FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

September 4, 2008

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

Ronald R. Ward Receives Award of Merit, the WSBA’s Highest Honor

(SEATTLE) — The Washington State Bar Association (WSBA) announces that Ronald R. Ward will be honored with the 2008 Award of Merit. First given in 1957, the Award of Merit is the WSBA’s highest honor. It is given for long-term service to the Bar and/or the public. WSBA President Stan Bastian will present the award at the WSBA Annual Awards Dinner, to be held on September 18, 2008, at the Grand Hyatt Seattle Hotel.

The oldest of 10 children raised in a San Francisco-area housing project, Ward was inspired to practice law by the example of his mother, who worked as a domestic, and who he saw as an inspiring example of preparation for the next generation, a credo he has striven to live by. Ward lives on Mercer Island with his wife, the Reverend Willetta L. “Kiti” Ward, and his daughter, Sara, who is a National Honor Society student in her senior year at Pepperdine University in Malibu, California.

Ward earned his law degree from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law. He served as a Washington state assistant attorney general before entering private practice at Levinson Friedman of Seattle, where he became a partner in 1986. He is currently a partner in the Seattle firm Jones & Ward PLLC, where his practice focuses on serious auto, maritime, and construction-site personal injuries, and wrongful death.

Ward was elected and served as 2004-2005 WSBA president. He was the first African-American to serve as WSBA president in the association’s then-114-year history. He now becomes the first person of color in the organization’s history to receive the Award of Merit. Ward is a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates, the American Bar Association House of Delegates, and a former member of the ABA Standing Committee on Pro Bono and Public Service, and the President’s Commission on the Renaissance of Idealism in the Profession. He is a past vice-president and member of the Board of Governors of the Washington State Trial Lawyers Association.

Ward has been a tireless statewide and national advocate for the preservation of the independence of the judiciary, and for access to justice for disadvantaged citizens. He has served as a member of the Washington State Supreme Court’s Executive Committee of the Board for Judicial Administration (BJA). Between 2002 and 2004, he was a representative to the BJA Court Funding Task Force and co-chair of the Courts of Limited Jurisdiction Work Group. He continues to serve as a member of the BJA Justice in Jeopardy Court Funding Implementation Committee. The group engages in ongoing education of the Washington Legislature and the populace with regard to the justice system.

Ward is the founder of the WSBA Leadership Institute for diverse young lawyers, program winner of the national 2005 American Bar Association Partnership Award, and sole recipient of the 2006 LexisNexis Martindale-Hubbell Legal Fellowship. To date, the states of New York, Arizona, and Oregon have implemented a similar leadership institute program, and Texas has commenced preparation for its own institute. The WLI, which works with diverse lawyers of three to 10 years’ experience, will celebrate its fifth anniversary with the upcoming January 2009 class. It has enriched the Washington legal and general community with the continuing achievements of its graduates.

Ward has been selected by Washington Law and Politics as a Super Lawyer each year since 2003. In 2006, the Loren Miller Bar Association renamed its President’s Award the Ron R. Ward President’s Award in his honor. He was also honored with the 2006 Washington State Trial Lawyers President’s Award, and with the Washington Defense Trial Lawyers 2006 Outstanding Plaintiff Trial Lawyer Award. In 2007, he was the recipient of the WSBA Excellence in Diversity award. Ward is a current nominee for the national 2009 American Bar Association Spirit of Excellence award. His motto is: “I want to make a difference.”

“Ron Ward has been a tireless advocate for the improvement of the practice of law, diversity and inclusion within the profession, and the furtherance of access to justice for all Washingtonians,” wrote Karen Falkingham, director of the LAW Fund. “Ron Ward has been [a] unifying voice in our state who has worked hard to make our communities fairer places to live.” WSBA President-elect Mark A. Johnson wrote, “I was on the WSBA Board of Governors when Ron was president and I was amazed at his tireless, unrelenting efforts on behalf of the Bar, diversity and access to justice ... he set an unparalleled standard of excellence.”

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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