Greater Access and Assistance Project (GAAP)
A joint committee of the Access to Justice Board and the Washington Young Lawyers Division
Jennifer Harris, Co-chair
Jaime Hawk, Co-chair
Rachel Tallon Reynolds, Co-chair
Mission
Establish a structure to support viable moderate means panels in Washington State
GAAP serves clients who fall into the "gap" in terms of financial eligibility for free legal services through a qualified legal services provider and full priced legal services. Clients are pre-screened for financial eligibility and case type and referred to GAAP by Northwest Justice Project's CLEAR hotline.
In January 2002 the Spokane County GAAP pilot site opened its doors to serve moderate-income people at a reduced rate, and as of October 2009, has served over 400 clients. Members of the Spokane Young Lawyers volunteer to coordinate the administrative duties and the Spokane County Bar Association provides office space for the project. In 2004 the Spokane GAAP became a permanent program.
The GAAP Committee evaluated the Spokane pilot site and procedure manual (manual is available on request). The Washington Young Lawyers Division agreed to take the lead on marketing expansion to other counties in Washington state. With guidance from the GAAP Committee, GAAPs have been established in Snohomish, Kitsap and Chelan-Douglas counties.
Current Goals and Initiatives
The committee completed a feasibility study to explore the possibility of creating a statewide centralized moderate means project. The study can be found under "Publications" on this page.
In May 2009 the WSBA Board of Governors (BOG) authorized the Budget and Audit Committee, in cooperation with the ATJ/WYLD GAAP Committee, to craft a proposal for a pilot WSBA-sponsored statewide "low-bono" legal services delivery program. In September 2009 the BOG included funding for a program grant in the 2010 WSBA budget. The WSBA is now in discussions with Seattle University School of Law, a potential community partner for a statewide low-bono/moderate-means project.
