This year's winner of the Friend of the Legal Profession Award is not just one attorney - not even a small group of attorneys - but rather an entire section of the bar. In recognition of outstanding commitment of the family law bar, this year's award winner is the Family Law Section of the King County Bar Association.
The Section directly sponsors three programs. First is the "free hour" program, where persons of low to moderate income are given the opportunity to spend an hour consulting with a section member about their cases at no cost. Approximately 45 lawyers are involved in this program.
The Section also provides a volunteer attorney to assist pro se litigants who appear on the status conference calendar. Cases are set for a status conference when they are not in compliance with the case scheduling order.
According to Judge Glenna Hall, chief judge of the King County Superior Court Unified Family Court Department, the presence of the volunteer lawyers on the status conference calendars has turned a frustrating exercise in wheel-spinning into an opportunity to truly help unrepresented litigants find their way through the maze of legal requirements. It is not infrequent, according to Judge Hall, for the volunteer lawyers to help parties finish their paperwork so that uncomplicated dissolutions can be finished the day of the calendar. Perhaps even more importantly, the volunteer lawyers are in an excellent position to spot those cases that need additional resources - for example, referrals to child-abuse or domestic-violence agencies.
Finally, the Section sponsors and staffs a monthly program, "How To Finish Your Divorce," to assist pro se litigants in understanding the steps necessary to complete a dissolution.
Family lawyers also are involved in at least three other pro bono programs: the volunteer settlement conference program, the family law mentor program and the family law neighborhood legal clinic.
The Volunteer Family Law Settle-ment Conference Program was founded by Larry Besk and Judge Deborah Fleck in March 1997. As Judge Fleck remarked, this program demonstrates a "remarkable commitment on the part of family law lawyers to serving the community and to ensuring the fair administration of justice. Since its inception, settlement conference attorneys have conducted several thousand family law settlement conferences on a pro bono basis, reducing stress not only on the litigants, but also greatly assisting the court system."
The mentorship program, run by the King County Bar Association, pairs experienced family law attorneys with new attorneys to assist low-income persons involved in dissolution or parenting actions where a child's safety is at issue. Mentees are offered two training sessions and also work directly with senior lawyers on their cases.
KCBA also administers the Family Law Neighborhood Legal Clinic - in three locations around the county - to provide information for persons involved in dissolutions, parenting actions or other family law matters.
In total, Section Chair Jennie Laird believes well more than half of the members of the Family Law Section are involved in some type of formal pro bono work and that many more take reduced-fee or pro bono cases on a routine basis. She emphasized that section members participate in pro bono work, not only by providing direct client services, but also by serving on committees charged with examining court rules and legislation of relevance to a domestic relations practice.
Rosemarie LeMoine, a family law attorney, and winner of the 1998 KCBA pro bono award and the Washington State Bar Association's pro bono award in 2000, believes many practitioners in various fields would be inclined to do more pro bono work - but that family law practitioners see the need on a daily basis.
"Everyone," she said, "is called to do good. It is good, not only for the community, but for the lawyer." This spirit seems to infuse the entire Family Law Section.
KCBA is delighted to recognize the Family Law Section for its outstanding commitment to public service.
