FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
   
July 30, 2009      

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

WSBA Governor G. Geoffrey Gibbs Elected Treasurer for 2009-10

(SEATTLE) — The Washington State Bar Association is pleased to announce that Second District Governor G. Geoffrey Gibbs has been elected WSBA treasurer for 2009–10. As treasurer, he will serve as chair of the WSBA Budget and Audit Committee. Gibbs was elected at the Board of Governors meeting held on July 24–25, 2009, in Tulalip.  He will also continue to serve as a governor during this period, representing the Second District (Snohomish, Skagit, Island, Whatcom, and San Juan counties).

Gibbs is a shareholder in the Everett law firm of Anderson Hunter, where his practice focuses primarily on litigation, with an emphasis on family law, probate, and boundary litigation. He also routinely serves as a professional mediator to resolve disputes.  

He received his undergraduate degree in Economics from Montana State University, his first law degree (J.D.) from the University of Montana, and his second law degree, a Masters of Law in Marine Affairs (LL.M.), from the University of Washington.

Gibbs served multiple terms on the WSBA Rules of Professional Conduct Committee. He has served as a Board member of the Snohomish County Bar Association (SCBA) for many years and was its president in 2005–2006. He has also served as the SCBA liaison to the WSBA Board of Governors since 2005. Gibbs has served for many years as a judge pro tem for the Snohomish County Superior Court, Snohomish County District Court, and Everett Municipal Court; as a Superior Court commissioner pro tem; and as an arbitrator for Snohomish County Superior Court.

In addition to his work, Gibbs is actively involved in fund-raising for the Boys & Girls Club, YMCA, Snohomish County Bar Association, Snohomish County Legal Services, and Junior Achievement of Puget Sound. In the past, he has served the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce as a member of the Government Affairs Council. Gibbs has also served as a Board member of the Ocean Resource and Conservation Association and numerous other civic and charitable organizations.

“I believe that Governor Gibbs will continue the tradition of excellence that the WSBA has had for treasurers,” wrote President-Elect Salvador Mungia in his nomination letter. “Governor Gibbs has worked hard while serving on the Board of Governors… [he] has a track record of carrying out the mission of the WSBA.”

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. 2008-2009 president-elect is Salvador A. Mungia, of Tacoma; 2009-2010 president-elect is Steven G. Toole, of Bellevue; 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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