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Spread the Word On Legal Aid
Legal help in America is often defined by what people cannot access—services priced out of reach or simply unavailable to those who need them most. Meanwhile, we are inundated with oversized billboards, oversized bus ads, and relentless TV commercials marketing legal services for those who can afford them.
What remains largely invisible is the work of legal aid organizations and pro bono attorneys. These lawyers take cases others won’t. They stand up for the disenfranchised, committing years to “David vs. Goliath” battles with no guarantee of compensation.
Only rarely does this work break into public view. The film Tow (starring Oscar-nominated Rose Byrne) tells one such story: a Seattle woman who refused to back down, and an attorney affiliated with Northwest Consumer Law Center who fought for 369 days, through two court orders, to recover her stolen, towed, and illegally sold car, while eliminating a $21,634 bill.
If we have space for lawyer advertising on every corner and bus line, we should also make room to let the public know more about our legal aid organizations, their attorneys, and pro bono services.
Michael B. Goldenkranz
Seattle
Letters to the editor published in Bar News must respond to content presented in the magazine and also comply with Washington General Rule 12.2 and Keller v. State Bar of California, 496 U.S. 1 (1990). Bar News may limit the number of letters published based on available space in a particular issue and, if many letters are received in response to a specific piece in the magazine, may select letters that provide differing viewpoints to publish. Bar News does not publish anonymous letters or more than one letter from the same contributor per issue. All letters are subject to editing for length and grammatical accuracy.