The legal profession in Washington has no better friend than M. Janice Michels. Jan Michels has just retired as executive director of the Washington State Bar Association after nine years. She is riding off into the sunset — on her bicycle — with her husband, Alan Erickson, in pursuit of their favorite activities: riding bicycles, skiing and traveling.
As this year’s recipient of KCBA’s Friend of the Legal Profession Award, Jan has spent 20 years serving lawyers and judges as director of the King County Department of Judicial Administration and as the Superior Court clerk, and nine years as executive director of the WSBA. For 29 years, her professional life has been in service to the judiciary and the legal profession.
Her formal education did not suggest (or even hint at) such a service career. Jan holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a master’s degree in social work. She did not pursue a law degree.
There is insufficient space allotted to even mention, let alone write about, all of Jan’s many accomplishments over the past 29 years. I will, however, mention a few.
As the King County clerk, Jan was responsible for the management of a staff of 170 and a budget of $8.1 million. She played an important role in the King County Superior Court Bench-Bar Delay Reduction Task Force of 1989–91. Her seminal research paper (110 pages) on case processing allowed the task force members to thoroughly understand how cases move through the court, and how, therefore, to improve case processing and management. Jan is entitled to great credit for the case management system that was eventually implemented in 1991.
She also worked hard to implement individual calendaring and electronic court records. Jan served on many national and statewide committees in the area of criminal justice, legislative improvements, judicial technology systems, data dissemination and court improvement.
During her many years as a county official, she served as president of the Washington Association of County Clerks and later advanced to the Washington Association of County Officials, where in 1997 she was president of that association.
As executive director of the WSBA, Jan was responsible to the Board of Governors for the management of the staff of 130 and a budget of $16 million. The WSBA programs that she managed include the admission and regulation of more than 29,000 Washington lawyers and a vast array of services to lawyers, such as continuing legal education, the monthly Washington State Bar News, professional counseling of lawyers and the law firm management system, among many other programs and activities.
From 2002–04, Jan served as a member of the Trial Court Funding Task Force, appointed by the Board for Judicial Administration, chaired its Problem Definition Work Group (like another task force in itself) and served on the Task Force’s Executive Committee. She also has been a long-term advocate for effective public defense and adequate funding for civil legal aid.
As WSBA executive director, Jan worked with 10 WSBA presidents and 53 different members of the Board of Governors. Her long list of accomplishments includes: an improved timely and effective discipline system for lawyers; improved open records and open meetings; the addition of Web access and an interactive Web site that has grown to 5,000 pages; access to electronic legal research without charge through the Casemaker system; significant improvement in cultural diversity and competency; new WSBA quarters at Puget Sound Plaza in Seattle; license fee stability since 2002; strong and stable internal operations; and improving the voice of the WSBA in such public policy areas as court funding, public defense, civil legal services and public legal education.
As Washington Supreme Court Justice Mary Fairhurst said to Jan at the WSBA staff’s retirement luncheon: “The WSBA has never had an executive director who worked harder or cared more than you have. The WSBA, under your leadership and guidance, is a much stronger, and more vital and important organization than it was when you joined it.”
As Ralph Maimon said in nominating Jan for this award, “In a nutshell, Jan is not only cued into the issues that affect the justice system but has taken, in many instances, a leadership and motivational role in them. ... She is ... a bar executive director par excellence, who has become an icon and brought credit to our state, our profession and the legal system.”
Jan Michels at all times has performed with great professionalism and ability. She has a strong commitment to open and accessible management. She cares deeply about people and issues. She is a thoughtful and wise leader. She requires no credit or public accolades to motivate her, only the quiet satisfaction of a task well done. Jan is a warm and extremely likable person. Her legacy as a “person making a difference” within the legal profession will live on for years to come.
Jan Michels is truly a friend of the legal profession.
M. Wayne Blair served as president of the King County Bar Association in 1987–88 and as president of the Washington State Bar Association in 1998–99.
