WSBA rule GR 12.2 revised to tie advocacy to existing rule authority, presenter says

Former governor and parliamentarian Alex Stevens told the Washington State Bar Association Board of Governors on an agenda item heard early that a change to GR 12.2 now requires activities to be tied to the objectives of existing General Rules rather than be excluded as "political or social issues." The Supreme Court ordered the amendment June 5, 2023, and it took effect Sept. 1, 2023.

Stevens said the change grew from work that began after a June 4, 2020 letter from the state supreme court and the creation of an Equity and Disparity Work Group. "The work group was tasked with reviewing rules, regulations, and laws related to the practice of law and administration of justice to identify ones that impede real justice and fairness," Stevens said, summarizing the group's charge.

The specific amendment to GR 12.2 replaces language that read in its pertinent part that entities shall not "take positions on political or social issues which do not relate to or affect the practice of law or administration of justice." Under the adopted wording Stevens outlined, the prohibition was reframed to require that activities must relate to or affect the objectives of GR 12.1 or GR 12.2(a) or (b). Stevens said the reframing is intended to reduce uncertainty about what committee or section actions the Board of Governors may authorize.

Stevens described a history in which the phrase "political or social issues" had become subjective in practice: "At times, the Board of Governors would approve certain actions and disapprove other actions," he said, and committees seeking to act lacked clear guidance. He said the work group identified existing GR authorities that sections and committees can cite when proposing actions; Stevens pointed to several GRs in the meeting packet as examples of those authorities.

A board member questioned the logic of narrowing the prohibition, saying that a separately enumerated list of permitted activities in GR 12.2(b) already specifies allowed actions and that excluding matters not in that list could be "counterproductive." The board member asked whether the new language effectively limits activities to the listed items.

Stevens responded that the prior language simply forbade "political or social" activity without offering a route to demonstrate which GRs authorized particular actions. He said the amended language was meant to "point to the GRs" so committees would show the rule basis for any proposal brought to the Board of Governors.

Stevens thanked members of the Equity and Disparity Work Group, former President Rajeev Majondar for creating the group, Kim Sander for subcommittee work, staff member Tara for helping move the proposal through the process, and Laura Sierra for drafting and analysis he said provided the baseline material in the packet.

Stevens said the change should help the Legislative Action Committee and other committees provide more specific guidance when drafting proposals. "We'll now be able to give a lot more specific guidance," he said.

The meeting packet referenced by Stevens includes the work group's listing of members and cited pages with the proposed rule text, background and the Supreme Court order; Stevens directed attendees to those pages for the full materials.