For those who puzzle, however fleetingly, over such things, one of Life s Imponderables is how the Washington State Bar Association gets its presidents. I m not only going to tell you in the paragraphs to follow, I m going to invite you to apply for the job. Every October a new president shows up on the cover of Bar News , and in a year he I say that because, with only two exceptions in the last 15 years, it is always he is gone. The president writes 12 columns in the Bar News , and for most Bar members that s as much presidential contact as we get. Which is not necessarily a bad thing.
People are busy.
They have law practices, civic commitments and families, and crave time off. I suspect most are quite content to let the Bar be run by people who feel a calling for that sort of thing. Watching state Bar presidents has been one of the eccentric hobbies of my misspent youth and early middle age. I ve worked with 13 or 14 in a row, and have met about 30 of the 68 presidents the WSBA has had since being formally organized in 1933. What I ve learned, hovering in the twilight penumbras of power, is that being Bar president is a bigger, more challenging job than most people suppose.