Action Record

Name of group: AILA Washington Chapter Pro Bono Committee

Objectives: To link pro bono AILA lawyers with clients from agencies providing immigration assistance

Date: Sept. 28, 2006Leader: Erin Zipfel

Agenda:Attendance:

1. Naturalization Day updateJuli Bildhauer, Bina Ellefsen, Marie

2. CLE tuition proposal updateHiguera, Loi Lumala, Edgar Mason, Kinza 3. CBOs & unauthorized practice of law Schuyler, Erin Zipfel

4. Plan for Pro Bono Referrals

Decisions:

  1. The committee will refer to the AILA WA State Ethics Committee the issue of WA state funding CBOs who are not accredited to do immigration
  2. Cases need to be screened for viability before they are referred to Pro Bono lawyers. Technical assistance needs to be provided to lawyers taking the cases. Some organizations (IRC, NWIRP, Refugee Assistance Program, SeattleUniv., VAIJ) have lawyers on staff who can both screen the cases and provide technical assistance to pro bono attorneys. To begin, each agency listed above could send a well written brief description of one case a month to the Pro Bono Committee for distribution to the AILA listserv on the first Monday of the month. Potential clients would need to be below 200% of poverty guidelines. The committee would like a diversity of types of cases. Interested attorneys would contact the would contact the agency directly using the contact included in the e-mail or committee? .

ActionWhoDate Due

Loan for Natz day 2007 submitted to EC / Andrea Crumpler / Before Oct. 12 pro bono mtg?
Line Item for Natz day 2008 submitted to EC / Andrea Crumpler / Late winter 2006 before EC does its budget
Contact CLE committee to organize lunch Natz training / Amy Royalty / Before Oct. 12 pro bono mtg?
Follow up with Bart Stroupe re budget for Pro Bono discount incentive / Erin Zipfel / ASAP
Follow up with Carlin & CLE committee re budget for Pro Bono discount incentive / Bart Stroupe / Before Oct. 12 pro bono mtg?
Get Pro Bono discount incentive on EC agenda / Andrea Crumpler / Before next EC meeting
Refer issue of WA state funding CBOs to do immigration to AILA Ethics Committee / Bart Stroup & Erin Zipfel / Before Oct. 12 pro bono mtg?
Request list of CBOs receiving funding for immigration
Send out draft of Pro bono referral letter to committee for approval / Kinza Schuyler
Erin Zipfel / Before Oct. 12 pro bono mtg?
ASAP

AILA Washington Chapter

Pro Bono Committee

Sept. 18, 2006

Minutes

Attendence: Juli Bildhauer, Bina Ellefsen, MarieHiguera, Loi Lumala, Edgar Mason, KinzaSchuyler, Erin Zipfel

Review of Aug. 18, 2006 minutes and update:

Natz Day: Andrea Crumpler was not present to update us on the status of her request to the EC for a loan of $1000 for Natz Day 2007 and request for a budget line item for Natz Day 2008. Since Amy was not present, we don’t know if CLE committee has been contacted to organize a lunch natz training CLE before the March 24 Natz 2007 workshop.

Natz Day Subcommittee report (Kinza): Natz Day 2007 has been renamed Citizenship Day 2007 since the term is better understood by laymen. The committee decided that they would not have a site in Shoreline. Since there are large Latino communities at several of the sites chosen, the committee is working to include more Latino organizations in the planning – either as full partners or to do outreach to media and potential workshop clients.

CLE tuition proposal (Erin): Erin needs to work with the CLE committee on a budget to see if a tuition reduction is feasible for those who have report pro bono hours. She will follow up with Bart and both will follow up with Carlin at CLE committee.

COBs and unauthorized practice of law: At the request of the committee, Kinza sent a memo to Amy Royalty and Erin Zipfel to review, detailing the request of Jeff Wendland, Program Manager at Refugee and Immigrant Assistance, of DSHS for a list of pro bono attorneys who could help out if Refugee Resettlement Assistance providers encountered Red Flags when doing I-485, I-765, and N-400. While some of the agencies are BIA accredited, most are not.

Amy Royalty was concerned that WashingtonState is funding non BIA accredited agencies to do immigration. She suggested that this matter be brought up with the AILA Ethics committee, and that they could decide whether or not to follow up with the state. The committee concurred. Erin Zipfel contacted Steve Miller who also agreed about referring to Ethics committee.

We discussed whether CBOs could refer cases to the Pro Bono Committee which would refer them on to lawyers. The committee asked for a list of agencies doing the work. There was a concern about how much need and work might be involved and whether the committee could handle it. (See below under Plan for pro bono referrals)

It was noted that there was a need for training the agencies and a suggestion that either NWIRP or AILA do it – perhaps formally, perhaps as a 2 hour quarterly refresher clinic. Perhaps the State fund a part time position (say at NWIRP) for technical assistance and help finding pro bono assistance?

Plan for Pro Bono referrals: Erin presented a proposal for pro bono referrals. One of the questions is what can AILA do expand intake? Intake is very limited and both NWIRP and KCBA clinic fill up quickly. The need for immigration assistance is far greater than the finite number of cases that can be channeled through these organizations.

The second question involved screening cases. Cases need to be screened for viability before they are referred to Pro Bono lawyers. Marie Higuera said she could volunteer to do some consultation on cases (in reference to the CBO agencies) to see if a case was viable or not. But she might need help, depending on need. Some AILA lawyers might be willing to do this, since it does not involve as much time as taking on an asylum case or serving on the KCBA clinic.

Turn around time for assistance was a third question, as some cases need immediate help and cannot wait for a monthly listing in AILA listserv. Those agencies generally contact lawyers and firms directly.

It was noted that technical assistance needs to be provided to lawyers taking the cases. Some organizations (IRC, NWIRP, Refugee Assistance Program, SeattleUniv., VAIJ) have lawyers on staff who can both screen the cases and provide technical assistance to pro bono attorneys.

It was decided that to begin, IRC, NWIRP, Refugee Assistance Program, SeattleUniv., and VAIJ could each send a well written brief description of one case a month to the Pro Bono Committee for distribution to the listserv. Potential clients would need to be below 200% of poverty guidelines. The committee would like a diversity of types of cases. Cases would be posted on the AILA listserv on the first Monday of each month.

Interested lawyers would contact the Pro Bono committee (not the organization) so that the committee would be able to measure how many cases were taken by this method, what type of cases, etc. Also, if a case were already taken, the committee could refer the attorney to another case.

The larger question is what is the need for immigration in the state - who is not being helped, how many don’t have access to NWIRP, KCBA, the CBOs etc.

Note: NWIRP is a partner of probono.net and we could list case descriptions there.