FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
   
January 27, 2009     

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

Scott Douglas Receives Local Hero Award

(SEATTLE) — The Washington State Bar Association (WSBA) recently honored Olympia attorney Scott Douglas with its Local Hero Award. The Local Hero Award is presented to lawyers who have made noteworthy contributions to their communities.
 
Scott Douglas served as director of the Thurston County Volunteer Legal Services (TCVLS) law clinic for five years before recently transitioning to private practice in the area of family law. Douglas continues to serve as a pro bono attorney and currently serves on the Board of the TCVLS clinic.

Under Douglas's directorship, TCVLS grew dramatically, offering a monthly legal clinic at the SafePlace domestic violence shelter in Olympia, which was later expanded to a semi-monthly clinic. In 2005, Douglas oversaw the launch of a monthly volunteer legal clinic in Mason County, one of five volunteer legal clinics per month that TCVLS currently operates. In 2007, Douglas spearheaded the creation of the Housing Justice Project in Thurston County; in 2008, under his direction, TCVLS began a collaborative law project, which allows volunteer attorneys to assist adverse parties in resolving family law issues. In each year of Douglas's tenure as director of TCVLS, the organization increased the number of clients it served by nearly 20 percent, and TCVLS enlisted the services of hundreds of volunteer attorneys and other legal professionals. 

"TCVLS was able to grow so dramatically under Scott's directorship thanks to Scott's incredible vision, energy, enthusiasm, and, most of all, his magnetic personality," said Jason McGill, the president-elect of the Government Lawyers Bar Association. "Scott is a leader in the legal community in Thurston County and in the legal services community is Washington state. While Scott has left the position of director of Thurston County Volunteer Legal Services, he remains an important asset to the legal community in Thurston County and Washington state."
 
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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