Lawyer Referral Service
By Gary Maehara
This month’s President’s Page begins a series of articles recognizing the work of our KCBA staff members who successfully manage our various programs. Lawyer Referral Service (LRS) will start us off since it is so often the public face of the Association.
So who are the faces behind LRS? The dedicated members of the LRS staff come from various backgrounds, and have a lot of outside interests. Director Joan Andersen practiced family law for a few years and was a city bureaucrat as well, but feels that the last 21 years with KCBA programs has allowed her to do something socially useful while avoiding litigation. She spends some of her spare time serving on the board of Little Bit Therapeutic Riding Center and volunteering in the archaeology department of the Burke Museum.
Jennifer Oliver passed the bar after her first few years at KCBA, but has stayed with LRS for 17 years. She is active in her church and writes music whenever there’s an extra minute.
Patty-Ann Fraser had a career in administrative support with the Seattle Indian Health Board and St. Vincent de Paul prior to joining KCBA. She has two teenagers who keep her active.
Carol Maki has a degree in English, and produces a monthly poetry show on the second Tuesday of each month at the Cabaret at Richard Hugo house, featuring her poetry and that of others.
Under Joan’s management of LRS the program has expanded tremendously. The volume of calls has increased in the past 20 years from 5,000 to about 40,000 calls a year. Amazingly, they manage to respond to the high volume of calls. Additionally, 400 lawyer members are now on the referral panel.
Recent LRS Changes
Lawyer Referral Service is fondly referred to by the American Bar Associa-tion as in the “business of public service.” Last fall members of the ABA’s Lawyer Referral consulting team visited Joan’s program and gave high marks for the service to the public. The ABA also suggested ways to improve the business aspect of our program.
Acting on the ABA’s suggestions, Joan recently initiated a change in how the business of LRS is conducted. Previously, a consultation fee was collected by the attorney to cover the first 30 minutes, except in personal injury, workers’ compensation and Social Secur-ity Disability cases. Starting June 1, the client’s $30.00 fee for a thirty minute consultation is collected by credit card by KCBA.
Of course, exceptions are made when the person does not have a credit card (e.g. allowing debit cards, money orders and cash). The change should appeal to the lawyers who no longer are responsible for collecting the fees.
Another benefit that Joan now sees is an efficient self-screening process of clients who really are serious about talking to a lawyer. In the past, many of the clients referred to a panel member did not follow-up by making the call to the lawyer to schedule the consultation.
Another change to improve the business of LRS is to improve the telephone capabilities so that all client calls can be immediately transferred to the lawyer after administering the call. This of course will increase the percentage of clients who actually make contact with the lawyer and ultimately hire the lawyer.
Future Goals
A future goal is to alter the current public perception that LRS is a service for low-income clients. Establishing a separate phone line and separate screening for callers potentially eligible for low-income services will free Jennifer, Patty-Ann and Carol to do more extensive screening, and to receive additional
training for more effective screening.
Yet to be accomplished is the ability of LRS to meet the needs of the new immigrant communities. Joan’s goal in the next year is to develop an interpreter system for non-English speaking callers. With such a variety of language needs it is impossible for staff to be fluent in all languages and dialects. Joan hopes to be able to use the Red Cross language bank at the intake level and add attorneys fluent in other languages to the panel.
The staff of LRS work vigilantly to help make legal services available for all persons. We are proud of our LRS program and the enormous contribution by our staff to better our legal system.
Lawyer Referral staff welcome your questions and input. Joan can be reached at (206) 267-7003 or joana@kcba.org.
Gary Maehara is the current president of the King County Bar Association. He can be reached at garmae@safeco.com.
