Lawyers Will Work For Free To Cut Back Log In County Courts

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Story Published: Feb 1, 2010 at 6:28 PM PST

By Peter Bukowski

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YAKIMA -- Lawyers working for free: it's not some Hollywood movie. In Yakima County, it's become a necessity.

"We have a problem with the court and the attorney's that are involved in that part of the system are stepping up and we are making these offers to the county. We've got to solve the problem somehow," says attorney David Trick.

Even if it means working for free, which is exactly what nine local lawyers, including Trick, will do.

"You very seldom get a (State) Bar Association that involved in the system to actually do free work," Court Administrator Harold Delia says. "We're saving $80,000 to $90,000 and getting cases out. That's a pretty good deal. "

It's the first program of its kind in Washington state, lawyers working as pro-tem judges for free, a federal courtroom donated to add capacity, and a cross-trained staff that will allow the county to basically double it's work force by having one person do the job of two.

"That allows us to bring in the pro-tem judges in that are working for free and staff them. If we wouldn't have doubled our staff, we couldn't have done that," Delia says.

And these part-time judges like David Trick say lawyers hearing cases won't turn into a good old boys club. "The attorney's that have been working on this program have been around for quite some time. I don't think we're going to have any problems with them setting aside their role as litigators and actually taking on the role of being judges."

A progressive solution to an old problem. This all may seem to good to be true, but the savings for Yakima are very real.

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