Collaboration is Biggest Change in DC Legal Services, but More Needed
New DC Bar Foundation president Susie Hoffman started her term in July, but she's been doing legal services work since she became the first full-time public service counsel at a DC-based law firm in 1988. She says the biggest evolution in the DC pro bono scene has been the collaboration between law firms and legal services providers, including a dramatic increase in pro bono work. As DCBF president, one of her goals is to expand collaboration, particularly between DCBF and other groups that promote legal services for the indigent, such as the DC Bar Pro Bono Program and DC Access to Justice Commission. Last year, they set up quarterly meetings. Another priority is building and strengthening the board, including that of the Young Lawyers Network.
DCBF awarded nearly $4.5M to civil legal services in FY15. Founded in '77, it's the largest funder of civil legal services programs in DC. Susie joined its board in 2011 and served as VP and Development Committee chair last year. A major issue is always housing, she says, which ties into a number of other problems facing the poor. At Crowell, pro bono matters she helped set up as public service partner include everything from a class-action against Avis for discrimination against African-Americans, to a human trafficking case of Indian immigrants sent to work on Hurricane Katrina cleanup, to winning small-claims cases for inner city parents against a shoddy school uniform company. The smaller cases are just as significant "because we brought justice to an individual and showed them that the legal system could work for them."
