Volunteer Guidelines

In accepting a matter from WAACO, a volunteer attorney agrees to:

• Represent the client referred without charging fees.  The client is responsible for any state or federal filing fees.  If the attorney is unable to absorb costs such as copying, mail, phone or fax charges, these charges should be agreed upon in advance with the client.
• Send an engagement letter to the client outlining the scope of the engagement, specifying any costs the attorney is unable to bear, and assure that the client signs and returns a copy of the letter.  The attorney may use his or her firm's standard pro bono engagement letter, or adapt the WAACO sample engagement letter to his/her own firm stationary.
• Conduct all work in a timely manner and with the same degree of professionalism accorded any paying client.
• Keep track of the amount of time spent working on each matter, and report the time to WAACO at the end of each calendar year, or when the matter is concluded.
• Inform WAACO when the matter has concluded.
• Notify WAACO if any problems arise at anytime during the course of the representation, or if unable to continue to represent the client for any reason.

When the engagement has concluded, WAACO will send a short evaluation form and solicit comments on how to improve our program.