of the first-ever Norm Maleng Leadership Award is Seattle attorney M. Wayne Blair. The award was presented on June 6 at the Access to Justice/Bar Leaders Conference at the Red Lion Hotel at the Quay in Vancouver, Washington. The award was created to honor the late King County Prosecutor Norm Maleng’s legacy by recognizing those who embody the statesman-like qualities that characterized his leadership, and is given jointly by the Washington State Bar Association and the Access to Justice Board.

Blair received his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Washington, and his law degree from the University of Washington School of Law. From 1968 to 1972, he served as captain and judge advocate for the United States Air Force, and from 1972 through 2007, Blair was a member of the Seattle law firm of Montgomery, Purdue, Blankinship & Austin. He currently works for JAMS, The Resolution Experts, providing arbitration and mediation services.

Throughout his career, Blair has been active with the Washington State Bar Association. He served on the Board of Governors from 1991 to 1994; served as president from 1998 to 1999; and was a member of the Washington State Bar Foundation from 2001 to 2006. Blair was a member of the committee that founded the Alternative Dispute Resolution Section, as well as its first chair-elect. He has also served on the Task Force on WSBA Governance, the WSBA Facilities Committee, and the Joint Task Force on Lawyer Discipline.

Blair has also been involved in many other associations, both in the legal profession and the community. He served as the Board of Directors of Evergreen Legal Services, a legal-services provider for low-income individuals; was chair of the Equal Justice Coalition; and served on the Board of Trustees, and as president of the King County Bar Association. He also serves on the Access to Justice Board.

Blair has also served court improvement efforts in a number of capacities: as one of the founders of the Superior Court Mandatory Arbitration Program (1979); as chair of King County Bench/Bar Task Force on Judicial Administration; as co-chair of the King County Superior Court Delay Reduction Task Force (1988-89); as a special consultant to the Washington Commission on the Trial Courts (1990); and as a member of Washington Courts 2000 (1992). He also served as the WSBA representative on the Board for Judicial Administration (BJA) from 1995 to 2000, and as a member of BJA’s Project 2001 and as chair of its Jurisdiction and Portability Work Group. Between 2002 and 2004, he chaired BJA’s Court Funding Task Force. Such efforts over the years have led to three amendments to the Washington State Constitution, one amendment to the King County Charter, and numerous statutory changes.

Previously, Blair has been honored with the President’s Award and Lifetime Service Award from the Washington State Bar Association; the President’s Special Award from the King County Bar Association; and the Helen M. Geisness Award from the King County Bar Association. He has also been recognized eight times as a Super Lawyer by Washington Law and Politics magazine, and twice as a Top Lawyer by Seattle magazine.

“Throughout my association with [Blair] over many years, I’ve been impressed by [his] unwavering commitment to open, accessible, fair, and effective justice for all who come to our courts,” wrote Washington State Supreme Court Chief Justice Gerry L. Alexander in his nomination letter. “Like Norm, [Blair] ably transcends partisan political considerations and other barriers that would prove daunting to many. Like Norm, [Blair] engages in the work of providing leadership on difficult issues with thoughtfulness, dignity, civility, fairness, sensitivity, and humility.”

Blair lives on Bainbridge Island with his wife, Anne. “Norm Maleng was a special person in my life. We served together as advisers in the residence halls at the University of Washington in 1965. He was my boss and we became good friends. Whether he intended to or not, Norm influenced me in leaving the electrical engineering profession and deciding to attend law school. I am truly honored and touched to be named the first recipient of an award in his name.”

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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