Once again, King County Bar Foundation’s Breakfast With Champions moved the charitable bar for legal services one notch higher. At 7:30 AM on March 17, 2004, hundreds of lawyers, judges, and other friends of justice gathered at The Westin Seattle to help the Foundation, ‘Bring in the Green for Justice.Ó
The Honorable Rosselle Pekelis presided, guiding the one-hour event through a fast-paced program of awards, recognitions, an inspiring keynote address, and the premiere of The Future of the Law video.
Joan Duffy Watt was named 2004 Champion of Diversity for her exceptional efforts, as Associate Dean of Seattle University’s School of Law, to increase the ethnic diversity of the faculty and student body. Ada Shen-Jaffee accepted the award for Columbia Legal Services, the 2004 Champion of Justice, in recognition of their many years of exemplary work in providing legal services to low income individuals throughout the state. The law firms of Perkins Coie and Preston Gates & Ellis were named Stars of the Firm-ament in appreciation for their consistent and generous financial commitment to the work of the Foundation.
Although keynoter Thomas J. Galligan, Jr., Dean, University of Tennessee College of Law reminisced with the gathering about his early years as a lawyer when he first discovered the importance of pro bono public service, the major thread of his remarks centered on the need for diversity in the profession. Using stories and personal experience he noted that justice for all will not truly be fact until the purveyors of that justice reflect the diversity of the community they purport to serve.
King County Executive Ron Sims and King County Prosecutor Norm Maleng wrapped up the proceedings in a spirited request that the audience provide financial support to the work of the Foundation.
Galligan’s remarks and the Future of the Law video will soon be available on CD. For more information, contact Ginna Owens, (206) 267-7006; ginnao@kcba.org.
