FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
   
May 5, 2009     

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

Pre-Law Student Leadership Conference to Be Held in Yakima

(SEATTLE) — Approximately 100 Eastern Washington high school students are expected to attend the Pre-Law Student Leadership Conference on May 16 at the Yakima Convention Center. The sixteenth annual conference is sponsored by the Washington State Bar Association's Washington Young Lawyers Division (WYLD). The event's purpose is to encourage students – particularly those from minority backgrounds and those who are at risk – to attend college and consider a career in the legal profession.

At the conference, students will participate in interactive workshops designed to address pressing legal issues, including criminal, environmental, and race/discrimination law. Yakima County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Alvin Guzman will provide the keynote address. Attorneys from around the state will facilitate the day, led by conference co-chairs Blanca Rodriguez, a Yakima attorney at the Northwest Justice Project, and Gloria Ochoa, a partner in Kennewick's Ochoa-Anderson, PLLC.

Washington State colleges and universities will be on hand to answer questions about their curriculum, financial aid, and other opportunities. For questions about the conference, contact WYLD Liaison Brian Halcomb at 206-727-8205 or brianh@wsba.org.

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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