For 30 years, NJP has provided free legal services in low-income communities, protecting housing, income, safety, and stability for millions. Looking back on our history, we interviewed Pat “Mac” McIntyre, NJP’s founding Executive Director, who steered the organization through our first decade.
In October 1995, civil legal aid leaders in Washington state came together to confront an existential crisis: Congress had just gutted funding for the Legal Services Corporation, the federal government’s primary funder of civil legal aid, cutting it by roughly two-thirds and attaching a set of restrictions that any grantee would have to apply to all of its money. The restrictions prohibited legal aid organizations from participating in class-action lawsuits, lobbying, or representing many of America’s most vulnerable residents, including people who were undocumented or incarcerated.
The cuts were part of the new congressional “Contract with America.” Legal aid — along with a long list of other programs serving low-income Americans appeared to be on “a glide path to zero.”
Dissolution and Creation
Mac, then deputy director of Washington’s Evergreen Legal Services, along with legal aid leaders Ada Shen-Jaffe, John Purbaugh and Jim Bamberger, decided the only way to protect the state’s capacity for full-scale advocacy was to split in two: one organization to hold the restricted federal dollars and keep razor-focused on direct client service, and another to carry forward the unrestricted work without federal money.
That meant dissolving Evergreen Legal Services, Spokane Legal Services Center, and Puget Sound Legal Assistance Foundation and reconstituting them into two new organizations: Northwest Justice Project, holding the LSC-restricted federal dollars, and Columbia Legal Services, carrying the unrestricted advocacy work. (Our sister organization also celebrates their 30th anniversary this year!)
That decision, Mac set out to build NJP, along with Sue Encherman and Joan Kleinberg as able co-conspirators and construction crew leaders.
“We were trying to save legal aid,” Mac recalled. He spent his first months on the road, asking laid-off staff in Spokane, Tacoma, and Pasco to hang on. “I was telling them ‘We don’t have the money yet. I’ve worked with you. I appreciate how good you are, the community needs you. Can you hang on?”
He took out personal loans to cover payroll before a single federal dollar arrived.
NJP opened its doors in 1996 and in March, roughly 50 employees gathered in Bremerton for our first all-staff retreat. The organization’s motto — “Change is good” — was printed on mouse pads, and the CLEAR hotline was launched, soon to become a national model.
In the 30 years since, NJP has adapted to address urgent legal needs as they arose in our communities and weathered political and funding changes at national and state levels. In 2006, César Torres succeeded Mac as NJP’s Executive Director and under his leadership the state investment in civil legal aid grew and NJP’s budget quadrupled in size, opening offices in nearly a dozen more counties.
Through it all, we’ve remained focused on our core mission of providing free legal services to low-income community members and using our legal expertise to challenge unjust systems that perpetuate poverty.
The Rule of Law
Today, Mac emphasizes a basic truth about NJP’s work. “Civil legal aid is the last best hope for the rule of law,” he says. “In the deepest sense, the rule of law means there aren’t kings, people have equal rights, no one is above the law… The rule of law is right there in that individual case. If you don’t help that person, they’re going to get screwed. If you pass them over, you’ve failed the rule of law.”
That conviction has carried NJP from a scrappy, four-office startup in 1996 to Washington’s largest provider of civil legal aid. Every year, our Washington Law Help site provides more than one million people with vital legal information, and we represent tens of thousands of low-income people across the state, helping them keep their housing, income, safety, and stability.
Each fight for individual justice is also a fight for strong communities and human dignity. What we learn from our clients’ experiences drives us to challenge unjust laws, insist that existing laws be applied fairly, and help shape the law with their interests at the center. Our expert, creative lawyering makes systems change possible.
As NJP marks 30 years, our founding purpose hasn’t changed but we have grown, adapted, and created new models and partnerships – ready for what’s next.
Are you ready for what’s next? Watch for NJP’s new logo and redesigned website this fall and make a gift to help write the next chapter of legal aid in Washington.