Spotlight on Common NLC Client Issues
By Louis Edelman
Our clients in the Neighborhood Legal Clinics experience a wide range of legal issues and disputes, though there are a few legal issues that are most common and which NLC has a lot of experience with.
As we’ve discussed in recent Bar Bulletin articles, Neighborhood Legal Clinics (NLC), which celebrates its 50th program anniversary this year, helps the King County community with a wide variety of civil legal issues. But which are most common? And how does a client get placed with an appropriate attorney volunteer? In this article, we’ll discuss which legal topics we see most and talk about how our different clinics provide self-help advice and resources to clients on many issues.
- Family Law and Domestic Violence: The most in-demand legal issue for NLC clients, by a large margin, is family law. KCBA runs five telephonic and one in-person family law clinic, and recently started working with LLLT volunteers in addition to attorneys; but we’re still recruiting for both! To address the need for paperwork assistance on family law court forms, NLC partnered with King County Law Library to open the newest legal clinic, a walk-in service called Family Law Forms Lab, in 2023. Another partner clinic, run by New Beginnings, focuses on family law cases where there is domestic violence, and several other partner clinics also advise on family law cases. Clients navigating a divorce, child custody dispute, or other family law issues face a daunting legal problem with significant emotional and financial stakes. Opposing parties often have legal representation, and there may be pressing concerns about clients and children who are at risk in their current living arrangements. Fortunately, NLC clinics are usually able to assist clients with questions about initial divorce filings, creating or modifying parenting plans to resolve custody, appealing final orders, and other similar issues. For many family law clients, this can help them get past their initial apprehension about the legal system and give them the confidence to proceed with assistance from NLC volunteers if the client runs into a barrier.
- Landlord-Tenant Disputes: NLC clients also frequently have questions about landlord-tenant law. We typically place these clients at one of our General Practice legal clinics, where volunteer attorneys come from a variety of legal backgrounds. NLC staff provide regularly-updated resource guides to our volunteer attorneys to ensure that — if they haven’t dealt with this area of law before — they are still able to assist clients. Most NLC clients with landlord-tenant questions are tenants, but the program also assists small landlords. As tenants, NLC clients often have problems with a landlord who fails to make repairs or fails to maintain the habitability of the rental unit. The most common dispute is when a landlord tries to keep the tenant’s security deposit despite not giving the tenant a bill or justification for doing so. In cases where the client is facing eviction (or fears the landlord may start eviction proceedings soon), NLC volunteers also ensure that the client is connected with KCBA’s Housing Justice Project to determine if they are eligible for representation. Given the central importance of housing to people’s lives and well-being, such conflicts are quite common, and NLC is glad to assist clients in maintaining stable, healthy living situations.
- Employment Law: Another area that the Neighborhood Legal Clinics often helps with at its General Practice legal clinics is employment law. Questions about unpaid overtime, hostile work environments, resolving workplace safety issues, or employer retaliation against whistleblower activity are quite common at our clinics. As with housing, the power dynamic at play means that NLC clinics are often helping employees who are worried about job security if they file a claim or complaint. Giving these clients a better understanding of their employment rights can provide a tremendous amount of relief and reduced stress for clients.
- Elder Law: Many NLC clients have questions about making or modifying wills, trusts, guardianship, or power of attorney documents. We assist with these issues at our General Practice clinics, as well as at our Elder Law partner clinics, which are coordinated by Sound Generation’s Senior Rights Assistance program.
- Small Claims and Procedural Questions: Sometimes, NLC clients just need guidance on how to navigate the court system. In many cases, clients might be looking to file a small claim but don’t know where to find the appropriate paperwork. Our General Practice clinic attorneys can review the client’s documents or help them find the correct forms to move ahead on their case.
- Federal Civil Rights: NLC provides client screening and scheduling services for the Federal Bar Association of the Western District of Washington’s Seattle Federal Civil Rights Legal Clinic. This Clinic primarily assists clients with federal civil rights legal issues such as unlawful employment, disability and housing discrimination, prison misconduct, and excessive force claims.
- Debt and Bankruptcy: Finally, debt-related questions are also common for NLC clients, and can be addressed in our Debt & Bankruptcy Clinics. Clients dealing with aggressive debt collectors or who are struggling with responding to a bogus debt can get specialized help from attorneys who focus on those issues and, as with our other common legal issues, just getting some clear answers can be a huge benefit to clients in terms of reducing anxiety and empowering them to take steps to address their legal issue.
The above is just a snapshot of some of the most common legal issues that NLC sees; our clients present a wide range of legal issues, and no matter what the issue, our volunteer attorneys try to provide competent legal advice and resources. Since the Neighborhood Legal Clinics can’t represent clients and representation may not be a viable option, NLC volunteers also work to give clients the knowledge and tools they need to handle their own case to get the best outcome possible. With employment and housing law in particular, NLC clients often have problems that their fellow employees (or tenants) are also experiencing; resolving that issue for our client can help resolve it for their coworkers, too. Our clients in NLC learn how to advocate for themselves and, in the process, often tell their friends and family how to contact NLC for help. Ideally, our satisfied clients in turn become advocates for NLC, telling others how to contact NLC for assistance and empowerment so that they don’t have to face a legal problem alone.
Louis Edelman is the NLC Client Services/Intern Supervisor.
