FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
   
January 27, 2009

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

Michael Dewitt Receives Local Hero Award

(SEATTLE) — The Washington State Bar Association (WSBA) announces that has presented Lacey attorney Michael Dewitt with its Local Hero Award. The Local Hero Award is presented to lawyers who have made noteworthy contributions to their communities. The WSBA Board of Governors met in Olympia on January 22-23. President Mark Johnson presented the award at a luncheon on January 22, with members of the WSBA Board of Governors, Thurston County Bar Association, Government Lawyers Bar Association, and other guests in attendance.
 
Dewitt obtained his law degree from Seattle University School of Law after receiving his bachelor’s degree in English literature from the University of Nevada, Reno. He is currently an associate attorney at Morgan & Bartholomew, practicing primarily family law, with some guardianship, probate, and estate planning.

Dewitt has been a member of the Thurston County Volunteer Legal Services (TCVLS) Board for two years, and is currently vice president of the board. He volunteers at least once a month at one of the TCVLS pro bono clinics. In addition, he has taken on direct representation pro bono clients, mentors other attorneys who represent pro bono clients, and is a frequent presenter at the no-cost continuing legal education seminars sponsored by TCVLS. He was named Pro Bono Attorney of the Year in 2007 by TCVLS.

In 2008, Dewitt represented a Lewis County flood victim pro bono through the disaster-relief program of the Washington Young Lawyers Division and the Northwest Justice Project. He is a referral attorney for Kinship Care, a local organization that offers free services to non-parental custodians, where he gives free consultations to clients and has presented information at their meetings. He served for three years as the Greater Olympia District trustee for the WSBA Young Lawyers Division and has served on numerous committees at the Family and Juvenile Court.

“Mike has gone above and beyond when it comes to pro bono work and volunteering in the community as a whole,” said Toni Hood, secretary of the Thurston County Bar Association. “He is truly a Thurston County local hero.”
 
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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