Washington Lawyer: First-of-a-Kind Nonprofit Law Firm Ready to Fill Access to Justice Gap

A nonprofit law firm that’s ready to launch in DC has, in part, Children’s Law Center executive director Judith Sandalow to thank.

The D.C. Affordable Law Firm (DCALF) will serve those who don’t qualify for free legal services but can’t afford private attorneys, reports the Washington Lawyer. It’s a partnership between Georgetown University Law Center, Arent Fox LLP and DLA Piper LLP.

In the article, Sandalow is credited with the idea.

DCALF’s launch had been in the works for almost four years. [Peter Edelman, the Carmack Waterhouse Professor of Law and Public Policy at Georgetown Law] said the idea for the low bono law firm was hatched in a “chance conversation” at a social occasion in November 2011 with Judith Sandalow, executive director of the Children’s Law Center, and Georgetown Law Dean William Treanor.

“Judith raised the idea,” Edelman said. “The dean and I both responded instantaneously that that was of interest to us. That’s when the seed was planted.”