JUST WEEKS AFTER the death of Freddie Gray in the custody of Baltimore police, as social jus- tice leaders and police authorities quared off all over the nation,
representatives from both groups sat down
together quite civilly at the Marin County Bar
Association’s May meeting for a discussion on
social justice.
A sell-out crowd of more than 100 — not
all of them attorneys — listened to San Rafael
Chief of Police Diana Bishop present her force’s
community outreach efforts and community
organizer Maite Duran explain the Canal
Welcome Center’s CONSEJO for Restorative
Justice program’s efforts in helping troubled
kids turn their lives around.
“It was packed,” Duran recalls. “There are
advances everywhere in terms of social jus-
tice, and it is great to see that Marin is often
at the vanguard.”
This event was just one example of how the
bar association has started partnering with
other local organizations to reach out to a wider
swath of Marin’s population on issues that mat-
ter to the community, says Mee Mee Wong,
MCBA executive director. In this case, the bar
association worked with community develop-
ment nonprofit MarinLink and the Association
of Latino Marin Attorneys to put the popular
program together.
When Wong took the helm in spring 2014,
she was surprised to learn that more than 1,500
community- and advocacy-geared nonprofits
exist in Marin County, many of them working
toward the same goals. “Why are there so many
separate silos? Why can’t we collaborate? The
issues are the same,” Wong says.
With that in mind, Wong pilots the organization as an information resource and a hub
linking other local groups that provide much-needed legal help to the public. For instance,
the bar taps its member base to help Legal
Aid of Marin staff its clinic with volunteer
attorneys, and it funds a scholarship for law
students with Marin roots through San Rafael
education nonprofit 10,000 Degrees. The bar
even collaborates with Marin County Court
to find ways to keep cases flowing through the
system efficiently.
That’s not to say that the MCBA doesn’t help
the public on its own as well. MCBA’s Modest
Means Mediation program, now in its second
year, has helped settle, at very low cost, 16 cases
for nonprofits, low-income individuals and other
self-represented parties referred by judges of
Marin County courts. And members of the public who are unhappy with their attorney bills can
turn to the bar’s Fee Arbitration program.
Looking forward, Wong is excited that
California Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye
recently contacted her to ask for help with
her nonprofit Foundation for Democracy and
Justice’s efforts to educate the public on the
role of the judiciary. And Wong is brainstorming law-related topics for future programs
that she hopes will draw as much interest
as the bar’s recent forums on social justice,
marijuana legalization and new housing, several of which were written up in the Marin
Independent Journal.
Elder abuse is one potential topic for 2016.
“These are programs that impact our com-
munity,” Wong says. “You know it’s not just a
small set of lawyers who are interested.” C.K.
There are advances
everywhere in terms of social
justice, and it is great to see that
Marin is often at the vanguard.
Bar None Marin County Bar Association collaborates to help community.
