Happy Birthday, NLC!
By Devon Stark
As we welcome in the new year, we are also saying “Happy Birthday” to KCBA’s oldest pro bono program, Neighborhood Legal Clinics (NLC). Founded in 1974 as a joint project of South King County Bar Association, KCBA Lawyer Referral Service, and CHOICE churches, the program started as a single clinic, housed at the Country Doctor Medical Clinic.
In the fifty years since, NLC has expanded to over thirty clinics, serving clients across King County, as well as those who live elsewhere but have cases filed in King County courts. About two thirds of these clinics (five family law, two debt/bankruptcy, and fourteen general practice) are operated by KCBA, meaning the clients and volunteers are coordinated by KCBA. The other clinics are made possible with the support of over a dozen nonprofits and community organizations who partner with KCBA to run legal clinics that serve a certain community group or legal field, including the following (partner organizations listed parenthetically after clinic name):
- International District Legal Clinic (Chinese Information & Services Center, Asian Bar Association of Washington)
- Family Law Forms Lab (King County Law Library)
- Immigration Law Clinic (Northwest Immigrant Rights Project)
- Domestic Violence Family Law Clinic (New Beginnings)
- Spanish Language Legal Clinic (Latina/o Bar Association of Washington)
- Federal Civil Rights Legal Clinic (Federal Bar Association for the Western District of Washington)
- LGBTQ2S+ and Transgender Legal Clinics (QLaw Foundation of Washington)
- Elder Law Clinics: Seattle and Kent (Sound Generations)
- Korean Legal Clinic (Korean American Bar Association of Washington, Korean Community Services Center)
- Two other organizations, Amazon and Vashon DOVE, operate partner legal clinics that serve clients of Mary’s Place and DOVE respectively.
Each of these clinics is tied together under a common goal: to provide volunteer-based, limited legal advice and consultation on civil legal matters and to reduce the barriers to accessing civil legal aid, whether they be financial, educational, language-based, or other.
Volunteers are the backbone of the NLC program. While we have only four KCBA staff members, we work with over 400 attorney and legal assistant volunteers, who make it possible to serve over 2000 clients and provide over 1000 hours of pro bono legal consultation per year.
And yet, even with these big numbers, the demand for NLC services outpaces our capacity. For every one client NLC sees, there is likely another who remains unreached or unserved due to lack of clinic availability, barriers in reaching the program, or logistical challenges of conducting our client intake. So, as we celebrate 50 years, we are still looking for ways to expand our program and improve its accessibility for clients across King County.
The biggest need is for additional volunteers. Volunteering with NLC is a low-time commitment (most volunteers take a single two-hour shift every four to eight weeks), and has numerous benefits, including free CLE credit for volunteer hours and free CLE presentations offered to volunteers, networking opportunities with the local legal community, and the chance to gain experience in a different area of law. If you can spare just two hours per month, please consider volunteering with our program. We accept attorneys with experience in any legal background, as well as non-attorney volunteers, who assist with administrative clinic tasks. Training is provided prior to your first shift.
Finally, in the spirit of anniversaries, we want to take some intentional moments to recognize and celebrate the NLC program, including our recent projects and successes, current goals and challenges, and importantly, the volunteers who make our work possible (some of whom have been volunteering for over 30 years!). With all that in mind, most months in 2024, this Pro Bono Spotlight column will be dedicated to a different aspect of the NLC program. We also look forward to holding another NLC volunteer appreciation event, likely in Autumn 2024 — please stay tuned for details, and happy new year, all!
Devon Stark is the Neighborhood Legal Clinics Program Manager. If you are interested in volunteering or partnering with Neighborhood Legal Clinics, please contact her at DevonS@kcba.org or 206.267.7030.
