By Julie Zola
For some of Seattle's most disadvantaged who are also facing eviction, there is hope. It comes in the form of free legal services from the Legal Action Center.
This is good news for the thousands of low-income tenants in the Seattle/King County area who have the potential to run into issues with landlords and need legal services. Made possible by Catholic Community Services ("CCS"), the Legal Action Center has a concrete mission. Its purpose is to reduce homelessness by preventing unnecessary or unfair evictions through counseling tenants about their rights, while also providing representation in court when necessary.
The five-person staff and more than 40 volunteers handle landlord-tenant problems as well as debtor-creditor issues related to rental housing. To be eligible for services, clients must be at or below 187% of the poverty level, or $1,491 a month for a single person.
According to Executive Director Mark Chattin, without the Legal Action Center, these kinds of cases would most likely endure long and costly battles in court or would not be dealt with at all. "The work we do is about social justice," noted Chattin.
For Chattin, social justice law has long been at the core of his being since he started his career in Alabama some 20 years ago. As a young child, he remembers being inspired by Harper Lee's "To Kill a Mockingbird," which led him to pursue a career in helping the poor in the rural South.
Luckily, his passion for social justice came with him to the Pacific Northwest, where he took over at the Legal Action Center 14 years ago. He was proud to join the organization because of its rich history of doing good work in the community.
The Legal Action Center first opened its doors in 1979. At that time, its primary purpose was to provide legal assistance to immigrants and to draft wills for low-income elderly. Over time, and after the Northwest Immigrants Rights Project was formed in 1988, the center gradually grew into providing legal counsel strictly on housing issues in response to an overwhelming need. After dramatic cutbacks in federal funding in 1995, the Legal Action Center began taking all kinds of overflow housing cases, both subsidized and private market.
Chattin indicates that part of the center's mission is bolstered by the critical work that pro bono attorneys bring to the table. In 2005, the center represented 292 people or households in court cases and provided counsel to some 1,000 families.
In addition to eviction work, the Legal Action Center also operates Neighborhood Clinics where pro bono attorneys meet with five or six people at a time who are seeking legal assistance with housing-related issues. During these sessions, attorneys interview the tenants and provide legal counsel, advice and direction.
Dennis Dunphy, a condemnation and real estate attorney in the Seattle office of Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt, spends numerous hours a month providing pro bono legal counsel and support to the center's clients.
"My colleagues and I felt a particular draw to the center," noted Dunphy, who has worked at the center for the past 10 years. "Especially the work they are doing in the neighborhoods."
Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt is the only law firm to provide the entire funding of a Neighborhood Clinic, sponsoring the clinic at CCS's Seattle office. The firm also makes a yearly donation to fund a work-study program that allows a law student the opportunity to gain valuable hands-on experience in the field.
In addition to the volunteers from Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt, the Legal Action Center has access to a handful of pro bono attorneys who help out in other Neighborhood Clinics. Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt is currently the only firm that provides financial assistance as well as in-kind assistance.
"The clinics are immensely important because the services and legal counsel provided by the attorneys help prevent many cases from otherwise going into litigation," said Chattin. "In most situations, it's in the tenant's best interest to avoid litigation, because once an eviction appears on record, it makes future home ownership, renting and other types of loans extremely difficult."
On the flip side, John O'Brien and Patty Duckstad, the two other full-time attorneys at the center, handle most of the actual eviction cases, which require more day-to-day involvement.
"It's good work and I enjoy it," noted Chattin. "I'm glad we can make a difference."
