FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

May 27, 2009

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

WSBA Board of Governors to Meet in Yakima May 29

(SEATTLE) — The Washington State Bar Association (WSBA) Board of Governors will hold its next meeting on May 29 at the Yakima Convention Center. Fourth District Governor Edward Shea Jr., who practices in Pasco, will welcome the Board to Yakima. The public meeting will be held from 9:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (with lunch from 12:30 to 1:30).

A highlight of the meeting will be the election by the Board of Governors of a new president-elect, who will take office as president-elect in September, and begin service as WSBA president in September 2010. The Board will also interview and select a new at-large governor who will represent the Washington Young Lawyers Division (WYLD). The new governor will serve a three-year term, beginning in September.

Chair of the Access to Justice (ATJ) Board Daniel Gottlieb will present an update on the ATJ Board’s activities. 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 civil justice system for low- and moderate-income Washington residents. The annual ATJ Conference will be held in Yakima Friday through Sunday, in conjunction with the annual Bar Leaders Conference.

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

The Board will also take action regarding proposals to address the funding crisis in civil legal aid. Legal need among low-income individuals statewide is escalating, as a result of rising unemployment rates and home foreclosures. From 2007 to 2009, IOLTA revenues have shrunk from $9.2 million down to $2 million, for a net loss of $7.2 million, depleting the funds available for legal funding. There are currently several proposals before the Board addressing the issue of WSBA financial support of civil legal aid. These proposals can be found on the WSBA website at www.wsba.org/info/bog/may09specialmeetingforweb.pdf. The Board is scheduled to take a vote on the issue at the meeting.

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 33,200 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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