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Coordinated Legal Education, Advice and Referral system.

CLEAR is Northwest Justice Project's toll-free telephone service for eligible low-income people and seniors to obtain free legal assistance with civil legal problems. CLEAR is the gateway to help with civil legal problems in Washington State and works cooperatively with volunteer lawyer programs and other legal aid providers around the state. CLEAR handles civil, not criminal legal problems.

Calling CLEAR

Outside King County: Call CLEAR at 1-888-201-1014 weekdays from 9:15 a.m. until 12:20 p.m. or TTY - 1-888-201-9737. CLEAR works with a language line to provide interpreters as needed at no cost to callers.

King County: Call 211 for information and referral to an appropriate legal services provider Monday through Friday from 8:00 am – 6:00 pm. You may also call (206) 461-3200, or the toll-free number, which may be useful when calling from a pay phone, 1-800-621-4636. 211 works with a language line to provide interpreters as needed at no cost to callers. Deaf and hearing-impaired callers can call 1-800-833-6384 or 711 to be connected to a relay operator at no cost, who will then connect them with 211. Information on legal service providers may also be accessed through 211’s website at www.resourcehouse.org. Self-help legal information can be found online at Washington LawHelp.

Calling CLEAR*Sr

Persons 60 or over may call CLEAR*Sr at 1-888-387-7111 or TTY - 1-888-201-9737, regardless of income.

What Can I Expect When I Call CLEAR or CLEAR*Sr?

Before we can assist you, we must determine that you are eligible for services. In most counties, services will not be denied to people 60 and over due to your financial situation. Due to limited resources, lawyers and paralegals cannot speak to every caller and services are targeted to people with problems that affect basic needs such as housing, income, medical care and family safety.

In order to make sure we do not jeopardize your rights or the rights of another client because of a conflict of interest, our staff will ask you for information about the person, business or agency with whom you are having a problem.

If you are calling on behalf of another person, we will determine whether we can speak with you or whether we need to speak directly with the person on whose behalf you are calling.

If you are eligible to speak with a lawyer or paralegal, he or she will ask you about your problem. Please have papers or documents concerning your problem with you when you call. It will also help if you have important information such as the names of people involved with the problem, and their addresses and telephone numbers.

Based on the information you give us, we may give you verbal or written advice that may help you to solve your problem on your own. We also have an extensive library of informational materials to help you understand your legal rights and to advocate on your own behalf. If your problem is covered by any of these materials, we will send them to you free of charge.

In some cases, we may try to solve your problem through negotiation.

If your problem is more complicated and you need representation, we will try to refer you to a legal aid provider in your community, including:

Columbia Legal Services Regional Offices, with five locations throughout the State of Washington;
Northwest Justice Project, with 17 regional offices around the State of Washington;
Regional volunteer lawyer programs operated by County Bar Associations;
Other legal aid providers such as law school clinics, fair housing organizations, and other public and privacy advocacy groups.

Our staff try to make the best referral possible, however, we cannot guarantee that the agency or program you are referred to will be able to represent you. There may also be times when we will not be able to locate an appropriate referral in your geographic area. We will do our very best to see that you get all the help that is available to you.

CLEAR Promotional Materials