On the lighter side, 2024 marks fifty years since Happy Days debuted on ABC, introducing Americans to the unforgettable Fonzie, and brilliant comic Mel Brooks was actually able to release (wouldn’t happen now) “Blazing Saddles” and “Young Frankenstein.” And do you remember watching Hank Aaron tying Babe Ruth’s record of 714 homeruns on April 4, 1974, which Hank smashed four days later?
For me 1974 stands out for three reasons (one of which I had no clue about it, at the time, but which has profoundly impacted my life for the last twenty years: (1) graduating college and fortuitously sitting next to Hugh Hefner at the ceremony; (2) watching Richard Nixon resign on August 9, 1974, after serving the previous summer as a Congressional Intern in D.C. and attending Watergate hearings; and (3) King County attorney Joe Gaffney (with two buddies) launched the very first Neighborhood Legal Clinic, KCBA’s very first official, and now its oldest pro bono program.
The Neighborhood Legal Clinics were started as a joint project of the South King County Bar Association, KCBA Lawyer Referral Service, and CHOICE churches. Initially it was a single provider of free legal advice housed inside the Country Doctor Medical Clinic.
Now with over 30 clinics throughout the county, and only four KCBA staff members, we have over 400 lawyer and legal assistant volunteers, some of whom have been there a decade longer than me. And that’s formidable considering I’ve been volunteering with them for just a mere twenty years.
This year also marks my twentieth year as an almost weekly volunteer for KCBA’s Neighborhood Legal clinics. For a commitment-phobe, by nature, that’s a pretty good run. I’ve volunteered at three of the clinics but the Southeast branch is my primary and was like my “Cheers Bar” equivalent (and for better or worse, as the theme song goes: “where everybody knows your name”).
Why do we volunteer? If we can connect with, help and provide hope to those who often share with us just the tip of their personal iceberg, it’s a blessing. To watch a client leave the clinic with just bit more spring in their step because they “were heard,” “valued,” “empowered,” and given “options” when they didn’t think they had any, we as volunteers are fortunate and should consider that a success.
“You make a living by what you get. You make a life by what you give.” (I’m not vouching that Churchill said this).
As previous editions of the Bar Bulletin have pointed out, there remains a significant need for more volunteers. Since I know lawyers are competitive; seek out challenges; and are civically committed, I’m appealing to you to help me accomplish two goals to both bolster and expand NLC and other KCBA Pro Bono programs.
First, let’s bring on 50 more volunteers (contact DevonS@kcba.org or 206.267.7030); and
Secondly, if you’re reading this, kindly donate $50 (or whatever you’re comfortable with) in honor of Neighborhood Legal Clinics Golden Jubilee. (www.kcba.org/donate)
Michael Goldenkranz is a retired neighborhood curmudgeon who likes to volunteer with NLC and be silly with his grandkids.
