Eastside Legal Assistance Program

ELAP provides many services to low income residents of King County which are described below.

Advice and counsel

ELAP operates eight advice and consultation clinics only for low-income residents of East and Northeast King County. These clinics are located in Kirkland, Redmond, Issaquah, Sammamish and Bellevue. Four clinics take general civil non-family law issues and four are specialty clinics: family law and domestic violence issues; immigration issues; and multi-lingual, which handle all civil issues, including family law, for those who speak Spanish, Russian and Ukrainian. We also offer forms/packet checklist for clinic attorneys to use so that appropriate materials from Washington Law Help can be copied and mailed to clinic clients, providing them with additional assistance/information.

Unbundled legal services

Unbundled services are presently provided primarily through our Domestic Violence Legal Project (DVLP) and one part-time staff attorney. All clients must be referred by a domestic violence advocate, another legal aid agency, or a human services agency, and have an income at or below 200% of federal poverty guidelines. The staff attorney primarily provides brief services (see below) but may also take a case for full or unbundled representation.

ELAP provides this service primarily through its volunteer attorney panel, which presently has 66 attorneys (we have a total of 130 volunteers in all of our services). In addition, we have a part time staff attorney providing assistance to domestic violence survivors (which may include full representation). Family law cases, particularly with domestic violence issues and/or children at risk, are our highest priority for full representation, and the most needed. In addition to family law, the other most frequently referred legal issues deal with consumer/bankruptcy concerns, immigration, wills, housing problems and employment issues.

Brief services

ELAP volunteer attorneys provide brief assistance, in addition to the clinic appointment. The clinics’ attorney volunteers usually self-refer the “Client Plus” clients from the clinic and provide services such as writing a letter, making a phone call, or assisting with paperwork. “Client Plus” clients may also be referred by staff to either volunteer attorneys or, in the case of someone with domestic violence issues, to the staff attorney or other volunteer attorneys.

The Self-Help Dissolution Workshop provides procedural information for clients who will represent themselves in their divorce. The workshop is taught by the staff paralegal and under supervision of the staff attorney. ELAP staff also will prepare the dissolution paperwork and clients are free to call the staff with questions as they go through the process. The workshop class is free, but ELAP requests a sliding scale fee to prepare the paperwork, primarily to cover the costs of the software and supplies. This fee is readily decreased or waived when needed. ELAP also provides credit clearing workshops to women living in a long term shelter for the homeless.

In our Wills Project, volunteer attorneys provide wills, durable powers of attorney and directives to physicians.

Staff attorney provides brief services to domestic violence survivors which may include advice, drafting pleadings, drafting documents for discovery, coaching for court appearances, development of legal strategies, assistance in obtaining exhibits and supportive documents, providing appropriate referrals, and assistance with post-decree pleadings and strategies.

Full legal presentation

ELAP provides this service primarily through its volunteer attorney panel, which presently has 76 attorneys (we have a total of 130 volunteers in all of our services). In addition, we have a part time staff attorney providing assistance to domestic violence survivors (which may include full representation). Family law cases, particularly with domestic violence issues and/or children at risk, are our highest priority for full representation, and the most needed. In addition to family law, the other most frequently referred legal issues deal with consumer/bankruptcy concerns, immigration, wills, housing problems and employment issues.

Community education

ELAP provides legal information through "Legal Clinics" for the public at various agencies on the Eastside. These clinics are staffed by ELAP volunteer attorneys. Topics include: probate, preparing your own will, nursing homes/long term care, family law, and fraud issues. This service also provides an easy entry point for many future clients, especially the elderly. Follow this link to a calendar of our clinics.

For callers who do not have a legal issue, do not qualify for our services, or need other types of legal or non-legal assistance, ELAP makes referrals to other agencies and to the Washington Law Help website.