A brief history of Low Bono in Washington State
Washington state was one of the first places in the world to promote low bono, or reduced fee, work by lawyers, legal technicians and other legal professionals. I don’t know where the term originated, but the first low bono organizations ever created were formed in Washington State.
Jenny Anderson, a Seattle lawyer, started the conversation in 2011. She put together a CLE program for Seattle University School of Law about the low bono concept, and sent an email about it on October 10, 2011, to a listserv for the WSBA Family Law section. I was on the WSBA Alternate Dispute Resolution section executive committee at the time, exploring alternatives to traditional litigation, and I immediately fell in love with the idea of low bono.
Jenny and I started a listening project sponsored by the ADR section (with the help of Alan Alhadeff), and over a couple of years, 2011-2013, we hosted several dozen listening sessions. Interest grew quickly and we had many wonderful discussions playing with the concept. A solid group of supporters decided to establish an informal group called Washington Low bono Professionals, and in 2014, the group decided to ask the Washington State Bar Association to create a new section of the bar association called the Low Bono Section. The WSBA Board of Governors was at first reluctant to establish yet another section of the bar association, but when they realized the need to explore and talk about what low bono is and how it could help clients and lawyers, they quickly approved the section.
The original low bono developers
I forget all the people who were in the original group (please send me a reminder of who you are so I can update this post). They included Forrest Carlson, Celeste Miller, Stacy Naczelnik, Ron Matson, Kevin Curtain, Mikel Carlson, Dayna Ducey, Barbara Esslestrom, Veronica Smith-Casem, John Varga, Elena Yager, Jessica Lewis, Pete Roberts and Clay Wilson.
One of the first things we did, actually in the early listening sessions, was to talk about an appropriate name. Technically, Low Bono is an odd term because it’s not Latin, as pro bono is. Other terms considered were low cost and affordable lawyers. We considered being the moderate means section, but the WSBA had a dedicated program with that name already in place. Affordable lawyers is a great term, and an excellent choice for this site created by Jordan Kostelyk.
Early on, we all realized that low bono was not just a concept for lawyers. It applies for Limited License Legal Technicians (LLLT’s), mediators, and anyone providing services for legal professionals and people needing legal services. Process servers, investigators, even MaginSoft, a child support program, supported the low bono effort.
The section went on to host CLE’s, networking events, and helped to evolve the low bono concept. One of the first firms in the country to be dedicated to low bono work was in Utah. Jenny Anderson’s old firm was probably the first low bono focused firm in Washington.
Low bono evolves
Over time, I think many of us have expanded our thinking about alternative ways to offer affordable legal services to clients.
Various fee techniques, often in combinations, include sliding scale fees, flat fees, and a mix of pro/low/sliding/full rate fees. Billing techniques are also expanding to include a traditional advance fee method (“retainer”), and flat fee. Pay-As-You-Go is growing, where no money is taken up front and the client is charged as the case proceeds. (I’ve closed my IOLTA trust account and this is the only way I bill clients now.)
Most practitioners include some form of chunking or “unbundled services,” which can include using a Notice of Limited Appearance (NOLA) to represent a client for only a specific portion of a case. A NOLA makes it easy for a lawyer or LLLT to enter and exit a case. With the advent of widely available forms, coaching and teaching clients to represent themselves is an option.
For me, I came to distinguish the terms “attorney of record,” “attorney,” and “lawyer. I realized that I can be an attorney of record (the lawyer in the case who speaks for the client) for all or part of a case, an attorney for the client (no NOA or NOLA and not involved in court room work, but the client’s spokesperson and representative outside of court work or in a mediation), or a lawyer (where I only communicate with the client). I often perform all three roles in a given case. Cases can start off with full service legal work and a NOLA, for example to obtain temporary family law orders, and then change to coaching or something else. If the Informal Family Law Trial turns out to be a useful tool, cases can move in that direction.
More and more, lawyers are starting to specialize in pre-trial, trial, and/or non-litigation work.
All of these methods and techniques can be combined to help improve access to justice, the ability of anyone to get some measure of legal advice from a legal professional at a rate they can afford.
WashingtonAffordableLawyers.com
The idea of a list of lawyers who offer low bono, affordable, and/or flexible rates and representation types was also an idea the early founders of the Low Bono Section hoped would evolve. But it didn’t. It’s fantastic that Jordan is picking up the task. She is a brilliant and compassionate young attorney and I wish her all the best with this project.
Mark Baumann
First chairperson, WSBA Low Bono Section
I commend Mark on the history above. One slight clarification: this is mostly a history of the Low Bono Section of the Bar. I’m pretty sure there were attorneys offering reduced fee services before 2011, using sliding fee scales, etc. They may not have called what they were doing, low bono, but that’s what it was. It would be interesting to research where the term, “low bono” came from and when.