COLUMN > PRO BONO ORGANIZATION OF THE MONTH
Q&A with executive director Barbara Potter, housing justice program manager Victor Barajas, volunteer attorney grant writer Marla Marvin, and volunteer LLLT Mark Von Weber
Q. Tell us a bit about the history of your organization. What is your organization’s philosophy? Why do you do what you do?
BFLA’s mission is to provide legal assistance to qualified low-income individuals who would otherwise be denied access to justice because of their inability to pay for counsel or navigate the legal system. We harness the legal expertise of local attorneys who volunteer their services for free or at a reduced rate. Our philosophy is to advance justice in as many areas of the law as possible.
Our organization is committed to advancing race equity. We recognize racism is systemic and that we have a responsibility to challenge and dismantle it.
We do what we do because we believe in justice for all. We know that competent counsel and a support system can lead to positive outcomes in our complex and challenging legal system. BFLA has strong support from the Benton Franklin County judicial bench, local bar association, and individuals throughout the local legal landscape.
We also like to innovate. When we discovered that many victims of domestic violence were in need of representation in their court hearings, we created the Domestic Violence Attorney Program, or DVAP. We moved from assisting a few clients per year in this practice area to helping about 100 clients per year with a 99 percent success rate in getting long-term protective orders. In addition, BFLA saw a need to prevent evictions and started a pre-eviction Housing Justice Program that works with landlords and tenants to keep people housed. We are now working on creating a Self-Help Center to assist pro se litigants and give new lawyers a chance to volunteer. We are also getting creative in how we might help those facing immigration challenges without gathering in public spaces, which many now fear.
Q. Where is your organization located? Do volunteers participate remotely, in person, or both?
We are located in Kennewick. Volunteers participate remotely and in person, including meeting clients in off-site locations, law offices, and at the small BFLA office.
Q. Who does your organization serve?
Low-income people and victims of domestic violence regardless of their income level in Benton and Franklin Counties (and occasionally adjacent counties where free legal services are scarce).
Q. What are the biggest barriers your clients face in accessing legal assistance?
Cost, expertise, and availability of counsel are the biggest barriers our clients face. For many of our clients, English is not their first language, so they must overcome language barriers, too.
BFLA works to make our services accessible, including ensuring our clients can find us physically. Our building is centrally located in the Tri-Cities and is on the bus line. Clients may come to our office any time of the day to pick up or drop off an application in our front door drop box. We also modified our website so it can be read in Spanish to serve the more than 50 percent of our clients who are Hispanic.
Q. What area(s) of law do you provide services in?
BFLA assists our clients with family law, debt relief/bankruptcy, Social Security/disability benefits, wills/powers of attorney, immigration, landlord-tenant disputes, domestic violence protective orders, and adult guardianship.
Q. Does your organization provide training, CLE credit, or other benefits to volunteers?
Yes, BFLA pro bono volunteers are eligible to earn one CLE hour for each hour they volunteer. We also do in-house and online training on various subjects.
Q. Please provide an (anonymous) client story—an example of someone who was helped and how.
This story, written by a BFLA legal technician volunteer, is representative of many we serve at BFLA: Norma is a single mother of a (then) 15-year-old daughter and a 10-year-old son. We first met Norma at our February 2024 Family Law Clinic in Pasco. Norma requested advice on a parenting plan. She and the father of her children had been separated for years, and their son would spend weekends with the father and return to Norma on Sunday night. The father withheld the daughter, allowing Norma to see her for only a couple hours Wednesdays after school, if at all.
The daughter had been living with her aunt and cousin, not her father, for several years. Norma was distraught over missing out on co-parenting, but fearful the father would not let her see her daughter at all if she did anything to upset the status quo. The daughter became more disrespectful toward Norma, misbehaved, began skipping classes, was on her way to dropping out of high school, and needed counseling.
Norma, whose first language is Spanish, was well prepared for the Family Law Clinic, but needed additional documents for a temporary parenting plan. We met twice more before Norma filed her parenting plan. Meanwhile, the relationship between the parties deteriorated to the point where Norma sought an Immediate Temporary Domestic Violence Protection Order (DVPO). BFLA assigned a lawyer from its Domestic Violence Attorney Program (DVAP) who secured a full DVPO for Norma. Once the DVPO was entered, we thought we could turn to the parenting plan. But the aunt filed an Immediate Temporary DVPO on behalf of the daughter against Norma.
Even though Norma seemed insecure and reserved, she insisted on reviewing her pleadings, choosing her words carefully so the court would hear her voice. We prepared our “script” for the DVPO hearing against Norma. As I listened to the hearing via WebEx, I heard a confident pro se litigator, speaking in Spanish, with the presence and poise of a mother fighting for the future of her family and children. After a lengthy examination of the parties, the judge denied the DVPO against Norma, which made the now-reconciled mother and daughter cry.
Norma worked out the details of a final parenting plan with the aunt and father prior to the hearing, at which the final documents were approved and entered ahead of the scheduled settlement conference and trial.
I believe in Norma. She worked as a housekeeper as well as an elder assistant, and she fought with a quiet, determined intensity every inch of the way. I helped her with her résumé so she might find better employment and suggested she take an English as a second language class. The daughter is back in school earning top grades again, and Norma is an integral part of her life.
I met with Norma multiple times between February and October 2024, as we prepared for six hearings. BFLA provided legal assistance with positive outcomes in her three cases. Later on, we also learned that Norma had been referred to BFLA in 2021 for an immigration issue and had sought advice from our Housing Justice Program. This is an example of how BFLA successfully provides trusted wraparound services within our community as a one-stop shop.
BFLA has strong support from the Benton Franklin County judicial bench, local bar association, and individuals throughout the local legal landscape.
Q. What does a typical weekly or monthly commitment look like for a volunteer? How many hours? How many clients?
Commitments and number of clients served vary. One volunteer legal technician often holds office hours twice a week to meet clients who would otherwise need to wait until the monthly BFLA Family Law Clinic (FLC). A pro bono attorney contributes 5-8 hours per week. Four attorneys volunteer 5-10 hours per week in our family law and domestic violence practice, each assisting 5-10 clients per month. Three attorneys practicing immigration law provide Know Your Rights clinics. A grant-writing attorney volunteers 3-4 hours per week. A retired bankruptcy attorney recently volunteered to provide debtor information clinics to BFLA clients. We have 75-plus volunteers in the local legal community who agree to take individual cases pro bono as needed or support our legal clinics when BFLA’s executive director asks, receiving applications for over 3,000 clients a year. In 2025, our DV attorneys provided 283 hours of pro bono work, our LLLT provided over 800 hours, and our regular attorneys with full representation provided over 250 hours.
Q. What do volunteers say they enjoy most about serving clients through your organization or clinic?
Volunteers enjoy the camaraderie and expertise offered by the friendly, knowledgeable, and committed staff of BFLA. They appreciate helping advance justice for clients and their families. They know they are making a difference in their community.
Q. Are you currently in need of volunteers? If so, how can legal professionals reach out to get involved?
Yes, we are always in need of volunteers. We currently have two openings on our board of directors, and we always need attorneys to help with family law, immigration, domestic violence protective orders, and other legal issues. We also use volunteers for fundraising events, outreach, grants, and general support.
Q. What would you most want readers to know about the type of work your organization does and the type of people who need your services?
Our organization operates to help ensure justice is provided to the economically disadvantaged and otherwise marginalized communities. As the wealth gap widens, those at the bottom of the income bracket need help to assert and affirm their legal rights. We offer legal representation, advice, and support in navigating the system and work to advance racial equity.
LEARN MORE > To learn more about the work done by the Benton Franklin Legal Aid Society (BFLA) and to get involved, visit https://bflegalaid.org/.
About the authorS
Barbara Potter has served as the BFLA executive director since 2006. Through her leadership, BFLA has grown from one employee to six, and from a few attorney volunteers to 75-plus.
Victor Barajas is the BFLA Housing Justice Program (HJP) manager. He is bilingual (Spanish) and works closely with our pre-RTC and RTC clients to ensure their housing needs are addressed by our dedicated landlord-tenant lawyers. He is also a certified family law mediator.
Marla Marvin is a retired federal attorney who has volunteered at BFLA since 2024, primarily assisting in grant writing.
Mark Von Weber, LLLT (who wrote Norma’s story), is a veteran of the Navy and volunteer with BFLA since 2023.