FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
   
June 23, 2008    

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

Patrick Palace Elected 6th District Governor

(SEATTLE) — The WSBA is pleased to announce that Tacoma attorney Patrick Palace has been elected the new governor for the 6th congressional district. At the conclusion of the Board of Governors meeting in September 2008, Palace will assume the seat currently held by Salvador A. Mungia for a three-year term.

Palace received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Washington in International Business and his law degree from Loyola University of Chicago School of Law in 1991. He has been in practice for 16 years. He opened the Palace Law Offices in 1995, a firm that emphasizes workers’ compensation, Social Security, and personal injury matters.

Palace is a past-president of the WSBA Young Lawyers Division, and has served on a number of WSBA committees, including the Public Legal Education Workgroup Taskforce and the WSBA president’s Advisory Committee created to promote judicial independence. He moderated and produced two television series designed to help citizens understand the law. “LawTalk” was funded by the WSBA and was recognized by the ABA with its Public Service Award. The “People’s Law School,” which aired statewide, also earned an “Outstanding Public Service Award.” He has served nine terms on the Washington State Trial Lawyers Association (WSTLA) Board of Governors and has chaired or served on many of its committees. He is active in the Tacoma-Pierce County Bar Association (TPCBA) and is currently serving on their Judicial Qualifications and Bar Convention committees. 

Palace co-authored portions of the WSTLA Automobile Accident Forms Book and authored a chapter in the WSTLA Automobile Accident Litigation Desk Book. A regular speaker at continuing legal education seminars, Palace has chaired or lectured at more than 30 CLEs for the WSBA, WSTLA, and TPCBA.

Since 1998, he has taught the People’s Law School at Pierce College. He was chosen by Washington Law & Politics magazine as a “Rising Star” in 2000 and 2001 and has also been voted a “Super Lawyer” by Washington Law & Politics every year from 2001 to 2006.

“It is an honor and a privilege to be elected by my peers to serve with these talented and diverse members of the Board of Governors,” said Palace. “I look forward to the years ahead and the improvements we can make together to better our communities, promote access to justice and preserve and protect the integrity of our profession and the judiciary.” 

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 32,600 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 14-person Board of Governors. There are three governors from the seventh congressional district; one from each of the other eight districts; and three at-large members, one of whom represents the Young Lawyers Division. The 2007-2008 president is Stanley A. Bastian, of Wenatchee. The 2007-2008 president-elect is Mark A. Johnson, of Seattle, the immediate past-president is Ellen Conedera Dial, of Seattle, and the 2008-09 president-elect is Salvador A. Mungia, of Tacoma. 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 numerous standing committees; 26 sections; and a Young Lawyers Division, with its many committees.

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