About MLP

About WA Medical-Legal Partnership

Medical-Legal Partnership is founded on the idea that effective healthcare targets health problems at their source. Because legal needs significantly impact health, community well-being as a whole is more likely to see lasting improvements if these needs are addressed as an integrated part of healthcare.

Our Service Model: Three Critical Areas of Focus

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Provider Training and Consultation

MLP provides ongoing training for health care providers, medical residents, social workers, nurses, law students, and childcare professionals. Trainings cover a variety of topics including housing and tenant rights, public benefits, legal decision-making, and special education. Trainings enable staff to “issue spot.” Staff learn how to identify issues that have a legal component to better advocate and intervene for the patients and families they serve. Staff can directly consult with an attorney to get legal advice on behalf of patients and families. These consultations allow more individuals to access legal information easily and quickly.

Direct Legal Assistance

Since its inception, Washington MLP has helped thousands of families and individuals with legal intervention. Based in Seattle, Washington, the MLP assists with housing, public benefits, education, immigration, consumer protection, family law, and more. Depending on the case, MLP attorneys offer advice and counsel all the way to direct representation.

System-Wide Advocacy to Improve Health Services

When a legal issue impacts a large group of patients, MLP works to bring about systemic changes. Thousands of clients statewide receive services and support through policy changes brought about by MLP. These changes include improvements to benefits, insurance coverage, and at-home care.

MLP Advocacy Successes

  • MLP won a lawsuit preventing the state from terminating or reducing benefits for more than 8,000 families with disabled children.
  • MLP reached an agreement with the state ensuring coverage for an effective autism therapy, affecting more than 9,000 families.
  • MLP advocated for raising the private duty nursing reimbursement rate for ventilator-dependent children insured with Medicaid. This change helped 275 families across Washington State.

Who We Serve

MLP serves the patients and patient families of its healthcare partners:

  • Harborview Medical Center – MLP attorneys provide civil legal advice and representation to low income clients who have been referred by a member of their health care team. MLP assists patients whose unmet legal needs are impacting their health.  Emphasis is on keeping patients connected to supportive services and housing.
  • Seattle Children’s Hospital and Odessa Brown Children’s Clinic – MLP attorneys provide civil legal advice and representation to pediatric patients and their families who have been referred by a member of their health care team. MLP attorneys help with issues such as safe housing, medical needs, access to benefits, and education rights.
An important note about legal services: MLP does not handle malpractice, criminal issues, personal injury or other fee-generating cases, or other civil legal cases where a referral for services is readily available elsewhere. 
This website is for general information purposes only. The information included in this website is not legal advice. Legal advice is dependent upon the specific circumstances of each situation.
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“Our mission is to promote better health outcomes by addressing the legal and social needs of patients and families.”

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About Us

Pro Bono

The Washington Medical-Legal Partnership’s goal is to extend its reach to patients and families who may otherwise have no access to the legal system.

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