LET US HEAR FROM YOU!
We welcome letters to the editor on issues presented in the magazine. Email letters to wabarnews@wsba.org. All opinions, statements, and conclusions expressed in letters to the editor represent the views of the respective authors and do not necessarily carry the endorsement of the WSBA, its Board of Governors, or individual members of the Washington Bar. Publication of letters to the editor is not to be deemed an endorsement of the opinions, statements, and conclusions expressed by the author(s).
Bar Shows Poor Judgment
I voted for Theo Angelis for Washington Supreme Court Position #5, and I believe that if elected he will prove to be an excellent justice. I was extremely disappointed, though, to see Bar News recently feature a laudatory six-page story/interview with him and accompanying cover photo in the midst of his multi-candidate race. This amounts to an inappropriate thumb-on-the-scales move from an “official members magazine,” and reflects very poor judgment on the Bar journal’s part.
For many years I was a member of the King County Bar Association Judicial Screening Committee, and for a time its co-chair, as we interviewed and gave public ratings to Washington judges and those interested in judicial office. It was really important to be as fair as possible, and not to undermine the credibility of the ratings among the members of the Bar and the public. Bar News obviously serves a different role, but that role does not include spotlighting and showering with praise one of a number of judicial candidates on the eve of a primary election in a competitive race.
Michael Pierson
Seattle
The article in July/August Washington State Bar News featuring Judge Angelis while the primary election voting is in process could be considered a violation of Washington General Rule 12.2 and the WSBA Bylaws because:
GR 12.2 and WSBA
BYLAWS 1.C.3
ACTIVITIES NOT AUTHORIZED
The Washington State Bar Association will not:
3. Support or oppose, in an election, candidates for public office.
The WSBA assists the Washington Supreme Court in fulfilling the court’s responsibility to establish licensing requirements, to establish disciplinary procedures, to establish court procedures and rules, etc. The WSBA should not be perceived as promoting one Supreme Court candidate over other candidates. It should remain neutral as to the candidates running for election to the court that authorizes and supervises the WSBA’s activities.
Publishing an article highlighting the achievements and opinions of Justice Angelis in a magazine that represents the entire legal profession in Washington state during a primary election can be perceived as supporting Justice Angelis’ candidacy. The qualifications and achievements of Justice Angelis are impressive. But the other candidates may have equally impressive credentials.
I ask that the WSBA present a neutral stance during the upcoming general election and address in whatever forum it deems appropriate, that this article could give the appearance that the WSBA is supporting a candidate for the Washington Supreme Court.
Neil A. Currie
Kent
The July/August Bar News cover story features Justice Theo Angelis, a recently appointed Supreme Court justice, who is a candidate for election in the hotly contested August judicial primary. Justice Angelis is a gifted lawyer and well qualified. My concern is not with Justice Angelis but instead the choice of the Bar News to feature Justice Angelis on its cover exactly when voters are filling out their primary ballots.
The WSBA is prohibited from making endorsements in judicial elections because, of course, it is the administrative arm of the Washington Supreme Court. It is obviously a conflict of interest for the WSBA to endorse a member of the court in an election. The WSBA is also the arbiter of legal ethics in the profession: responsible for lawyer discipline and promoting public confidence in the integrity of the profession. It is therefore deeply troubling when the WSBA violates the spirit of the State Bar rules by effectively promoting a candidate for judicial office through its feature article. If not a direct conflict of interest, the article raises the appearance of a conflict.
The WSBA has done an injustice to all the other candidates for Position #5, its own reputation, and the already beleaguered public perception of the profession. In a time when the rule of law is under siege, and confidence in the legal system is rock bottom, we absolutely need the WSBA to abide by and uphold the highest ethical standards.
Suzanne Skinner
Mercer Island
EDITOR’S NOTE: It is our standard practice to interview and put on the cover of Bar News every new Washington Supreme Court Justice. These articles are intended to inform the WSBA membership about who sits on the state’s highest court. The articles are not endorsements and do not discuss elections. Although the timing of the interview of Justice Angelis came during an election cycle, we decided that not running it would be straying from our standard practice, as Justice Angelis is a current justice on the court. However, we understand the concerns expressed in these letters to the editor. With those concerns and other feedback in mind, we are having discussions about changing our standard practice going forward.
Lawyers as Fantastic Four Characters
As a kid in the early 1960s, I’d eagerly await each monthly issue of Marvel Comics’ Fantastic Four and lose myself in their superhero adventures. So when I heard this summer’s Bar News would feature lawyers and judges in primary and secondary classrooms, the postman couldn’t figure out why I was so excited to see him. As I turned the pages of the July/August article “Washington Lawyers Step Up for Democracy – From Courtrooms to Classrooms,” I realized I’d found my own new Fantastic Four.
Justice Salvador Mungia’s “half-baked,” Don Quixote-like quest, which became wonderfully real, has members of his firm partnering with an under-resourced elementary school. Justice Mungia and his firm follow a cohort of students from first through fifth grade, visiting twice a week, creating meaningful field trips, and gifting students special books of their own. Justice Mungia is, without question, my new Mr. Fantastic.
Christopher Takashi Bhang’s efforts to get to know the students on the Marysville YMCA Mock Trial team, then go the extra mile by reaching out to coaches from championship teams across the state, coupled with sharing in the hilarity, pride, and camaraderie of those remarkable teenagers, earns him an honorary place in my new Fantastic Four. He is my non-combustible Human Torch. Thankfully, the only thing Bhang sets ablaze is enthusiasm: for students, for service, and for the very best of our profession.
Reading about Judge Cecily Hazelrigg’s extraordinary work speaking to students from third grade through community college while recently helping create and launch the Lawyers in the Classroom program, I realized she is the living embodiment of the Fantastic Four’s Invisible Woman: quietly making powerful things happen behind the scenes.
And who is the fourth member of my current Fantastic Four?
Why, it’s our own Bar Association and its members. The very people that Judge Hazelrigg invited “to join us in this deeply important and rewarding work.”
Michael Goldenkranz
Seattle
Letters to the editor published in Bar News must respond to content presented in the magazine and also comply with Washington General Rule 12.2 and Keller v. State Bar of California, 496 U.S. 1 (1990). Bar News may limit the number of letters published based on available space in a particular issue and, if many letters are received in response to a specific piece in the magazine, may select letters that provide differing viewpoints to publish. Bar News does not publish anonymous letters or more than one letter from the same contributor per issue. All letters are subject to editing for length and grammatical accuracy.