May 2008

Encouraging Pro Bono Participation

by the Washington State Supreme Court

The release of the Washington State Supreme Court’s Civil Legal Needs Study in 2003 brought to light some staggering statistics. Clearly, the ability to secure legal assistance is critical if poor people in our state are going to achieve equal justice under our laws. While Washington is home to a nationally recognized civil equal justice delivery system, that system is extremely understaffed given the extent of the need as detailed in the aforementioned study. Private attorneys provide valuable services to low-income people, but the untapped potential for greater pro bono attorney involvement would make a significant difference in filling the “need” gap.

In 2006, Washington attorneys contributed approximately 58,000 hours of pro bono service to low-income clients through 24 local volunteer attorney programs (currently there are 21). This figure does not include additional hours provided by other volunteer attorney partnerships. Volunteer attorneys provide the equivalent of 50 full-time attorneys’ worth of assistance each year, which means they provide more than $10 million in donated time and expertise for the benefit of Washington’s low-income people. That’s an impressive record to stand on, but we can do better. Our state’s RPC 6.1 sets an aspirational goal for attorneys to contribute 30 hours per year in pro bono legal services.

Pro bono leaders believe that the cumulative number of volunteer hours leveraged by volunteer attorney programs throughout the state can be increased by 50 percent over the next five to seven years, which would effectively increase by 25 the number of equivalent full-time attorneys leveraged through volunteer contributions. This would result in the equivalent of 75 full-time attorneys working to secure basic needs for poor people.

Given the findings of the Civil Legal Needs Study, the Supreme Court strongly encourages attorneys to volunteer as much time as they can to address the equal justice crisis in our state. Here are just some of the ways attorneys can volunteer to help meet this glaring need:

• The greatest unmet need is for full representation for poor people with cases involving basic human needs such as housing, family law, and employment. While volunteer attorneys around the state are currently taking cases for full representation, the demand far exceeds the number of available volunteers.
• Almost every day around the state, there are volunteer lawyer clinics that provide low-income people with consultation on their cases. In many instances, the attorneys advise clients of their legal position in a case, what procedural steps they can anticipate, what their rights are, what steps they can take to resolve the case, or help the clients fill out the proper forms.
• In King, Kitsap, Snohomish, and Spokane counties, the local Housing Justice Project programs provide volunteer attorneys for low-income tenants who need representation at their eviction hearings or who need help negotiating with their landlord outside the courtroom. Volunteer attorneys show up at the county courthouse for a morning and provide an invaluable service to a low-income family by preventing an illegal eviction, explaining their options, or negotiating for more time to move out.
• Many volunteer lawyer programs around the state offer free continuing legal education classes and credits in exchange for the participant agreeing to take one case referral in that subject area over the next year.

The need is great. Individuals and families with nowhere else to turn need your help. The experience will be invaluable for all involved, and will help ensure that the basic rights and protections afforded by our laws are guaranteed for all of us — not just for those who can afford a lawyer.

Please contact your local bar association or local volunteer lawyer program to find out where you can help. Alternatively, the WSBA’s Access to Justice Liaison Sharlene Steele can help you identify the most appropriate legal services provider for your area of interest, expertise, and geographical location. She can be reached at 206-727-8262, 800-945-9722, ext. 8262, or sharlene@wsba.org.

Pro Bono Service: Lawyers Tell Their Stories

Advocate, Advisor, Negotiator, Evaluator — and Volunteer

by Cheryl Handy

Attorneys fill a variety of roles: advisor, advocate, negotiator, and evaluator. Another important role is that of a public citizen participating in our community. “A lawyer, as a member of the legal profession, is a representative of clients, an officer of the court and a public citizen having special responsibility for the quality of justice.” Preamble, Rules of Professional Conduct (emphasis added).

The responsibility for the “quality of justice” embraces the opportunity and obligation of pro bono and volunteer service. The opportunity is always there; I have volunteered as a pro bono attorney in a number of ways over the years. As a law student, I volunteered with the Spokane Volunteer Lawyers’ Program, answering phones, doing client intake, and helping run the clinics. In 2005, I was hired as an assistant attorney general in Olympia, where I had the good fortune of joining a part of the office where many of the lawyers participate regularly in local clinics or take on direct-representation cases. I immediately began to volunteer, assisting with evening advice clinics and shadowing a more experienced colleague. Soon, I was considered an “expert” and I mentored lawyers on cases. I continue to volunteer regularly, have gotten to know the local bar, have gained trial experience, and have really helped a number of my clients. This experience has been fun, rewarding, and has helped me do my “real” job even better.

Recently I was asked to join the board of Thurston County Volunteer Legal Services (TCVLS). This gives me another point of view regarding the importance of volunteer legal work and pro bono service. TCVLS is proud of its contribution in helping victims of domestic violence find safe ways to end their relationships, in helping parents establish rational plans for parenting their children in irrational relationships, in helping those with insufficient means to develop housing options, and in giving people the opportunity to be heard in their own legal proceedings. This is the essence of what law and justice are about. Pro bono attorneys are critical to maintaining pro bono and volunteer legal services for those in need.

There are a number of ways attorneys can become involved. Many pro bono programs and local bar associations have regular legal clinics which require only an hour or two of an attorney’s time. Legal clinics are devoted to different types of legal problems: family law, bankruptcy, housing, or other issues of interest of clients. Volunteer attorneys can provide advice, information, or full direct representation. For those who are interested in this but nervous about a lack of experience, the pro bono program managers usually assign basic cases to start with. New attorney volunteers can look to mentors and more experienced attorneys for advice, or as co-counsel to the case. And the same holds true for experienced lawyers who are asked to assist a client with an unfamiliar type of issue; resources are available to support the attorney during this process.

My pro bono work has been rewarding in so many ways: I have learned lots about different types of law and procedures, have met many interesting clients, and have learned to navigate language barriers. I urge you to use your skills and energy to help those less fortunate; the need is there and we can make a difference!

Cheryl Handy is an attorney in Olympia and serves on the board of Thurston County Legal Services. She recently received the WSBA Local Hero Award for her work with the Government Lawyers Bar Association.

Pro Bono: Central to Professional Leadership

by John Brett

As a pro bono coordinator in a predominantly rural setting working out of a single-person office, I take on many roles. Tasks from day to day vary from scheduling clinics with clients and volunteer lawyers to writing grants and reports. Whether supporting my board of directors or advising on policy locally and statewide, providing services to clients occupies my job’s central role. Whatever the schedule, my day quickly fills with details crucial to obtaining needed legal assistance for the hundreds of low-income people who annually find help through my office.

Many clients must travel over 60 miles to reach the services they need to fight unlawful evictions, attempt to preserve custody of their children, and defend themselves against various civil claims. Many clients do not have their own transportation; a significant portion speak a primary language other than English; and some face additional hurdles of physical and mental disabilities.

Though my office will never be able to meet all of the demand, I am fortunate to work in a county where the bar association and individual lawyers give their full support to legal services and have done so for over 30 years. When making calls or sending e-mails attempting to place pro bono cases or schedule advice clinics, more often than not, the attorneys in Chelan County say “yes” to pro bono.

In 2007, I had the opportunity to help organize a workshop at the annual Access to Justice Conference in Wenatchee. The theme of the conference was Valuing Leadership: Ensuring Justice for All. The workshop focused on the historic ethic of service fostered within the Chelan-Douglas County Bar Association. Per capita, this area logs some of the highest pro bono participation rates in the state. The workshop sought to explain the extraordinarily strong support for Access to Justice initiatives in Chelan and Douglas counties. We ultimately determined that the expectation of pro bono service, actively expressed and supported amongst our bar leaders and judiciary, constitutes the cornerstone of excellent pro bono service delivery.

Senior partners volunteer to give advice and take cases, and expect their associates to do the same. Judges play a central role in communicating to new lawyers in the Chelan-Douglas bar that the court values and takes seriously a lawyer’s professional responsibility to provide pro bono service. Bar leaders set an example by volunteering and calling other lawyers to encourage their participation whenever needed. With this level of support from the local bar, our pro bono program is able to provide high-level legal aid to low-income people in our region. And our clients, already burdened with numerous hurdles to overcome, know that they can turn to us for help.

WSBA President Stan Bastian has focused on access to justice issues and professionalism during his tenure of service. As a member of the bar in Chelan County who gives of his time and encourages others to do the same, Mr. Bastian, and bar leaders and attorneys like him, understand that their pro bono service supports not only individual clients, but the legal profession as a whole. Pro bono service remains vital to preserving the rule of law by ensuring that low-income people feel that the legal system responds to their needs. As the WSBA and pro bono programs statewide continue working to increase attorney participation in pro bono, I am hopeful that bar leaders across the state promote an ethic of professional responsibility and service as diligently as the Chelan-Douglas County Bar Association.

John Brett is the director of the Chelan-Douglas County Volunteer Attorney Services program.

Man on a Mission: A Profile of H. Scott Holte

Since graduating from the University of Washington School of Law in 1974, Scott has consistently volunteered with the legal aid community. In response to a period of drastic federal funding cuts, in 1985 he helped establish Snohomish County Legal Services, a volunteer lawyer program that has been meeting the urgent civil legal needs of clients since then.

During Scott’s many years of volunteering with the legal aid community, it became apparent to him that erratic funding for legal aid programs was the greatest obstacle to ensuring access to justice for low-income people. In 1996, he joined the board of the Legal Aid for Washington Fund (LAW Fund) and became president of the Endowment for Equal Justice in 2000 to help create a stable base of financial support for civil legal aid for years to come.

Scott met with other leaders in the access to justice community for several years in an effort to combine the resource development activities of Washington’s more than 30 legal aid programs in order to reduce duplication of effort, eliminate competition among legal aid programs for the same funding dollars, make it easier for donors to make charitable contributions, and work together as a team to raise as much annual charitable support for legal aid as possible. In 2005 the Campaign for Equal Justice became a reality and is our state’s unified annual fundraising drive supporting legal aid programs throughout Washington.

Last year, Scott helped to lead the third annual local Campaign for Equal Justice effort in Snohomish County. With the help of colleagues, the support of 15 percent of the area’s legal community was secured, donating more than $25,000. Much of this success came in a single evening when the volunteers gathered at a law firm for a phone-a-thon where more than 40 pledges were made in just two hours.

When asked about his role as a fundraiser, Scott says: “Most people have a natural aversion to asking others for money. But if you believe in the importance of the mission and know the difference legal aid makes in the lives of families, individuals, and our community, you can overcome that fear pretty easily.”

Scott intends to continue his involvement with the Campaign for Equal Justice. His goal this year is to see a 25 percent participation rate from Snohomish County attorneys, which amounts to donations from more than 200 attorneys and judges. And he has similarly high expectations for the Endowment for Equal Justice, hoping over the next two to three years that this fund will hit the $10 million mark, at which point it will generate $500,00 or more for legal aid programs statewide each and every year.

Scott actively encourages attorneys to donate to the Campaign for Equal Justice, stating: “Donating the equivalent of a single billable hour of time is a relatively simple and pain-free way for each attorney to make an enormous difference in provide legal aid to those in need.”

H. Scott Holte has been an attorney for over 20 years, has served on the LAW Fund Board since 1996, and became president of the Endowment for Equal Justice in 2000.