Before entering the legal clinic, clients navigated past a swirl of neon blue lights, and dozens of slot machines, music echoing in the 12 Tribes Casino and Hotel in Omak, Washington. On September 12, Northwest Justice Project (NJP) and the Washington State Bar Association (WSBA) hosted an inaugural Rural Practice Day of Service. Seven volunteer attorneys came from across the state – from Bainbridge Island to Spokane – to offer free legal help to elderly couples and single seniors.
The clinic zeroed in on end-of-life forms: wills, durable power of attorney, and health directives. “We see so many people going into guardianship [where decisions about their care become subject to court-appointed guardians] because they didn’t have the end-of-life documents,” said Coco Holbrook, Assistant Managing Attorney in NJP’s Wenatchee office, and one of the clinic’s main organizers. “We want to make sure people communicate their wishes about how they want to be cared for, whether that involves their finances, physical health, or mental well-being.”
The Washington State Bar Association’s Small Town and Rural Committee (STAR) lit the spark for the clinic and funded it to help bridge the state’s gap in rural legal services. Superior Court Judge Kathryn Burke of Okanogan County, a STAR committee member, then made the crucial connections to bring it to life locally. “I ran into NJP attorney Vicky Minto outside the Okanogan courtroom and asked if NJP would be interested in working on this,” Burke explained. “She said absolutely – and NJP ran with it. I see a lot of people in court who tell me this is exactly what they need.”
Legal assistant Norma Rivera, based in the NJP Omak office, crisscrossed the county – the state’s largest – posting flyers in laundromats, senior centers, health clinics and any place else people gather. In the end there was a waitlist and not a single cancellation.
Getting legal help in Okanogan County is an uphill battle. The county’s 45,000 people are scattered across 5,281 square miles, served by only about a dozen lawyers available to handle civil (non-criminal) legal matters.
Based in the small town of Omak, NJP’s Vicky Minto serves as the county’s sole NJP attorney. With few other legal resources available to residents, Vicky handles a wide range of legal issues including guardianship, domestic violence protection orders, housing disputes, and unfair debt cases.
The effort paid off in ways that went beyond the paperwork. “The most gratifying thing is that we were able to send clients away with a resolved legal need. It’s a small step forward in increasing access to justice in rural communities,” said event co-organizer Kevin Plachy, Director of Advancement for the Washington State Bar Association.
As one senior client left, tightly holding her folder of legal documents, she looked ahead to checking off the next item on her bucket list: panning for gold outside of Yakima.