Legal Services

American Civil Liberties Union of Washington
206-624-2180 complaints and referrals
705 Second Ave. Rm. 300, Seattle 98104

Helps with complaints regarding civil liberties legal issues. Written complaints preferred, but answering machine gives information about when they accept complaints by phone.

National home page of ACLU.
Verified 12/02

Columbia Legal Services
206-464-5911
1-800-342-3872
101 Yesler Way, Suite 300, Seattle 98104

Free legal advice and possible representation for certain populations. Also, extensive information about other free and inexpensive legal resources.
Verified 12/02

Lawyer Referral and Volunteer Legal Services
206-623-2551
900 Fourth Ave. #600, Seattle 98164

A service of the Seattle/King County Bar Association. Some free legal services and referrals. M-F 8am-5pm.
Verified 12/02

Housing Justice Project (HJP)
206-267-7090 (information line only, cannot take messages)
Room W314 in the King County courthouse at 3rd and James

Free legal help to eligible low-income tenants who would otherwise appear without legal representation at their eviction hearings. Individuals who have a Show Cause Hearing on the same day as their visit to the HJP receive priority. Services include information and educational materials about the eviction process; referrals; legal advice; negotiations; and representation at eviction hearings. Serves North King County and Seattle residents. Open 8 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. M-F. No appointment required.
Verified 04/08

Housing Justice Project (HJP) of South King County
206-267-7090 (information line only, cannot take messages)
Conference Room 1281, Kent Regional Justice Center, 401 4th Avenue North, Kent

Free legal help to eligible low-income tenants who would otherwise appear without legal representation at their eviction hearings at Kent Regional Justice Center. First come, first served. Open 8 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. M-F.
Verified 04/08

Mothers For Police Accountability
206-329-2033
P.O. Box 22886, Seattle 98122

(Formerly Mothers Against Police Harassment.) 24-hour hotline. Provides help with complaints about police harassment and excessive force.
Verified 12/02

Northwest Women's Law Center's Legal Information and Referral Service
206-621-7691

Provides written materials and gives referrals on family law, self-help, child support, domestic violence, sexual harassment. Free legal representation on selected women's cases.
Verified 12/02

Solutions Consumer Credit Counseling Service
206-634-2227
1-800-634-2227
9709 Third Ave. NE #200, Seattle 98115

Counseling service, provides assistance to individuals who are heavily indebted or on the verge of bankruptcy.
Verified 12/02

NW Immigrant Rights Project
206-587-4009
1-800-445-5771
909 Eighth Ave, Seattle 98104

Immigration legal services. Free or donation. Normal intake hours Mon 10am-12:15pm, Wed 1:30pm-2:45pm; intake hours for cases involving detainees Tues 9:30am-10:45am, Thurs 3pm-4:15pm.
Verified 12/02

Legal Action Center
206-324-6890
100 23rd Ave, Seattle 98144

For low-income people throughout King County. Free legal assistance for low-income tenants with an eviction notice. Legal help with landlord/tenant problems, debtor/creditor problems related to past or present tenancies, and referrals in other matters. M-F 9am-12pm and 2-5pm.
Verified 12/02

Children's Response Center
425-688-5130
925 116th Avenue NE, Ste. 211
Bellevue, WA 98004

Serves children and youth in East and North King County who have been victims of sexual assault or other trauma, and their non-offending family members. Provides counseling, medical and legal advocacy, plus referrals for other services.

Besides their dealing with cases of known sexual abuse/assault, you can contact them if you are concerned that your child may have been sexually abused/assaulted, and would like to discuss your concerns with someone.

Also provide other related services, such as education about early identification and prevention of child abuse and sexual assault, support services for families after the death of a loved one, etc.
Verified 10/03

The Tenants Union
206-723-0500
TDD: 206-723-0523
3902 S. Ferdinand, Seattle 98118

Information on landlord/tenant laws and advocacy for tenants.
Verified 11/02

Northwest Justice Project
206-464-1519

Provides representation in selected housing, family, education, Native American, and King County public benefits cases. Their web site, best viewed with frames has an excellent collection of online legal documents on topics ranging from farmworkers' rights to consumer debt.
Verified 12/02

Access to Justice Institute of the Seattle University School of Law:
Central District Community Justice Center
206-398-4173

A series of scheduled free legal clinics for low-income individuals. All are welcome at every session. However, in order to guarantee an appointment with an attorney, you must come to the Educational Presentation to schedule one. Walk-in appointments will be accepted if time allows.

Typical topics include Navigating Small Claims Court, Unemployment/Employment Law, Writing Wills and Estate Planning, Landlord/Tenant Issues. Contact them for further details.
Verified 10/03

Central Area Motivation Program
206-812-4945
722 18th Ave., Seattle 98122

Helps restore suspended driver's licenses, even for accounts already in collection. Helps arrange payment schedule.
Verified 11/02

King County Dispute Resolution Center
206-443-9603
1-888-803-4696

Conflict resolution for King County residents, by trained volunteers. Divorce/domestic mediations, mobile home park mediations, neighborhood problems, employer/employee issues where a union is not involved, landlord/tenant issues, etc. (more details on their website). All services low cost, sliding scale. Voluntary and confidential. Does not handle problems involving violence of any kind or alcohol or drug abuse. 9am-5pm M-F.
Verified 12/02

Street Youth Legal Advocates of Washington (SYLAW)
206-464-5936 extension 239
1-800-542-0794 extension 239
101 Yesler Way, Suite 300, Seattle 98104

For homeless and at-risk youth. Legal education in civil and criminal law. Legal representation in civil, but not criminal cases.
Verified 12/02

Identity theft

Perhaps the fastest-growing crime in the U.S. in recent years has been identity theft. Here are some good pieces of advice for protecting yourself:

• Don't have your social security number printed on your checks.
• Have a photocopy of the contents of your wallet (and the main page of your passport, if you have one). Keep it in a safe place. Then, if these things are stolen, you'll still know all of your numbers and also have a fair idea what was stolen.
• If your wallet is stolen, report the theft promptly to the police in the jurisdiction where it was stolen. This is the key piece of evidence you will need that any charges after that date are not your own and that you made a vigorous attempt to deal with the matter.
• If your wallet is stolen, or if you have any other reason to think your identifying information might be in danger, besides contacting the issuing agency of all credit cards, etc. also contact the three national credit reporting organizations (and also the Social Security fraud line). By placing a fraud alert on your name and SSN, you reduce the chance of new accounts being opened in your name by the thieves:
• Equifax: 1-800-525-6285
• Experian: 1-888-397-3742
• TransUnion: 1-800-680-7289
• Social Security fraud line: 1-800-269-0271
  Numbers need verification 9/04

• The King County Bar Association has a considerable amount of useful online information, including information on representing yourself in court (pro se representation). Given the source of the information, there is a slant of advising you not to represent yourself pro se, but the advice is otherwise excellent, well worth reading simply to understand what trial lawyers actually do besides show up on the day.
• Another useful list of legal resources is the grantees of the Legal Foundation of Washington.
• Avvo provides independent ratings for lawyers, as well as an online place for clients to review individual lawyers, a (very) short guide to choosing a lawyer, and an online place to ask legal questions. When Avvo first went online, some lawyers sued to have it taken down, and lost. It appears to us to be a useful resource, but we suggest approaching it with some caution: see, for example, this critique from lawyer, author, and blogger Robert J. Ambrogi, who is skeptical about the ability to assign scores to lawyers in this manner.

Feel free to copy all or part of this document for any non-commercial purpose. Notification and credit would be appreciated.

The master of this page is http://www.scn.org/crisis/legal.html.