Pro Bono and Legal Aid Committee

Welcome

For general information on finding legal help in Washington State, please click on "Find Legal Help" in the column on the left. The Pro Bono and Legal Aid Committee does not accept or refer pro bono legal cases.

The Pro Bono and Legal Aid Committee deals with questions in the fields of pro bono and legal aid, with respect to:

supporting activities that assist volunteer attorney legal services programs and organizations, and encouraging pro bono participation;
addressing the administration of justice as it affects indigent persons throughout the state; and
cooperating with other agencies, both public and private, interested in these objectives.

The Committee meets monthly at the WSBA office.

The major focus of the Pro Bono and Legal Aid Committee has been the implementation of the Volunteer Attorney Legal Services (VALS) Action Plan, adopted by the Washington State Bar Association Board of Governors in 1994 to enhance the delivery of pro bono services in Washington State. In 1999, the Committee wrote a Five-Year Progress Report analyzing the implementation of the VALS Action Plan. The report notes that its implementation is inextricably tied to significant initiatives in Washington State that have been under development since the Plan was adopted in 1994 (e.g., Plan for the Delivery of Civil Legal Aid to Low Income People in Washington State. The report concludes that the VALS Action Plan is a work in progress.

Significant PBLAC accomplishments include the following:

Amendment to MCLE Reg. 103(f)
MCLE Credits for Pro Bono service to award CLE credits for pro bono representation of low income clients and mentoring of pro bono attorneys. MCLE Regulation 103(f)
Emeritus Attorney Program APR 8(e)
Report and Recommendations to the Washington State Bar Association Board of Governors on Civil Equal Justice Funding Options (1998)
Resolution 23 Leadership to Promote Equal Justice by the National Conference of Chief Justices on Providing and Institutionalizing Leadership on Equal Justice
Amendment to Rule 6.1 Pro Bono Publico Service
RPC 6.1 — Rule and Comments
The amendment encourages lawyers to render at least thirty (30) hours of pro bono publico legal services per year, to voluntarily contribute financial support to organizations that provide legal services to persons of limited means and to voluntarily report pro bono services on the annual WSBA licensing fee statement. Lawyers rendering a minimum of fifty (50) hours of pro bono service shall receive a recognition award for such service from the WSBA.

Current PBLAC initiatives include the following:

Corporate Counsel and Government Attorney Pro Bono Activities
To encourage the development of a culture of pro bono within corporate law departments and the government law sectors.
Proposed GR 34 - Waiver of Court and Clerk's Fees and Charges in Civil Matters on the Basis of Indigency
To develop a proposed In Forma Pauperis rule, which will provide uniformity throughout the state and which will revolve much of the subjectivity now surrounding decisions to grant a waiver of fees. This proposed rule was submitted to the Washington State Supreme Court for consideration in March 2009, and has been posted for comments through April 2010.
Supreme Court Involvement
To promote increased involvement of the Washington State Supreme Court in taking a leadership role in encouraging WSBA members to provide pro bono services.
Private Bar Pro Bono/Education

To encourage pro bono among law firms and individual attorneys, to raise the awareness of pro bono opportunities and to increase free and low-cost CLE seminars for volunteer attorneys.
WSBA Voluntary Pro Bono Interest and Skills Survey - The survey is designed to identify (a) the types of pro bono matters attorneys may be interested in handling, (b) skill levels in each of the pertinent practice areas, and (c) barriers and incentives relating to participation in providing pro bono services.

For general information on legal help in Washington state, click here.