The Neighborhood Legal Clinics Program honors volunteer attorney Brian Wax as Community Legal Services Volunteer of the Month. The NLC offers free legal advice to King County residents, regardless of income, who might otherwise have no access to the legal system.
Wax, a patent lawyer and litigator, began practicing law in 1995. He is of counsel at Cortes | Maguddayao, PLLC in Pioneer Square and also has a small private practice on the Eastside.
Wax has been a volunteer at the Eastside Legal Clinic for about two years and he stands out as a volunteer who truly represents the mission and purpose of the Neighborhood Legal Clinics. Wax said he began volunteering for the Neighborhood Legal Clinics because he felt that seeing four clients in one evening, who have nowhere else to go for legal advice, is the most effective way to help the community.
“The only other option they have is to pay $250 an hour for an attorney,” he says. “Most people can’t afford that. A half hour of my time is worth a fortune to these clients. How can I say no?”
Karen Campbell, the Eastside Legal Clinic administrative coordinator, likes to refer to Wax as Superman dressed up as an attorney.
“Brian goes out of his way in his dedication to serve clinic clients,” Campbell says. “He stays late after clinic shifts in order to spend more time with clients needing extra help; he follows up with the KCBA to ensure that clients needing pro bono representation can find it, even if it means taking time out of his own schedule.
“Brian is also a great recruiter, mentor and teacher of new attorney volunteers for the clinic. He not only brings with him dedication to clinic clients and the clinic itself, but consistently has an attitude that makes working with him fun and exciting.”
When asked to take on an extra shift or to fill in at the last minute, Wax does not think twice. He often volunteers for weeks in a row without a single hesitation. “If I had to clone one volunteer, it would be Brian Wax,” Campbell says.
Thanks to Brian Wax for your enthusiasm, dedication and commitment to the Neighborhood Legal Clinics.
For information about volunteer opportunities with the Neighborhood Legal Clinics, please contact Rebecca Fogarty, NLC program manager, at 206-267-7029 or RebeccaF@KCBA.org.
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