Congratulations to our 44 members who celebrate 50 years of WSBA membership in 2013! View highlights from the ceremony now.
Congratulations to our 44 members who celebrate 50 years of WSBA membership in 2013! You can read about the 50-year member luncheon and see the full roster of names in the November 2013 issue of NWLawyer, but we couldn’t resist showing you some highlights from the ceremony now.
In case you don’t remember 1963 personally, here are five law-related historical milestones that took place that year:
- 125 candidates passed the 1963 bar exams in Washington. By comparison, 974 candidates passed the 2013 bar exams!
- In Gideon v. Wainwright, the U.S. Supreme Court rules that state courts are required to provide counsel in criminal cases for defendants who cannot afford to pay their own attorneys.
- Martin Luther King Jr. issues his Letter from Birmingham Jail in April.
- The first sit-in of Seattle’s civil rights movement occurs in July in the offices of Mayor Gordon S. Clinton, protesting the under-representation of African Americans on a 12-member human rights commission proposed by Clinton.
- On Nov. 22, John F. Kennedy is assassinated.
Stephanie Perry. Stephanie is the WSBA communications specialist/publications editor. She edits the “Literary Lawyer” column in NWLawyer. Find more of her reviews and reading lists at www.readerslane.com.
markpattersonlaw
Some facts about Mark Patterson Sr. My sister and I, pictured with him were 3 and 5 at the time respectively.
Between 1959 and 1963 Dad worked all night in the sawmill and went to law school during the day, sleeping on weekends. One night he cut his thumb off on a wicked piece of machinery called the “green chain”. Mom worked at the hospital but there was no such thing as reattachment surgery.
He commuted from Everett to the U of W each day on Highway 99, as there was no I-5. There were no student loans either. The pictures of our rented house from that time show just us and some modest furniture. We ate at least one meal a week at my grandparents because there just wasn’t any money.
Dad first heard of the Kennedy assassination in the car at Green Lake next to the Twin TeePee restaurant after being involved in an accident.
The speakers talked about how much character this generation had, how the word of a lawyer meant something. There was no reference about how things are currently, other than to say back in 1963 a lawyer had time to think before responding to opposing counsel. A letter could be composed and sent with the expectation there were days to consider a legal problem. Now we have minutes.
After the speeches I asked Dad what he remembered most about 1963. “Quitting the sawmill” , he said.
I can’t really say if that generation had more character than ours, but I do sense they just had more grit.