The Washington State Bar Foundation (WSBF) recently presented Seattle attorney Ronald R. Ward with its Sally P. Savage Leadership in Philanthropy Award. The award is in recognition of his leadership as the Washington State Bar Foundation’s president from 2008–11.
“[Ward] was instrumental in bringing the Foundation’s mission into clearer focus, and to laying the groundwork for the Foundation’s capacity to provide enduring support for WSBA’s justice and diversity programs,” said William C. Maxey. “He has modeled an indomitable spirit of philanthropy by giving generously to support efforts like the Washington Leadership Institute, and by unabashedly and boldly asking others to do the same…. His passion for the Bar’s work to promote justice and diversity is infectious.”
In 2004, Ward became the first African-American to serve as WSBA president in the association’s then-114-year history. In 2006, the Loren Miller Bar Association renamed its President’s Award the Ron R. Ward President’s Award in his honor, and in 2014, the recipient of its Lifetime Achievement Award. He received the 2006 Washington State Trial Lawyers President’s Award and the Washington Defense Trial Lawyers 2006 Outstanding Plaintiff Trial Lawyer Award. In 2007, he was the recipient of the WSBA Excellence in Diversity award, and in 2008, the WSBA Award of Merit, its highest honor. In 2009, he was honored with the Washington State Association for Justice Carl Maxey Diversity Award. In 2012, he became president of the Washington chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates, an invitation-only national association of plaintiff and defense lawyers who advocate civility, the independence of the judiciary, and the preservation of the Seventh Amendment right to jury trial.
Ward is a past member of the American Bar Association House of Delegates. He is a past vice-president and member of the Board of Directors of the Washington State Trial Lawyers Association.
Ward is the founder of the nationally award-winning Washington Leadership Institute for diverse young lawyers. The WLI, which works with diverse lawyers of three to 10 years’ experience, has enriched the Washington legal community with the continuing achievements of its graduates.
Ward earned his law degree from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law. He served as a Washington state assistant attorney general before entering private practice at Levinson Friedman, a Seattle firm where he became a partner in 1986. He is currently a partner in the Seattle firm Ward Smith PLLC, where his practice focuses on serious auto, maritime, and construction-site personal injuries, asbestos, and wrongful death.
