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Friday, September 17, 2010
8:45 AM - 4:45 PM

The Conference Center
8th Avenue and Pike Street
Seattle, Washington
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Program Overview

Whether you are an attorney working on cases related to access to government records or meetings or a government agency representative responsible for complying with open government laws, you will benefit from attendance in this seminar. Prominent experts will provide an overview of key Open Public Records and Open Public Meetings statutes. Recent amendments and court decisions will be highlighted. Issues concerning access to electronic records, an important emerging issue, will be discussed. Time will be spent focusing on the challenges of public agencies in responding to requests for records and access to agency meetings submitted by the public. Attorneys will benefit from seminar content concerning litigation strategies, including attorney’s fees.

Continuing Legal Education
This seminar is approved for 5.5 hours of continuing legal education (CLE) credit.

Schedule

Fees

Madison/Andersen Breakfast Only
Click here for more information about the breakfast
$35 WCOG Members
$45 Non-Members

CLE Seminar Only
$300 WCOG Members
$350 Non-Members
$150 Government Employees/Students/Candidates

Seminar and Madison/Andersen Awards Breakfast
$335 WCOG Members
$395 Non-Members
$195 Government Employees/Students/Candidates

Presenter Bios

Pete Holmes
Seattle City Attorney

Peter Holmes worked as a private attorney in Seattle for almost 25 years before he was elected as City Attorney in November 2009. Peter graduated from Yale College in 1978 with a B.A. degree in American Studies and a concentration in Energy and Environmental Sciences. He worked for the Natural Resources Defense Council in Washington, D.C. before entering the University of Virginia School of Law, where he earned his J.D. in 1984. He was an original member of the Seattle Police Department's Office of Professional Accountability Review Board (OPARB) and served as chairman from 2003 to 2008. He is a dedicated public servant and volunteer. Peter was sworn into office January 4, 2010.

William Crittenden
Attorney at Law

William Crittenden is an attorney in private practice. Mr. Crittenden represents parties in litigation and appeals involving freedom of speech and access to public records. He is also Of Counsel to the Groff Murphy law firm where he represents developers, builders, owners and other interested parties in administrative and legislative land use matters. Mr. Crittenden has represented WCOG and the League of Women Voters as amicus curiae in cases involving public records and voting rights. Before entering private practice Mr. Crittenden served as a law clerk to Chief Justice Barbara Durham of the Washington Supreme Court and Judge William W. Baker of the Court of Appeals. Mr. Crittenden is a 1992 graduate of the University of Washington School of Law.

Tim Ford
Assistant Attorney General

Timothy D. Ford serves as Rob McKenna’s Assistant Attorney General for Government Accountability. His duties include serving as the “Open Government Ombudsman” to assist the public, and state and local agencies with open-government questions, training, policy, and litigation. Mr. Ford was appointed by Rob McKenna to serve on the Public Records Exemption Accountability Committee with the task of reviewing over 300 exemptions from disclosure of public records, and making recommendations to the state legislature. Mr. Ford also co-chairs Attorney General Rob McKenna’s Eminent Domain Task Force. The eminent domain task force is composed of citizens and government stakeholders, and is charged to study condemnation abuses and problems with the goal of proposing legislative reform.

Mr. Ford joined the AG’s Office in June 2005 and worked as a Deputy Solicitor General supervising appellate matters, preparing formal and informal Attorney General Opinions, and representing the state in litigation involving the powers of initiative and referendum.

He earned a BA from Rutgers University. He joined the US Navy and served as a helicopter pilot flying the CH-53E in combat support roles. After completing his service he attended and received a JD from Gonzaga University School of Law. Prior to joining the Attorney General’s Office, Mr. Ford served as legal counsel for the Building Industry Association of Washington where his work frequently centered on laws regarding public disclosure, constitutional rights, land use issues, and initiative and referendum processes. Mr. Ford has argued before trial courts, appellate courts including the Washington State Supreme Court, and filed legal briefs in support of constitutional rights. Mr. Ford lives in Tumwater with his wife Sonya and daughter Megan.

F. Gerald (Jerry) Handfield
WA State Archivist

Jerry Handfield, appointed Washington State Archivist by Secretary of State Sam Reed in 2001, was recruited from Indiana where he served as State Archivist for 14 years.

The State Archivist manages the life cycle of all public records to insure that important legal and historical records are preserved and that all records are managed in an efficient and cost effective manner.

As State Archivist, he is responsible for the maintenance and security of all public records and establishes safeguards against unauthorized removal or destruction. As a member of the State and Local Records Committees he approves and vetoes, or modifies all schedules for public records.

Born in 1944, the oldest of eight children, he attended one-room schools and worked on dairy farms in and near Franklin, CT. Jerry went to South Dakota for his BA (Yankton College) and MA (University of SD). In 1967, he went to Indiana University for the doctoral program in history. His dissertation and master’s thesis focused on American foreign policy in the 20th century.

Jerry’s career includes many years of teaching college level history, oral history, and fieldwork for the Indiana State Library and the Indiana Historical Society. Jerry was appointed as Director of the Indiana Commission on Public Records by Governors Frank O’Bannon and Evan Bayh. His professional experience includes leadership in several national organizations, special assignments in Indiana state agencies, and archives consultant to the government of Kazakhstan.

Jerry’s family consists of four children (three boys and a girl) who live in New York, California, Indiana, and Michigan. He has a grandson in New York City. He enjoys traveling throughout Washington State and meeting county and local officials (he has visited all 39 county courthouses), speaking on the importance of public records and exploring museums and historic sites, but his hobbies also include men’s softball – voted MVP at the National Championships of 1999 and 2001 – and all the activities associated with owning property on South Puget Sound’s Eld Inlet – canoeing, kayaking, oyster farming, and neighborhood groups.

Michele Earl-Hubbard
Attorney
Allied Law Group LLC

Michele Earl-Hubbard is a principal and media law attorney at Allied Law Group LLC in Seattle. She is listed in Best Lawyers in America for First Amendment Law and has been named a “Super Lawyer” by Washington Law and Politics for several years running. She represents clients in public records, open meetings, open court, defamation, privacy, advertising law, copyright, prior restraint, reporter's privilege, and media antitrust matters. She is a Senior Editor and an author of the Washington State Bar Association’s Public Records Act Deskbook. Ms. Earl-Hubbard serves as the Washington State Freedom of Information Delegate for the Society of Professional Journalists and is a former member of the Board of the National Freedom of Information Coalition. She obtained her J.D. from Northwestern University in 1996 where she was appointed to the Order of the Coif and served on the Law Review. She holds an undergraduate degree in Journalism.

Steve Dixson
Lawyer
Witherspoon Kelley Davenport & Toole PS

Steve Dixson is an associate in the Spokane office of Witherspoon, Kelley. He has experience in a wide variety of litigation including Commercial and business, Media law, Estate, Trust and guardianship, and Employment Law. Prior to joining Witherspoon, Kelley, Mr. Dixson was a consultant for Kellogg, Huber, Hansen, Todd, Evans & Figel, P.L.L.C., and assisted in antitrust litigation brought by the State of California. Before attending law school, Mr. Dixson served as an Assistant to the Dean of Students with Gonzaga University's Gonzaga-in-Florence program in Florence, Italy. Some of Mr. Dixson’s professional activities include Trustee of the Spokane Young Lawyers Division, Member of the Northwest Communication Law Group, and Member of the Spokane Society for Young Professionals.

Scott A.W. Johnson
Lawyer
Stokes Lawrence, P.S.

Scott A.W. Johnson is a trial lawyer with the Seattle law firm Stokes Lawrence, P.S. Scott focuses his practice on complex commercial litigation. Scott obtained his law degree, magna cum laude, from the American University, Washington College of Law in 1985, where he served as an editor of The American University Law Review. He received his Bachelor's degree in Business Administration (Accounting) from the University of Washington in 1980. Scott serves as a board member of the Washington Coalition for Open Government, an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting and defending the public’s right to know in matters of public interest and in the conduct of government in the state of Washington, and an advocate for open government as envisioned by the state’s Public Records Act and the Open Public Meetings Act. Scott has been counsel in a number of public records cases, including as counsel of record for the ACLU of Washington in the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington v. Blaine School District, No. 503, 86 Wn. App. 688 (Div. I 1997) and 95 Wn. App. 106 (1999), and as counsel for the WCOG as amicus curia in several matters.

Toby Nixon
WCOG President
Former State Representative, 45th District
Microsoft Corporation

Toby Nixon served in the Washington State House of Representatives from 2002 through 2006. He was ranking member of the State Government Operations and Accountability Committee, which has responsibility for overseeing Washington's open government and election laws. Toby continues to be committed to preserving and restoring trust in government through openness and accountability. Toby was the 2006 recipient of the "Freedom's Light Award" from the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association, in recognition of his work to protect and advance First Amendment interests in Washington. He has been previously nominated for the Washington Coalition for Open Government's "James Madison Award". Toby works as standards program manager in the Windows group at Microsoft, focusing on networked devices and "smart home" technology, with particular interest in security and privacy issues. He has worked in the computer field for over 30 years, and holds five patents related to computer communications technology. He serves in leadership roles in several local non-profit organizations and industry standards-setting groups. He, his wife Irene, and their five children make their home in Kirkland.

Duane M. Swinton
Lawyer
Witherspoon Kelley Davenport & Toole PS

Duane M. Swinton is a partner at Witherspoon, Kelley, Davenport & Toole law firm in Spokane, where he has practiced for 29 years. Duane specializes in Media law and has argued a dozen media cases before both the Washington and Idaho Supreme Courts on such issues as access to public records and court documents, defamation and prior restraint. He is an adjunct instructor at Gonzaga Law School in media law. A 1977 graduate of the University of Iowa law school, Duane also has a B.A. degree from Iowa in journalism and has several years experience as a newspaper reporter.

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