Low Income Legal Advocacy
Mission Statement
Our mission is to provide low-income and disadvantaged people with a strong, legal ally
within the Justice system in the Pacific Northwest. Our dynamic group of lawyers will focus on
individual legal battles in the realm of rights issues such as; housing discrimination, workplace
discrimination, family law issues and select cases.
As we are dealing with a specific segment of the population that is at risk of poverty and
homelessness, we make sure our clients know all of the options available to them; in terms of
housing and government assistance, to help them get back on their feet before starting a long
and oftentimes hard legal battle.
Objectives
Our Main Objectives for the first 5 years in operation:
-
Our goal is to provide clients with exceptional legal service from the first phone call to
our offices – all the way to the courtroom.
Aim date of opening is Spring of 2016
Have at least 30% of our operational budget financed through outside donations.
Make a positive, noticeable difference in the community and Justice system.
Raise media awareness of our values and goals.
Assist persons in need with directions to other firms or agencies that can better assist
them, if we cannot.
Reinvest earnings into the business.
Recruit donations from attorneys working pro-bono or helping clients with pro-se cases.
Executive Summary
As a law firm devoted to putting the maximum amount of funds generated back into our
legal service outreach, only a few positions will be salaried. Those salaried positions will be that
of the lawyers and perhaps a paralegal. Because this business needs to maximize funds to
allocate them to the free or low cost legal help for those that cannot afford it, we will not have
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a receptionist, or more than one paralegal or office assistant. Lawyers employed will be
expected to do the work traditionally handed to a paralegal themselves, as well as consulting
with all other lawyers as a group to advance the cause of the firm, working together as a team
on all projects.
Being as this is a collective-minded process, lawyers employed will be expected to scout
for and bring relevant possible cases to the firm, as well as interact with other lawyers in the
firm with assistance on their cases. Salaries are based on how much work a lawyer brings in, the
end result of each individual legal action, as well as participation in cases others have brought
to the table.
I do not expect the number of lawyers to be over 2 or 3 at first. This is a small start up.
The goal, however, is to have a staff of 12 in 5 years total, running a well oiled machine
focusing on legal representation for low income people, and using the funds from larger
judgments to finance the smaller ones, and pay our staff.
Investors would of course be welcomed, yet not expected for such a project. Seeing as
this is not a venture focused on maximum profit, we do not expect investors to take an interest.
However, we do see interest in the form of philanthropically-minded donations, which we
would gladly accept and carefully budget to use to the maximum effect. Those targeted for
donations would be companies and organizations with a history of interest in the surrounding
community and commitment to funding projects focused on the well being of those most often
overlooked by society and its systems.
While we will be operating under the title of Limited Liability Company, we will be
focused in putting all excess funds back into the company, by means of hiring more lawyers and
taking on more cases. This reflects the values of a non-profit company, the work ethic of a
cohesive group, yet stops just short of a full partnership title by giving its founder the final
decision, while still incorporating all members’ thoughts, ideas and direction.
Business Plan Data
In order to effectively judge the response to our opening, we need the following;
-
Statistics on the number of unrepresented people who enter the courtroom
Social statistics on our target groups in terms of income, gender, race, housing and
disability status, etc.
Information from the Washington State Bar Association on the number of pro-bono
lawyers listed
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-
Statistical information on the number of people who self-represent and the outcomes of
those cases
Forming relationships with courtroom advocates and other low income legal services
Marketing through free clinic and legal help hotlines
Fundraising and donation strategies
Market Share
As you can see from this chart, only two legal clinics in Washington State offer courtroom legal
assistance (see below). However, low income people seeking representation will only be able to
use these services if they fit into narrow groups, either homeless or unemployed. All others
seeking pro-bono or sliding scale representation with an emphasis on very low income people
will find that there are no other options in this state. It’s for this reason that we will dominate
the market in this regard, bringing a much needed service to thousands of eligible people in
Washington State.
Courtroom
Representation Chart
Low Income Legal Help in Washington
Bilingual Spanish Legal Clinic
CLEAR Hotline
Eastside Legal/Family Law
Eastside Legal/ General Law
Eastside Legal/Multi Lingual
International District Legal Clinic
King County Bar Association Legal Clinic
Korean Legal Clinic
Legal Voice
Senior Rights Assistance
Seattle Union Gospel Mission
Unemployment Law Project
Total
No
Offers
Courtroom Courtroom
Services
Services
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
Twelve
Yes
Yes
Two
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Low Income Legal Help
Clinics
Low Income Law with
Courtroom
Representation
Year End Totals
This chart represents the five main quarterly projections for the first four quarters of 2016, our
first year in operation. These five main categories were chosen because our main funding
comes from outside donors, corporate and private, and not from the smaller amounts received
by individuals for court filing fees and so forth. While these numbers aren’t negligible, they are
however highly subjective and dependent upon how many cases we can reel in and then upon
how many we can succeed in winning. The outlook is good, the demand is very apparent, but
more concrete and detailed projections will be available by the end of the second quarter for
client income.
Low Income Legal Clinic
Budget For 2016
Funding From
Funding From
Law Office Space
Advertising/
Office Supplies (Inc
Corperate Donors Private Donors
Rent
Marketing
Tech and Website)
First Quarter
$1,500.00
$410.00
$850.00
$810.75
$2,310.42
Second Quarter
3,577.61
963.50
850.00
350.33
110.49
Third Quarter
2,986.74
875.91
850.00
251.84
57.82
Fourth Quarter
5,163.20
1,264.25
850.00
505.10
43.61
Year End Totals
$13,227.55
$3,513.66
$3,400.00
$1,918.02
$2,522.34
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$6,000.00
$5,000.00
$4,000.00
$3,000.00
Funding From Corperate
Donors
$2,000.00
Funding From Private Donors
$1,000.00
$0.00
First
Quarter
$6,000.00
$5,000.00
$4,000.00
$3,000.00
$2,000.00
$1,000.00
$0.00
Second
Quarter
Third
Quarter
Fourth
Quarter
First Quarter
Second Quarter
Third Quarter
Fourth Quarter