Snohomish County Legal Services 12/27/2018

problems. She is responsible for recruiting volunteer attorneys to assist with our bankruptcy clinic and to take non-family law cases for direct representation. We will continue to refer cases to volunteer attorneys for full legal representation based on the areas of priority established and annually reviewed by our board of directors. The representation is intended to meet the client's legal needs and to help the client gain self-sufficiency and stability through assistance with family law actions to dissolve dysfunctional marriages, establish child support and obtain spousal maintenance for education and training, through bankruptcy actions to obtain debtor-creditor relief, and through assistance with landlord-tenant problems or other actions such as preparation of wills and durable powers of attorney. Unbundled Legal Services: Our family law staff attorneys also represent clients in our domestic violence assistance program, and provide emergency legal services to victims of domestic violence through entry of protection orders and emergency temporary orders in family law matters. The client is then referred to a volunteer attorney for further representation after entry of temporary orders. In some instances, particularly where significant resources are required such as interpreter fees, our staff attorney continues to represent the client through trial. Our non-family law staff attorneys also provides unbundled legal services in some landlord-tenant, consumer, and administrative cases, representing clients at hearings, negotiating with opposing counsel or writing letters on behalf of the client. When our volunteer attorneys accept cases for limited legal representation, it has been helpful under those circumstances for our clients to have any urgent issues resolved so that their legal situation is stabilized. As attorneys have become more familiar with the new ethics rule on unbundled services, more have accepted cases for limited representation after meeting with clients in our family law clinic. In these instances, attorneys agree to represent the client through a hearing for temporary orders, for instance, and then the client may come back to us for further pro se assistance or referral as appropriate. Advice and Counsel: Legal advice, pro se assistance (assistance to those who are representing themselves), and legal advocacy are provided by both volunteers and staff. Our director, who is an attorney and our staff attorneys regularly meet with clients and provide pro se assistance, brief service and/or direct representation. Many clients are able to proceed on their own once they have met with an attorney and have been given legal advice and procedural direction. Clients who do proceed pro se are encouraged to return for review of the documents they plan to file and continuing assessment of the case for appropriateness and availability of referral. We also provide our clients with information about community resources that will help them with problems associated with their presenting legal problem. These referrals include referrals for emergency or shelter housing, mental health services, respite care, volunteer dental services, low or no cost parenting classes, domestic violence support groups and drug and alcohol evaluation and treatment. Each week, three volunteer attorneys staff our Family Law Advice Clinic (held at our office in downtown Everett) and provide legal advice, review pro se-prepared documents, and assist clients with preparation of motions and other court documents during a 45-60 minute evening appointment with each client. Although the majority of the work done by volunteer attorneys at the Family Law Advice Clinic is advice and counsel, the volunteer attorneys may on occasion use the clinic time to provide brief services by drafting legal documents or letters for the client at the clinic. When volunteer paralegals are available, they may prepare pleadings with the client which are then reviewed by the volunteer attorneys. We will