FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 2, 2009           

Contact: Judith Berrett
Director of Member and Community Relations
206-727-8212; judithb@wsba.org

WSBA Board of Governors to Meet in Seattle March 6-7

(SEATTLE) — The Washington State Bar Association (WSBA) Board of Governors will hold its next meeting on March 6-7 at the WSBA office in downtown Seattle. The public meeting will be held on Friday from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., with lunch from noon to 1:00 p.m., and from 8:30 a.m. to noon on Saturday.

First on the agenda will be a report from the Discipline Review Committee, presented by Committee Chair Douglas Lawrence, of Seattle. This special committee was formed to review the recommendations made by the American Bar Association (ABA) after the ABA was invited to examine Washington’s disciplinary system. The Board will be asked to take action on several recommendations, including the establishment of a client-option fee arbitration program.

The report will be followed by Governors’ and Liaisons’ Forums, during which governors and others in attendance may bring non-agenda items to the attention of the Board.

After lunch, there will be a report on the ABA Midyear meeting held last month in Boston, given by Seattle attorney James F. Williams, who serves as one of the WSBA’s seven representatives to the ABA House of Delegates. The House of Delegates is the ABA’s policy-making body. ABA Governor Kathleen Hopkins, of Seattle, will also report to the Board. The 38-member Board of Governors oversees the ABA’s general operation. The ABA is the largest voluntary professional association in the world. Its immediate past president is Seattle attorney William Neukom.

There will be a report from leaders of the WSBA Leadership Institute (WLI) about a fundraising initiative. Co-chairs of the WLI are King County Superior Court Judge Mary Yu and James F. Williams. The WLI, currently celebrating its fifth year, is a leadership-development program created by the WSBA Board of Governors at the behest of then-President Ronald Ward, the first African-American president of the WSBA. 

Chair of the WSBA Court Rules and Procedures Committee, Roger Wynne, of Seattle, will bring to the Board recommendations to various Rules of Appellate Procedure. If approved by the Board, the recommended rule changes will go to the Supreme Court. WSBA Diversity Program Manager Chach Duarte White will report to the Board, focusing on WSBA membership demographics and Washington state demographics for race and gender.

Friday’s session will close with a report from the Honorable Marlin Appelwick, co-chair of the WSBA Council on Public Legal Education. Former Superintendent of Public Instruction Judith Billings serves as co-chair with Judge Appelwick — both have served in this capacity since the Council’s inception in 1999. The mission of the Council on Public Legal Education is to promote public understanding of the law and civic rights and responsibilities. The Council pursues this mission by conducting, coordinating, encouraging, and publicizing public legal education efforts in Washington state. For more information, see www.wsba.org/ple.

On Saturday, WSBA Justice and Diversity Initiatives Director Gail Stone will provide the Board with an update on this year’s legislative session. Her update will be followed by a report from ACLU Drug Policy Director Alison Holcomb, who will provide background on two bills pending before the Legislature that would reclassify possession of 40 grams or less of marijuana from a misdemeanor to a class 2 civil infraction.

Governor Russell Aoki, who serves as chair of the WSBA Program Review Committee, will report to the Board on the Committee’s recommendations relating to WSBA committees; the WSBA’s monthly magazine, Bar News; the WSBA’s annual membership directory, Resources; and Casemaker, an online legal research tool provided to WSBA members at no charge. President of the Washington Young Lawyers Division Jaime Hawk, of Spokane, will give the Division’s quarterly report.
 
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 32,700 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 Board of Governors. There are three governors from the seventh congressional district; one from each of the other eight districts; and three at-large, one of whom represents the Young Lawyers Division. The president is Mark A. Johnson, of Seattle. The president-elect is Salvador A. Mungia, of Tacoma, and the immediate past-president is Stanley A. Bastian, of Wenatchee. 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 its numerous standing committees, 27 sections, and a Young Lawyers Division with its many committees.

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