SEATTLE, WA - The Washington State Bar Association (WSBA) is presenting the QLaw Foundation’s GLBT Legal Clinic with the 2013 Pro Bono Award. The award is in recognition of the clinic’s work in providing free legal services to gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (GLBT) individuals in King County on legal issues commonly faced by members of the GLBT community. WSBA President Michele Radosevich will present the award at the WSBA Annual Awards Dinner on September 26, 2013, at the Grand Hyatt Seattle.
Created in 2009 as a partnership with the King County Bar Association, the GLBT Legal Clinic recruits volunteer attorneys from a variety of areas of law and matches them with clients who need advice in those areas, including discrimination, family law, legal name and gender changes, immigration, and healthcare. Over 70 attorneys, law students, and community members volunteer their time to the clinic.
At on-site clinics, volunteer attorneys travel to community organizations and provide free legal services to GLBT individuals who might not otherwise be able to access the clinic’s services, due to transportation and scheduling challenges. The GLBT Legal Clinic Committee also does community outreach to raise awareness of the clinic’s free legal services. To date, the clinics have assisted over 400 members of the GLBT community.
“The GLBT Legal Clinic is an incredibly important resource for the transgender community,” said Marsha Botzer, founder and co-president of the Ingersoll Gender Center. “It is important to have a place where they know they will be treated with understanding and respect. These clinics have been very successful and provided many members of our community with support as they move forward with gender transition. The clinics have also raised awareness in our community of the legal protections provided by the Washington Law Against Discrimination and how we can assert those rights.”
In 2011, the GLBT Legal Clinic received an award from the Ingersoll Gender Center recognizing its work with the transgender community.
About the WSBA Pro Bono Award: This award is presented to a lawyer, non-lawyer, law firm, or bar association for outstanding cumulative efforts in providing pro bono services.
About the Washington State Bar Association: The WSBA is authorized by the Washington State Supreme Court to license the state’s 35,400 lawyers. The WSBA both regulates lawyers under the authority of the Court and serves its members as a professional associationundefinedall without public funding. The WSBA’s mission is to serve the public and the members of the Bar, ensure the integrity of the legal profession, and champion justice.
# # #
Contacts:
Debra Carnes, WSBA Chief Communications Officer
206-733-5930, 206-669-6559(c),
David J. Ward, QLaw Foundation Board President
206-948-7400(c),
J. Denise Diskin, QLaw Foundation GLBT Legal Clinic Committee Chair
206-452-9369(c),
The QLAW Foundation is a registered 501(c)(3) charitable organization and the public service arm of the GLBT Bar Association of Washington, a network of more than 400 lawyers, legal professionals, judges, and law students. The Foundation sponsors the legal clinic, public interest law grants for students who choose legal internships serving the GLBT community or people living with HIV/AIDS, and public educational panels on issues vital to our community.