Masks and Low Bono ponderings

My mask collection (Top) Union mask, Atomo Coffee; (Bottom) Two by Ellen from early in the pandemic, a plain mask from Target. (Not shown): the other Target mask and my orange bandanna, ket ni the car, and a white mask from IRS. 

Friday's Low Bono roundtable was interesting, as after we pondered the BOG's tabling of the Mission Statement proposed changes, we circled around the issue that our legal community's various charitable efforts were very praiseworthy but also a reflection of how screwed up our legal system is. Examples were provided to me that it's hard practicing in multiple counties because procedures differed; on the one hand, this might allow for local preferences, on the other hand this drove up costs as it restricted who can effectively practice where (and everywhere reinvented their own processes). Because some statewide utility for basic court procedures (e.g. divorce) might improve things but there are countervailing interests, plus startup costs.

Sunday Home Tinkering

Since I have been notified that my place of business will be reopening mid-July, I updated ORCA for the first time in month. It seemed logical to add to the epurse instead of ordering a month pass, but we'll see if that works. I have concerns about returning to work, what with the virus, but we'll see.
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To the WSBA Low Bono Section Listserve:

Friends: if you missed the Low Bono Roundtable this week, you missed an engaging discussion of pandemic time virtual trial practice : 

* One caller said he'd done both a telephonic hearing and a zoom hearing. The telephonic hearing was slow and annoying because it's not clear who's talking when. The zoom hearing was better, but there were still problems because zoom is not optimized for trial practice, e.g. how the heck do you talk privately with your client? 

* One caller was concerned about trial rules in (?Thurston?) County.
** The rule about sending each witness a complete copy of all documents to be introduced was a non-starter - a witness whose only job is to authenticate document "A" should not have a copy of unrelated medical report "B". The caller got the judge to waive that but why was the rule even there?
** The trial is open, which on the internet means to everyone on the planet - not just people who will take the time to travel to the courtroom. (Remember when you couldn't videorecord a trial? wasn't that .... February?) To be fair, Zoom observers have to promise not to record it, which is enforceable not at all. Might that impact a DV witness?

There was a lot more (need free CLE? See http://4freeCLE.blogspot.com )  but to get the full flavor, join in the next one. We need your thoughts!

End Of Week Misc

At VAPSHCS I met Cyril, Nate and Al (whose last name I forget) at Director Taddich's office to discuss issues. I confirmed that magazine donations could resume at Stage 3 (but had to take home the ones I'd brought.) Going into the hospital required screening and they gave me a wrist band to show I'd passed.
Leigh at FEEST sent me a consent form so that the donor PCC could use the photo of us in their materials describing their charitable work. Fun! although that was in the pandemic's early days, so I think I had a bandanna mask with rubberband earholders; I hope I had my "Hold Fast" gloves too!
I attended the Lo Bono Section roundtable. I introduced myself with the billing story of Mary's case, with the moral "I wished I'd kept track of my hours better!" which got a big laugh and a long discussion of methods. Most of the meeting was discussing the LLLT sunsetting; my contribution was to describe how it might have gotten tangled up with the 2014/2015 Sections cash grab debate. I have a lot to learn on the rest of the subject, since those present felt that a skilled LLLT was a big asset at a good price. The medical profession has a spectrum of professional skills, so why not the legal profession? The problem of funding implementation is knotty. Discussion to continue since the sunsetting is a reality but the need may continue.
In the evening, several of us tried zoom gaming as a way to get together. This worked pretty well. Originally we were just practicing gaming as an exercise to liven up next week's Time Bank meeting, but it turned out almost everyone who wanted to practice couldn't make the Time Bank meeting, so we decided just to have the practice for fun. It turns out Codenames via Horsepaste works well. As when playing in person, my team won most of the time but I made a few hilarious missteps.

Front Yard Rose And Pal

Bird House Tree

High Density Bird Housing

Horse Flower

Joyful container flower garden

Little Free Library of Simple Design

House Painted To Match Little Free Library

Tiny Red Survivor House

Milk Jug Slow Watering Device

Meeting Day

In the morning I met Hannah (rhymes with "Donna") and Julie for the usual walk. I saw a collection of wooden bears.

At noon was the WSBA/WPTL program on El Salvador. Because I am so used to producing these programs (but this time was merely supporting Dwight through the process) I had neglected to actually sign up for the thing and therefore had not link. Fortunately the signup process went pretty quickly, and I was able to get in having missed only the first couple of minutes.
Immediately afterwards was a Zoom meeting for WSBA Section leaders, part of a series about improving Section workings generally. This one was specifically about technology.  I feel this was quite successful and I set a report to WPTL's leadership:

Hi Anne And The WPTL Crew

Today there was a Section Leader Zoom meeting on the topic of serving our members with technology. Here's my takeways. 

WPTL is used as an good example, and in particular last month's all-day program.

ZOOM EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETINGS:

Many people find Zoom a better than a phone call for EC meetings and the like. This provides helpful visual nuances are helpful, and saves time because it's easier to tell who's speaking, and documents can be presented, reviewed or worked on.

ZOOM ROUNDTABLES:

Some sections (Lo Bono and maybe Solo/Small Practice) are hosting zoom roundtables for members to come and talk things over; 1 hour with little agenda. Ppl seem to enjoy it and we get to know each other better. It's good for networking.

EVENT TIME LIMITS

The On24 tool for webinars can't be used after 5pm because it requires a WSBA staff member.

However, if we want to have an event that goes into an evening using another tool (e.g. zoom, or a law firm's videoconferencing solution) the staff will work with us on meeting the requirements, such as proof of attendee signin.

COMMUNICATION/LISTSERVE:

Some sections have active listserves, mostly for talking about their practice.

Others have very limited utilization. I mentioned that we'd tried getting conversations started but it just didn't seem to work for us. Some use Slack for working on a project, and Trello for project planning.

COLLABORATION:

There was a lot of  enthusiasm for intet-sectional collaboration, and talking over collaboration with each other more generally

NORMALIZATION

We may just have to accept that virtual meetings are the norm now and for months to come. They have advantages for people geographically dispersed

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There were also calls about an issue with a hospital employee, which gets complicated fast. I may have to attend a meeting Monday.

Zooming WSBA

West Seattle Watchbush?

I returned from the usual morning walk (see photos) and the scheduled FEEST shop and drop in time to participate in a WSBA Section Leaders Zoom meeting. The focus was on executive committee recruitment and succession issues - something that we at WPTL rarely focus on, except for the annual executive committee candidate recruitment. It was a productive discussion, as I heard from some smaller sections that their process was as minimal and frustrating as ours, and from some bigger sections about how their process was well organized and effective and frustrating. I hope to report to WPTL's EC on this soon and maybe we'll do better.
After zoomba, I gardened until it was almost dark. This seems to be a better time of day than the morning, since in the morning I have so many plans for the day, but in the evening I am just chilling. I finished off the south side bed that's near the foundation - originally intended as an herb garden - and pulled the morning glory from the peas on the north fence.
I'm renaming the audience Participation speech to "Part of the Presentation" to make it more mysterious, and scheduled myself for the hot seat next Tuesday. I hope it'll be helpful to the members, and give me a recording to send STU.

Anne Lamott Quote

Street Ants

Literally - Not Figuratively - Buzzing With Activity

Deck Wreck

2018 World Peace Through Law programs that I produced

Contents

January 31, 2018: Paving the Way for Peace: Civility in the Legal System.. 1

May 25, 2018: African Asylum Seekers in Israel: Historical Context and Current Status. 2

July 10, 2018: Anatomy of a Genocide Investigation and Prosecution:  Solving the murders of 8,000 men and boys from Srebrenica, Bosnia. 2

August 27, 2018: Space Law: Pursuing Peace Through Law.. 3

October 5, 2018: Climate Rights: Defense of Activists and Climate Justice. 3

November 6, 2018: New Developments in the Law of the Sea. 4

January 31, 2018: Paving the Way for Peace: Civility in the Legal System

Description:
In these challenging times fraught with conflict, social injustice, and polarized political discourse, we need leaders who practice civility and foster peace. Civility calls upon us to approach issues with self-awareness, respect, and humaneness. Instead of silencing voices or maintaining the status quo, civility creates the understanding and compassion necessary for an inclusive and diverse dialogue.

Because we rely on our justice system to prevent and resolve disputes, when members of the legal profession lead with civility, ensure a more equitable process that affirmatively enhances the experience of all the parties, results in better outcomes, and builds public confidence in the justice system.

In this session, we will review the ways incivility harms us personally and impedes justice. We will discuss how practicing civility complies with the Washington State Rules of Professional Conduct sections 1.1, 1.2, and 3.5. And  because civility, like peace, begins within each of us, we will then focus on strategies for nurturing within ourselves a practice of civility. By practicing civility, lawyers and judges not only promote the interests of justice, but as leaders in their communities, they also model ways to engage in challenging discourse to obtain greater understanding, resolve conflict, and pave the way toward peace within the greater society.

Speaker:

Tim Jaasko-Fisher served as Assistant Attorney General for 11 years, litigating at all levels of the justice system in Washington State, from administrative tribunals to the Supreme Court. For 8 years he was the founding director of the Court Improvement Training Academy at the University of Washington School of Law, and then for four years he was a Senior Director at the Civility Center for the Law, a private, non-profit dedicated to promoting civility in the legal system and based at Seattle University School of Law. He continues to facilitate, present, and consult internationally on leadership, civility, and engaging groups in complex problem-solving.

May 25, 2018: African Asylum Seekers in Israel: Historical Context and Current Status

Description:

This program addresses the history and current status of African refugees in Israel. There are approximately 38,000 refugees from African countries residing in Israel and seeking asylum. Israel has not responded to most applications for asylum and has considered mass deportation. The purpose of this talk is to educate about the sociopolitical evolution of the current situation and recent events. In addition, the program will provide an overview of international law principles that apply to refugees in Israel, as well as domestic law within Israel that has shaped refugee status and rights.

Speakers:
Attorney Tomer Gutman clerked in Southern District of California Federal Court then joined Worden Williams LLP, where he focuses his practice on trust administration, litigation, business and property. Previously he served in the Israeli Defense Forces and also founded the San Diego branch of the youth service organization Friends of Israel Scouts - Tzofim.

His coloquitur Oded Oron was born and raised near Tel-Aviv and worked as an Editor at Ha’aretz and as a Consultant for Israel’s Government Press Office.

July 10, 2018: Anatomy of a Genocide Investigation and Prosecution:  Solving the murders of 8,000 men and boys from Srebrenica, Bosnia

Description:
In this CLE, attendees will be taught how war crimes cases are investigated and adjudicated.  Learn about: 

·         Phases of the investigation – field work, exhumations, document analysis

·         Challenges parties face in investigating war crimes cases

·         Using evidence gathered in the field to litigate cases of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes at trial and on appeal

·         The work of the International Criminal Tribunal of the Former Yugoslavia.

Speakers:

Stefanie Frease worked for 15 years on international criminal investigations in the Balkans, Asia and Africa.  She was a researcher/investigator and Special Advisor to the Prosecutor for the UN’s Yugoslavia Tribunal in The Hague, The Netherlands. She was a lead member of the investigation in Srebenica. She initiated the Darfur, Sudan investigation for the International Criminal Court in The Hague and later consulted on matters related to political violence in Kenya and the Ivory Coast. 

Attorney Kyle Wood worked as a trial and appellate prosecutor at the International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia for 10 years and has helped investigate allegations of mass atrocities committed against the Rohingya in Myanmar. During his time there, Mr. Wood helped litigate six Srebrenica-related cases involving 13 soldiers, political leaders and police officers charged with genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. He is now an Assistant Washington State Attorney General in the Criminal Justice Division.

August 27, 2018: Space Law: Pursuing Peace Through Law

Description:
Space law was catalyzed by the 1957 launch of Sputnik I by the former Soviet Union. Faced with an unprecedented technology capable of placing nuclear weapons in space the world’s nations had a choice: law or war? They chose law. This presentation will briefly describe their choices and how they resulted in international and national space law.

Speakers:

Professor Joanne Gabrynowicz has been teaching space law since 1987 at the Univ. of North Dakota and the Univ. of Mississippi. She was the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Space Law for 12 years. Prof. Gabrynowicz is an internationally recognized expert who lectures around the world including at University of Vienna, University of Warsaw, Beijing Institute of Technology School of Law, China University of Political Science and Law, and Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Currently, Prof. Gabrynowicz serves on three U.S. Federal advisory committees and is the recipient of numerous awards and honors. Most recently the International Astronomical Union recognized her work by naming an asteroid after her. 

October 5, 2018: Climate Rights: Defense of Activists and Climate Justice

Description:
In this special presentation by Climate Defense Project, this program will focus on the legal defense of climate activists both within and outside Washington state, particularly as it relates to movement lawyering, political trials, and justification defenses. Topics will include professional aspects of representing activist-clients. Finally, the presenters will touch on issues of climate injustice and Indigenous rights, as well as the pursuit of complementary legal strategies by the climate movement.

Speakers:
Alice Cherry and Ted Hamilton are staff attorneys at Climate Defense Project, which they co-founded with Kelsey Skaggs in 2016. CDP is a legal nonprofit that provides advice and support to the climate movement in the United States and internationally. CDP has been active in promoting the climate necessity defense, which climate protesters increasingly use to defend themselves in court. In 2017, CDP helped secure the first two written rulings recognizing a protest defendant's right to present the climate necessity defense at a jury trial.

In 2014, while students at Harvard Law School, Alice and Ted spearheaded the first lawsuit seeking to compel a university to divest its endowment of fossil fuel stocks. Their work has been reported on by the New York Times, ThinkProgress, Forbes, and The New Yorker

November 6, 2018: New Developments in the Law of the Sea

Description:

• Brief introduction to the Law of the Sea
• Legal developments in the Law of the Sea
• Challenges and issues currently developing in the Law of the Sea.

Speaker:
Eden Charles, former Ambassador to the United Nations from Trinidad and Tabago, brings almost 20 years of expertise in negotiation, international law and multilateral diplomacy, not only as Ambassador at Trinidad and Tobago to the United Nations but also including appointments such as Lead Negotiator for the Member States of the Caribbean Community, Lead Negotiator of the United Nations Diplomatic Conference on the Arms Trade Treaty, and Chair of the Preparatory Committee for the conclusion of a new international legally binding agreement under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity beyond areas of national jurisdiction. He is on the line with us today from his office in Trinidad.

Cut WSBA By 25%? Washington Lawyers Must Vote No!

Chopping 25% Is Not Smart

Suddenly, we Washington State lawyers are faced with a vote on whether to cut WSBA's dues by 25%. That's just nuts!
For $39.95 a month, we get not just the licensing side, but a free listing on the online lawyers' directory, free use of the ethics hotline, Casemaker, LOMAP, the Lawyers' Assistance Program, and a whole lot of stuff that the proposed cut threatens to take away. The proposed cut is just not good business sense!Maybe the people who signed the referendum got confused because WSBA is both a licensing body and a professional association. We can't get out of the licensing function; that's for the State Supreme Court to decide, and it's not going to happen. WSBA has no power to abandon or cut back on its regulatory functions!
Therefore, all of the cuts come out of the member benefits side. And the member benefits side is at most 26% of the part of the budget paid for by dues, a 25% cut in dues almost eliminates member benefits. How do you like that?
Certainly WSBA should operate at maximum efficiency, and keep squeezing the pennies. However, suddenly chopping out 25% is too much, too fast.
The people who collected signatures for the referendum got organized and surprised the rest of us (...did anyone ask YOU? no-one asked ME!). We have at most 2 months to think this one over. Therefore, I urge my fellow WA Attorney's to "Like" Attorneys United to Preserve WSBA, spread the word to friends rapidly, and above all VOTE!
Facts about the License fee Referendum

The Anti-Social Networking Specialist

Today's Facepalm: Our geographically dispersed group of volunteers wants to use social media to discuss current issues; it's especially important to have internet-accessible archives for newbies to consult.

(I'm not gonna name names,because friends are involved...)

We asked the paid staffer assigned to promote social media to help us, but she wanted to see a plan first. To create such a plan we needed a venue through which to discuss it, which would seem to suggest using a simple social networking facility, such as a facebook group or at least a listserve.

Not to the "Social Networking Specialist". Rather than even try some form of social networking facility, she insisted Our geographically dispersed group of volunteers wants to use social media to discuss current issues; it's especially important to have internet-accessible archives for newbies to consult. We asked the paid staffer assigned to promote social media to help us, but she wanted to see a plan first. To create such a plan we needed a venue through which to discuss it, which would seem to suggest using a simple social networking facility, such as a facebook group or at least a listserve.

Not to the "Social Networking Specialist". Rather than even try some form of social networking facility, she insisted "I've had success over email and by phone meetings".
 
Heck, I've "had success" with phone meetings. I've even had success with punched cards. Why the heck are we trying to use technology at all, when we "had success" with sticks and rocks?
 
Look, it's not that hard to set up a simple social media forum with which to discuss the building of something more permanent. Unless, of course, you're paid to do it!

Weigh In on WSBA's Website!

The Washington State Bar Association needs and wants your help in figuring out how to improve its web presence which currently sucks. Potential users, who include lawyers, other legal system professionals, and anyone who has contact with or interest in our justice system, have been asked:

• Think of the wsba.org site holistically from an outside perspective – initial thoughts?
• Audiences of the website – who and what are they looking for?
• What would you like to see on the site when you first come to it?
• Now, think of wsba.org as a member, a volunteer or as a lawyer:
• What do you like as a user of the site?
• What do you dislike as a user of the site?
• What features would you like to see on the site?
• What is missing that would make the site more easy to use and obtain information?
• Are there other website examples you find that offer what you would like to see?
• If you are a bar leader (Sections, Access to Justice, Committee Chair, etc.)
• how would you like to see your areas treated in the site?
• What functionality needs does your specific focus area need?
• What are your thoughts on Social Media integration for wsba.org as well as other areas of the site with their own identity?
• The wsba.org website will also be going through a rebrand, which will be carried through to other marketing materials. The logo will remain the same, but what are your thoughts as to other styles that can be applied?

What You Should Do

• Think. Then ... 
• Post your comments 
• At wsba.org (Oh wait! There's no way to do that!), or
• Below (I promise to pass it on), or
• In the discussion on WYLD's Facebook Discussion, or
• In the discussion on Washington State Legal Professionals' LinkedIn, or
• In another venue, but please tell me about it so I can add it here.

As I See It

As a licensing organization, WSBA is necessarily controlling and conservative (in the classical sense): staid, stodgy, careful, meticulous, planned and more concerned with fulfilling rules handed down from above than in being responsive to those it licenses. That's not necessarily a bad thing; you don't want the people who wield the power of the State to flail around with it capriciously.

As a service organization, it should have precisely the opposite dynamic: innovative, risk-taking, and above all driven by the needs of its membership. This is fundamentally at odds with the licensing function! WSBA's services are compromised by its need to control information, which may work in old-school media but, as we say in the industry, The Internet treats censorship as a communications failure and routes around it.

Let's give props to WSBA for trying (look, it's even got a Twitter!) and now ... let's help fix the problem!

Top 5 Reasons www.wsba.org Sucks

EDITTED 2022-05-21: This article is from 2019. The website being criticized is much better now. Still, this post remains as a bit of memory - REW)

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It's so easy to do a website right; why does the website of the Washington State Bar Assocation (www.wsba.org) stubbornly insist on sucking?

Broken Search Engine

The most unusual single feature of wsba.org is a centrally placed graphic inviting you to telephone them if you have trouble using the website. It is difficult to find anything on the web that is unique, but this graphic's frank admission that this website is hard to use is pretty rare. However, its implication is forthright and correct: it can be difficult to find things on www.wsba.org because the search engine is broken. Enter a term into the tiny "Search" box (16 characters wide; longer search terms sidescroll adequately, but the box is limited due to being preceding by the word "search" and followed by "go". Clicking on "search" does nothing (a web standards violation) but when you click "go" (meaning "search") you get patently broken results.

Compare and Contrast

The search results we all know and love, whether from google, yahoo or msn live seach have a very similar look, and for good reason: it works!

• Page title: This is a hotlink to the page itself, and its status as a hotlink is emphasized by distinctive fonting and underlining
• Snippets: typically the first few words on the page, or in the case of documents, a description from the document metadata
• URL
• Misc.

Typically the search results show at least five, and usually more, results without scrolling. WSBA.org's search results are different. Each item in the search result consists of the following:

• One meaningless word: In the case of web pages, this appears to be the file name, e.g. 1998proposal.htm. In the case of documents, it appears to be a word from the document metatext, e.g. "draft". This word is hotlinked to the page or document itself, but you can't tell that because it's neither in a distinctive font nor underlined.
• Red dots: These rank the results relevance, which is worthless since the ranking is apparent from the display order (that is, the most relevant results show first.) The red dots DO use up valuable page real estate because the rest of the search results won't appear under them.
• The word "Abstract": This appears in every search result. It has no function except (A) to use the same font as "One Word" above, thus confusing the user as to what to click on, and (B) to emphasize the worthlessness of the next item: "Random Text"
• Random Text: five or six lines of it! It appears that the site intends this to be snippetry, but it's not. In the case of webpages, these appear to be the navigational text from the web page. Let me restate this: every search result that is a web page includes as its snippet five or six lines of the freaking navigational text from the web page!: "About. Committees. Documents. Contact. Links. FIND LEGAL ASSISTANCE. PRO BONO COMMITTEE. LEGAL COMMUNITY CALENDAR. FAQ." Now, to be fair, in the case of documents, the snippet appears to be actual metatext from the document, which could actually be useful, although prolix; two lines suffice.
• URL: Appropriately hotlinked.
• Misc: Document size and last update

The search results fits about 3 results without scrolling, and usually more, results without scrolling. This is largely because of the five or six lines of meaningless words, but also due to the Wasted Width described below.

Non-ADA-compliance

Compliance with Americans With Disabilities Act is a proxy for easily used navigation. Like curb cuts and wheelchair ramps, the features that make a website usable by persons with disabilities also make it easier to use by everyone. WSBA.org fails in many respects. In particular, tabbed navigation is extremely difficult.

Wasted Width

The website pages have width fixed at about 8 inches, and of that, half is used up in navigational features (on the left) and in advertising for internal site features on the right.. Thus the actual content, when view on a normal 10- or 15-inch monitor, is restricted to about 25% of the screen. This results in excessive scrolling. On small devices, e.g. Blackberries, the situation isn't much better due to the excessive use of side columns. While WSBA is far from the only website to use fixed width (i.e. http://www.osbar.org/ ) its restriction of usable content to 25% of the web page is unusual among website that don't use the rest of the space to create revenue, typically by external advertising.

WSBA.org Blue!

Subsets of the site have an entirely different layout. When you click on "Lawyer Directory" or "MCLE Website", a new window opens (another standards violation) and you are presented with a website that has an entirely different navigational system, color scheme, and so forth. This is unusual; most organization try to maintain consistent look-and-feel across its website. This "WSBA Blue" website has lookups of different databases. The public most likely uses the WSBA member information, called the "Lawyer Directory" on WSBA.org; to access it from the WSBA Blue site, you click on the "Public" tab. (The WSBA Blue "Public" tab is completely different in content from the WSBA.org "For the Public" tab.) This Lawyer Directory has several peculiarities evident when your search result has more than one entry. You can have many reasons for getting more than one entry as the result of your search. For example, you might be looking for a particular lawyer but all you remember is his name is "Johnson", first name starts with "H". Or perhaps you want a divorce lawyer in Seattle. So you get to WSBA Blue and enter "Johnson" and click search. Or you enter "Seattle" in "City", pick "Family Law" from the "Practice Area" scroll box, and click Seach. The first thing you notice is that the couple of hundred lawyers listed are sorted by bar number. This is a remarkably stupid, since if you already know the member's bar number, you'd simply search on bar number. It might as well be completely unsorted But, if your search results go for more than 1 page, you've got bigger problems. While the search result will cheerfully tell you that you have found 295 lawyers, it won't tell you how many it is showing per page or how many pages in all you have. In fact, there's no indication at all that you've got a multiple pages, until you scroll all the way down to the bottom, where there's a text "next page". In contrast, standard practice is to have: number of items, number on current page, number of pages in all, and a means of jumping to any later page. Let's say you scroll through every page, and click to every next page. When you reach the last page of the search results, you don't necessarily know it; the "next page" link is still present, not even grayed out. It's no longer a hyperlink but it's the same color and font as its companion "prior page" link so you can spend time trying to figure out why it doesn't work. You can try to save a little time by by clicking on a column header, thereby sorting the results by that column. This can convert your useless bar-number sequence into more useful sequence. For instance, you can sort your Seattle lawyers by last name, or your "Johnson" lawyers by first name. Unfortunately, this breaks when you go to the 2nd page of results. Even though the sorted 1st page contains items from, potentially, every page in the query, when you click "next page" you're back to bar-number sequence again. Think about the implications of that for a moment.

This is the End

I've posted on this subject, because I've been involved with the WSBA for more than a decade and don't like my member dues going to support something that is unnecessarily ineffectual. I have drawn the attention of that organization to these issues on several occasions; nothing has been done except on the rare occasion when I got a pack of Washington attorneys to contact the WSBA and asking for a fix. I hope that presenting this publicly will result in some mild inquiries by the Washington lawyers who pay good money to support that site. Or maybe it won't. One delightful thing about the maturation of the internet is that centralized data stores may become less relevant. The WSBA's leadership may simply fade away as other, more effective groups develop. What can ya do?

WPTL Year That Was

I just put together an annual report for the
Washington State Bar Association World Peace Through
Law Section, whose educational program I run as a
hobby.

I'm rather proud of our speaker list, and hope that
you may find some of the links of interest. Here's the
short version:

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September (2006): Attorney Julia Bolz.
In 1998, Bolz left her partnership with Ryan, Swanson
and Cleveland in Seattle to provide legal and policy
development assistance in Africa, Central America and
Central Asia.

Recently, Julia has worked to address the plight of
Afghani girls who have long suffered under the
Taliban's repressive policies toward women. Julia
founded the Journey for Afghan Schools program to
establish cultural ties between Afghanistan and U.S.
schools. With Julia's leadership, and aided by
donations from Seattle students, eight schools for
girls have been constructed, and five restored, in
Afghanistan.

October: Professor Joel Ngugi & Judge Patricia Paul.
They spoke on the relationship between International
Law and the Rights of Indigenous People, based on
their experience in Kenya and on American
reservations.

November: Attorney Phillip Ginsberg and Jen Marlow.
He presented the law of genocide, followed by Jen on
the facts about Darfur. You may have seen Jen's
documentary "Darfur Diaries":
http://www.darfurdiaries.org/

December: Our Year-End Roundup of Human Rights
* David Horn Member of Lambda Legal (
http://www.lambdalegal.org/ ) gave an update on
Marriage Equality Legislation and Case Law in the
United States and Abroad
He was both erudite and witty, nothing that while
Jeffrey Daumer had the right to marry, he himself did
not since, apparantly being the greater threat to
society.

* Lincoln Miller & Robin Nielsen of the Rural
Development Institute (http://www.rdiland.org/) told
of their innovation use of Land Law in Poverty
Alleviation, primarily in South Asia.

* Diane Atkinson spoke on the integration of Public
Health and Human Rights. We take a lot of basic public
health matters for granted here (e.g. water and
sewage) but, where they are lacking, the basic right
to life is in trouble.

January: A panel of American veterans (a JAG, a judge,
and three grunts) discussed "What Is An Illegal
Order?".

The black-letter law is much simpler than the reality
as experienced by the troops.

March: Professor Mary Patricia Treuthart.
What's it like teaching law in Kosovo.

April: Attorney Matt Harris
Department of Peace legislation. See
http://www.usip.gov and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Department_of_Peace

May: Beth Rivin & Roslyn Solomon
Using international human rights law to improve health
systems from South Africa to Tacoma.

June: Salvador Tinajero, Consul of Mexico.
Litigating in The Inter-American Human Rights System
to improve human rights in Mexico
http://www.cidh.oas.org

July: Participants in the UW Guatemala Project.
"The Shifting Terrain of Human Rights in Contemporary
Guatemala". This is a wholly remarkable project, which
gives me hope for our new generation.
http://students.washington.edu/uwgp

August: Professors Menhajuddin Hamed, Mohammad Haroon
Mutasem, Wali Mohammad Naseh, Humayoun Rahimi of the
law schools in Kabul and Mazur-e-Sharif.
In town for the Asian Law Program (
http://www.law.washington.edu/AsianLaw/ ), they
discussed juggling constitutional, religious and
traditional law.
For example, textual conflicts between their
constitution's gaurantee of equal rights for women
(something, ahem, the US constitution could use...)
and gender differences defined by religion are usually
less important in a village than the traditional
culture, which is usually very sexist.
They also pointed out that "Islamic Law" differs from
place to place; just as Christianity has a variety of
sects, so does Islam.
Many thing done in the name of Islam are actually
matter of culture.
Difficult texts (such as the penalty for apostacy) are
worked out differently by different scholars (Islam
has no "Pope" running things) so there's quite a
struggle going on over the hard parts.
They explained that what Afghanistan needs is peace
and education - a perfect system can wait until a good
system is working.
----

Well, that was the year that was. The upcoming year
should be interesting as well.
If you ever get the chance to meet any of the people
above, don't pass it by. "Life is what happens while
you're making other plans."

Oh yeah you can get more info on the above programs:
http://rewinn.com/7000

The World Peace Through Law Section at 25

From the WSBA Bar News April 2006

The World Peace Through Law Section at 25

A Conversation with Former Section Chair Randall Winn

by Robin Lindley

In 1980, Ronald Reagan was elected president, defeating Jimmy Carter. Adolfo Perez Esquivel of Argentina won the Nobel Peace Prize for promoting human rights in Latin America, and the World Health Organization announced the worldwide eradication of smallpox.

In that same year, at the height of the Cold War, a group of prescient Washington attorneys formed the World Peace Through Law Section of the Washington State Bar Association.

As explained in a February 1981 Bar News account, the goal of the World Peace Through Law Section "is to encourage lawyers to involve themselves in the current international effort to improve the effectiveness of international law and legal institutions. A fundamental purpose of the Section is to help promote the development of world peace with fairness and justice for all human beings throughout the world."

At the Section's December 2005 meeting, keynote speaker Congressman Jim McDermott (Seventh Dist.-WA) stressed the growing importance and timely concerns of the Section, and urged lawyers to educate the public on international law and legal approaches to issues of peace and human rights. Other speakers discussed the legal workings of the United Nations, human trafficking, trade sanctions, and the proposed U.S. Department of Peace.

Randall Winn, a Seattle attorney, served as chair of the World Peace Through Law Section from September 2003 through December 2005, and is the current chair-elect. Mr. Winn earned a J.D. degree at the Western New England College School of Law in Springfield, Massachusetts, and a certificate in international law from the McGeorge School of Law (University of Pacific) program in Salzburg, Austria. Winn grew up in Everett, and decided to return to the Puget Sound area after law school. He established a private law practice, and continued his past work in computer programming. He served as the WSBA webmaster for several years.

Randall commented on the activities of the World Peace Through Law Section at 25, and his hopes for the future of the section in the 21st century.

Lindley: It's the 25th anniversary of the Section. Talk about the work of the Section.

Winn: Like all State Bar sections, we're a voluntary group of lawyers. We meet to educate ourselves and others, particularly through CLEs each month with expert speakers on issues of law and peace.

Lindley: How is the Section different from the International Practice Section?

Winn: The International Practice Section relates to commercial matters. I'd like to see more joint programs with them, [because] people who trade with one another are less likely to fight. And [for example,] we could learn how commercial entities resolve disputes and deal with cultural differences.

Lindley: In this post-Cold War world, the Section continues to deal with disarmament and related issues, but also increasingly focuses on human rights. And human rights are inextricably bound to establishing peaceful societies and international relations.

Winn: The biggest issue in the Cold War was arms control. When there's a crisis that can leave everyone dead in 30 minutes, it focuses the mind, and peace becomes the absence of nuclear war. But now, other issues are coming to the fore . . . and we can deal with the spectrum of peace issues from nations not being at war to nations extending human rights to individuals. For example, [U.S. District Court] Judge Coughenour recently spoke of his work on criminal law reform in the former Soviet Union.

Lindley: As Section chair, you've offered monthly CLEs with experts who speak on international peace and human rights.

Winn: It's a great member benefit, and members love it. It fulfills our educational mandate, and it's good for networking. [I've found that] experts love to spread their information, to talk about their work. If you've defended an accused war criminal from Rwanda or Yugoslavia, you want to talk about it. Or if you're a professor, you want to talk about your area of expertise. They're willing to take an hour of their lives to talk with lawyers about their work.

Lindley: You've attracted willing local speakers with notable expertise.

Winn: Yes, with your help as chair-elect. We haven't had to import experts from New York or Washington, D.C. We have many experts in this area. We've had programs with a member of congress, a federal court judge, a Marine JAG, two defense attorneys at the war crimes tribunals, professors from the University of Washington and Seattle University, [Washington] practitioners, and others.

Lindley: It's been an honor to recruit these accomplished speakers for the CLE programs. The first program I arranged featured Prof. Ron Slye of Seattle University School of Law, an expert in human rights law who had worked with the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission. He started a series of programs by offering an overview of international law.

Winn: He addressed . . . the ostensible conflict between our Constitution and international law, [as well as] the sovereignty of nations, and treaty obligations.

Lindley: The CLE presentations have tackled issues pulled from the headlines. They've included programs on torture, genocide, investigation and prosecution of war crimes, the new Iraqi constitution, the Alien Tort Claims Act, the application of the Geneva Conventions, post-conflict legal reform, as well as human trafficking, indigenous rights, global health and justice, and other international human-rights issues.

Winn: There's a hunger for knowledge, and our Section members want to know more than they get in newspapers. So we've been getting experts, like a defense counsel before the International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia. In the absence of knowledge, it's easy to dismiss international law, but when an attorney comes in and says I defended this person before an international tribunal and justice was done, it illustrates the way the law works. By having speakers on the International Criminal Court [ICC], some misgivings about the Court were dispelled. The newspapers and talk radio don't explain that the Court first needs jurisdiction to act. Most international courts cannot operate until national remedies are exhausted, and a case gets to an international tribunal only if the nation with original jurisdiction asks the tribunal to take it, or the laws of the nation with original jurisdiction are demonstrably illegitimate, neither of which will happen with the U.S.

Lindley: It would be unlikely that a U.S. soldier would be brought before the ICC.

Winn: Very unlikely, because we have a functioning military judicial system. If we want the ICC to work, we need to be part of it. [As attorney David Danielson described], the ad hoc war crimes tribunal for Rwanda had a slow and clumsy process, and was very dependent on the successor Rwandan government where the crimes were committed. The ICC eliminates some of these problems. Without an expert speaker, we never would have known of the conditions of the tribunal for Rwanda, convened in Arusha, Tanzania.

Lindley: What would you like to see develop with the Section?

Winn: I want to see the CLE program continue. I'd like to attract more people to leadership positions. It's good for the Section to broaden the leadership, to have a broad pool of talent to draw on. And I'd like to make a plea to younger lawyers: Our section is unique in that there are not a lot of experts on public international law, and it offers an opportunity for younger lawyers to learn to lead a section or network . . . to talk with anyone in the Bar Association and with regional experts. With the list serve, we can meet with other lawyers in the law and justice community throughout the state.

Lindley: It seems that lawyers are impressed by the quality of the speakers at the Section CLE meetings, and they feel that the sessions are worthwhile.

Winn: Absolutely worthwhile. And there's an opportunity for networking after the meetings. It's valuable, and you can't put a price on it.

Lindley: And the Section has grown.

Winn: Yes. Our meetings can't fit around a table any longer. We've had to use theater seating.

Lindley: Any other thoughts on the section in the 21st century?

Winn: I'm looking forward to progress on the subject matter. It's easy to get depressed by the news. But we've learned of many good things happening through our speakers, like the Indonesian doctor-lawyer alliance for public health described by Dr. Beth Rivin of the UW School of Law. If, in a small way, we can bring light to questions like torture and human trafficking, and ways to deal with the legal aspects, we've done a service.

Lindley: And do you have a message for the new year?

Winn: Peace on Earth. One of the first Nobel Peace Prize winners said the road to peace is long, but don't be discouraged. Keep moving forward.

The World Peace Through Law Section holds one-hour, brown-bag CLEs on the last Tuesday of each month at noon at the WSBA office. The programs are free and open to the public. For further information on programs or other Section business, contact Section Chair Robin Lindley at roblindley@yahoo.com, or Chair-elect Randall Winn at rewinn2003@yahoo.com. 

Recent WSBA World Peace Through Law Section CLE Events

 9/15/03: The International Criminal Court � Anne Heindel
 11/24/03: Reflections on the Right to Peace � Jorge Madrazo-Cuellar
 3/22/04: Ethical Lessons from Watergate (Discussion and Video) � Video replay featuring Egil "Bud" Krogh, lead by John Rapp
 4/26/04: Economic and Security Obstacles to World Peace Through Law � Thomas Mengert, Paul Schlossman
 6/28/04:  Constitution and International Law � Ron Slye
 7/26/04: Indigenous and National Legal Rights in Chiapas � Luis Arriaga
 8/23/04: War Crimes Trials � David E. "Gene" Wilson, Valerie Gow, Ann Lewis
 9/27/04: Prisoner Abuse, American Law, and the Geneva Conventions � Rick Lorenz
 10/25/04: The International Criminal Tribunal in Rwanda: A Defense Lawyer's View � D. Danielson
 11/22/04: Sacks v. OFAC: Humanitarian Efforts vs. Sanctions � Bert Sacks
12/27/04: Year-end Roundup: Progress in Human Rights Law � Robin Lindley, Randy Winn
 1/24/05: Defending the Rights of Environmental Defenders � Marcia Newland
 2/28/05: Alien Tort Claims Act � Anita Ramasastry
 3/29/05: About the International Human Rights Clinic � Raven Lidman
 4/26/05: Global Health and Human Rights � Patricia Kuszler, Beth Rivin
 5/31/05: Human Trafficking � Gillian Apfel, Ye-Ting Woo, Norma Timbang
 6/28/05: Corrie v. Caterpillar � Gwynne Skinner
 7/26/05: Forensic Investigations and Human Rights � Dr. William Haglund.
 8/30/05: Iraq's New Constitution and Democratization in the Middle East �Kristin Stilt
 9/27/05: A Judge's View: Judicial Reform in Russia � Judge John C. Coughenour
 10/25/05: U.S. Department of Peace Legislative Status � Patricia Kuderer, Jack Smith
 11/29/05: European Human Rights Advocacy from 1790 to Present � Walter Walsh
 12/27/05: Year-end Review � Rep. Jim McDermott (keynote), Dr. James Maynard (United Nations and U.S. at a Crossroads), Gillian Apfel (Human Trafficking), Bert Sacks (humanitarian action and trade sanctions), and Jack Smith (proposed U.S. Department of Peace)
 1/31/06: The US, International Human Rights Law, and Torture � Dr. Jamie Mayerfeld
 2/28/06: International Human Rights and the Global Economy � Martha Schmidt

Robin Lindley, a Seattle attorney, is the 2006 chair of the World Peace Through Law Section. He is a Spokane native and graduate of the University of Washington School of Law. He has worked as a congressional attorney-investigator, federal agency attorney, law teacher, legal consultant, and public health manager/analyst. He is also a freelance writer and visual artist.