The WSBA Board of Governors determines the Bar’s general policies and approves its annual budget
MORE ONLINE > The agenda, materials, and video recording from this Board of Governors meeting, as well as past meetings, are online here: www.wsba.org/about-wsba/who-we-are/board-of-governors.
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Nov. 2-3, 2023
TOP MEETING TAKEAWAYS
Meeting at the University of Washington. Despite their various alma maters, Board members showed some love to the purple and gold last week! For the first time in recent history, they held a business meeting at a law school, and WSBA leaders took the opportunity to connect with the University of Washington School of Law community, which included a reception with Dean Tamara Lawson, faculty, and students. The day before, WSBA leaders came together to help with habitat restoration at the University of Washington Center for Urban Horticulture, in support of a goal this year to engage in community service in conjunction with meetings around the state.
FY24 Strategic Priorities. What programs and projects—above and beyond the regular cycle of business—warrant prioritization of time and resources this fiscal year? After a robust multi-month process to answer these questions, the Board adopted four strategic areas of focus: Member well-being (studying, expanding, and improving resources for and assistance to legal professionals); technology, such as AI, changing the profession (assessing and determining the state bar’s role vis-à-vis regulation, consumer protection, and support to legal professionals); inclusion and belonging in the legal community (understanding the detractors and drivers of belonging, especially among underrepresented and historically marginalized legal professionals, and creating a plan to advance inclusion and belonging); and support for rural practice (supporting practitioners and increasing access to justice in rural and small-town areas). Stay tuned throughout the coming year to hear about progress on these goals.
Trial Run of Entity Regulation in Washington. Technology is changing the legal market quickly, and the WSBA Practice of Law Board (POLB) has been closely studying opportunities and challenges for legal regulators. After many conversations and considerations during the past two years, the POLB has developed a proposal to go before the Washington Supreme Court for consideration, and the Board voted to support that proposal: In a controlled beta test, two entities (as opposed to individuals, the only legal-licensees currently authorized to practice law) will be permitted to provide legal services with robust oversight and data-collection from the POLB and the WSBA. After gathering and analyzing data for a significant time period, the POLB will make a recommendation whether to expand entity regulation, with data-driven improvements, or not. Why the urgency and need to change? Read the POLB’s proposal here.
A Focus on Criminal Law Practitioners and Partners. The meeting had a theme: thanking and honoring criminal law practitioners and law-enforcement officers. Toward that end, the Board held conversations with a panel of criminal law practitioners and law enforcement officers to better understand current challenges. (Note: the meeting was held during the WSBA Criminal Law Section’s major event of the year, and the Board acknowledged the need to continue the dialogue with these members, as well as representatives from many other criminal law focused associations.)
Public Defense Workload. Related to the theme of the meeting, representatives from the WSBA Council on Public Defense (CPD) reported that the Washington Supreme Court has formally requested that the CPD review a recently released national study on public-defense workload standards and advise the court on any recommendations the CPD believes the court should adopt. The Board approved the CPD’s affirmative response, with a tentative timeline of early January to get its evaluation and recommendations ready.
2024 Legislative Priorities and WSBA-Sponsored Bills. The Board approved the WSBA’s overall priorities for the upcoming session: Monitoring and taking appropriate action on legislative proposals related to the practice of law and administration of justice; supporting legislative proposals approved by the Board under GR 12 constraints; and supporting legislative proposals initiated by WSBA Sections and approved by the Board. Apropos of the last priority, the Board approved two bills put forth by Sections for WSBA sponsorship: A proposal from the Business Law Section to replace current Chapter 23B.11 RCW with a new Chapter 11 that mirrors the current version of the Model Business Corporations Act; and a proposal from the Real Property, Probate, and Trust Section to eliminate the requirement that leases for more than one year must have the landlord’s signature acknowledged before a notary.
Government Law Offices Representing Separate Agencies in Adjudicated Disputes. The Board approved the Committee on Professional Ethics’ suggested changes to the Rules of Professional Conduct (RPC) to address conflicts between existing rules and Washington court decisions in situations where lawyers in a single government law office represent separate departments or agencies of that government adverse to each other in adjudicated disputes. Specifically, the recommended amendment would create a new RPC 1.7(c) and related comment to clarify that a lawyer is not in violation when acting in certain internal government representations. The recommendation will now go before the Washington Supreme Court for consideration and possible publication for comment.
Other business
The Board also:
- Received the Washington State Bar Foundation’s annual report, which included gifting and fundraising highlights.
- Held a debrief of the 2023 Access to Justice Conference, which included key takeaways and heartfelt thanks to the planning committee.
- Held an executive session to discuss the Executive Director’s FY23 evaluation.
SAVE THE DATE > The next regular meeting is Jan. 12–13 in Seattle. To subscribe to the Board Meeting Notification list, email barleaders@wsba.org.