Filling the Gaps: How Nonprofit and Sliding Scale Law Firms Support Communities

On July 16, the Above the Line Network (ATLN), a joint project of IAALS and The Chicago Bar Foundation, hosted Expanding Sustainable Access to Justice Solutions: Building and Scaling Nonprofit & Sliding Scale Law Firms, the first of a three-part webinar and workshop series exploring nonprofit and sliding scale law firm models. Moderated by Lana Kleiman, Director of Philanthropy at the Aaron Family Office and former Executive Director of Charleston Legal Access, the conversation between Kamron Graham, Executive Director of The Commons Law Center; William Henderson, Stephen F. Burns Chair on the Legal Profession at Indiana University Maurer School of Law; and Sarah Beth Withers, Founder of Inner Banks Legal Services, introduced participants to the core concepts behind these models, the communities and populations they are designed to support, and the role they play in ensuring access to justice for all regardless of income.

After presentations from each speaker outlining their experience with nonprofit and sliding scale law firm across the United States, the conversation started by explaining why these organizations were started in the first place in their respective locations. The answer always came back to need. Whether it was because of a legal desert or lack of an affordable option for a given legal service, all three speakers spoke about how the decision to begin these firms started from data pointing to a real need in their communities. 

“I specifically researched what was legal aid providing and what were they not providing and other ways to provide service, and that’s how I landed on the sliding scale model,” said Withers. “I wanted to fill that gap.”

With these models being relatively new, there was some misunderstanding from legal aid providers at the start. Graham talked about how there was initial hostility towards the firm because it was perceived as competition and taking away resources or income from other providers. 

“We try not to present ourselves as a threat because I don’t think we are. There are 80% of people who need services. We don’t feel like we are stealing anyone’s thunder or potential income because those people aren’t getting served,” said Graham.

Graham emphasized that with time and education, legal aid providers and other firms have come to see nonprofit and sliding scale law firms as partners to collaborate with, not threats. The more they all talk, the more clients get served, the more clients are directed to the right place based on their needs, and the more each organization can tap into one another when they have questions or need assistance. 

“We really do need to move toward collaboration in the people-law sphere. There’s a real opportunity to do good and do well through efficiency, technology, and collaboration,” said Henderson. 

This webinar is the first of three in this series focused on nonprofit and sliding scale law firms.