Coco won the 2024 Public Service & Leadership Award from the Washington Young Lawyers Committee of the Washington Bar Association. An interview revealed the passion, smarts, and personality Coco brings to her role as assistant managing attorney for Northwest Justice Project's Wenatchee field office.
Why did you decide to work with NJP in rural Washington?
Before NJP, I was living in Massachusetts doing mental health civil rights work and impact litigation—legal cases that serve larger systemic advocacy purposes. But my heart was in legal services. That was my training in law school. I wanted to provide legal services in a rural area—and I found NJP and the Wenatchee office.
It's always hard to bring legal practitioners to rural areas but you can make a big impact with your time and energy supporting overlooked communities, like the five main counties served by the Wenatchee office.
What kind of cases do you take and are there any that stand out over your three years so far with NJP?
I get a lot of cases where other attorneys say it’s interesting, which just means it’s messy and the law is not being followed.
One involved assisting a student in special education, trying to get the school to respect our laws and understand that we need to adapt how we teach to fit how a child thinks and learns, rather than make the child adapt to us.
Working on his civil case, I helped develop the student's Individualized Education Program. The results were a mixed bag. The school was more responsive to what the parent was saying because I was there in the meeting. That’s just a stupid reality. We got a behavioral intervention plan in place so that when the kiddo acts out in ways related to his disability, the staff have specific guidelines rather than just doing what they think of at the moment. It takes into account the science and what the parent says and requires teachers to think more creatively. We reached a compromise. He's doing much better now.
I also do debt work. I help people who are being sued for hospital or medical bills apply for charity care, and I defend people against third-party debt buyers.
Tell me about a healthcare case
One memorable case involved appealing a Medicaid decision for a client with diabetes who needed a continuous glucose monitor. The rules only allowed it with a very specific diagnosis. My client didn't have that precise diagnosis, but there was clear medical necessity. Her situation was dire.
She was friendly and a fighter but her medical problems were wearing her down. Because of her health, she couldn't hold down a job. The difficulties involved in manual glucose monitoring led to continuous bad side effects, including organ damage. We appealed their decision and Medicaid relented. She got the monitor. It beeps when glucose levels go too low, so she no longer has the stress and anxiety of spending all of her brain energy on remembering to monitor. Now she can avoid going into shock and maintain better health.
How do you unwind or recharge after a difficult day?
These days I am typically reading books or playing video games or hanging out with my girlfriend. I go outside, lay in a hammock, even if I need a blanket because there’s snow on the ground. Or I make wood furniture: cabinets, shelves, side tables. I like working with walnut. I think it’s gorgeous.
What does this award mean to you?
A former NJP colleague, Catherine Hauser, nominated me without telling me. I didn't know until I got an email saying I'd won. It was a huge surprise – I'm honored and flattered.
What are you most concerned about in 2025?
An escalation of incredible violence against people. Violence perpetrated in all kinds of ways, through policies, wars, and by the people who may feel emboldened to act on their bigoted ideas. Everything is going to get a lot less safe.
What are you most looking forward to in 2025?
Being able to strengthen and build community in the spaces that I'm in, to stand up and fight and weather everything that I know 2025 will bring us.
What motivates you?
What drives me is knowing that I can work with my community to address the real harm that's happening. Doing one legal case can't fix that harm that’s already happened, but it can help someone who is going through a traumatic, scary, stressful situation to not go through it alone. It's harm mitigation from a system that was designed to cause harm.
What is one thing your colleagues may not know about you?
I can break a board with my hand. I’m a black belt in Tae Kwon do.