WASHINGTON STATE OFFICE OF CIVIL LEGAL AID

RECENT EFFORTS TO CLOSE THE CIVIL LEGAL AID JUSTICE GAP

January 2008:

The 2007 Legislature appropriated $4.7 million in new funding for expanded civil legal aid services in the 2007-09 biennium.  These funds were intended to help state-funded civil legal aid providers expand services in rural areas of the state where residents experience disproportionately high levels of poverty and have limited access to civil legal aid services.  In addition, the new funding was intended to unify client intake and referral services for the more than 220,000 low income residents of King County.

State funded civil legal aid services are provided by the Northwest Justice Project, a statewide non-profit legal services law firm, and by local programs that work to involve volunteer attorneys in the provision of critically needed low income services to low income residents.  With funding made available through the Office of Civil Legal Aid, the Northwest Justice Project has:

• Established 3-attorney client service offices in Port Angeles, Aberdeen and Longview (serving clients in Clallam, Jefferson, Grays Harbor, Pacific, Cowlitz and Wahkiakum Counties).
• Increased client service staffing in regional offices serving rural clients in Grant, Adams, Okanogan, Chelan, Douglas, Yakima, Kittitas, Benton, Franklin, Walla Walla, Asotin, Lincoln and Whitman Counties.
• In partnership with the King County Crisis Clinic, established a one-stop civil legal client intake and referral system for low income residents of King County.  These services are accessed through the 2-1-1 Information and Referral system hosted by the Crisis Clinic.

In addition, the Northwest Justice Project will be opening a new satellite client service office in Colville, serving low income residents of Ferry, Stevens and Pend Oreille Counties.

Despite these gains, the Justice Gap chronicled in the Supreme Court’s Task Force on Civil Equal Justice Funding remains significant.  Every month thousands of low income people across Washington cannot get the legal help they need to address critical life problems.  Building on the progress outlined above, the Office of Civil Legal Aid will continue to work with the Legislature, the Supreme Court and the civil legal aid community to ensure that those who face civil legal problems that affect important personal and family matters can get the help they need to address them.

For more information about state-funded civil legal aid, contact:

Office of Civil Legal Aid

PO Box 41183

Olympia, WA 98504-1183

360-704-4135

ocla@ocla.wa.gov