Coffee and a Living Will, Please
He knew something was brewing, Jeffrey Hughes says, when the letter from the American Bar Assn. arrived at his tiny Santa Monica coffeehouse.
The law group was praising the Legal Grind for its unusual way of using latte to bring lawyers and locals together to solve legal problems.
Since 1996, Hughes’ storefront on Lincoln Boulevard has served coffee and counsel--using its relaxed cafe atmosphere to help nearly 10,000 people through divorce, bankruptcy and landlord-tenant disputes.
For $20, customers can get a steaming cup of espresso and a 15-minute consultation from an attorney. Those with more complicated problems leave the coffeehouse with referrals to lawyers who will take their cases for a set fee, or on contingency for no fee at all.
Bar officials say the Legal Grind could be a model for attorneys across the country who are looking for ways to help moderate-income people who might otherwise never set foot in a lawyer’s office.
So today, at the group’s midyear convention in San Diego, they will present Hughes with the association’s annual award for achievement in the delivery of legal services.
“Legal Grind demonstrates the type of commitment to innovation that the legal profession needs to pursue,” said Mary Ryan, a Boston lawyer in charge of the association committee that will honor Hughes with the Louis M. Brown Award for Legal Access.
Hughes, 35, said he started the Legal Grind as a way of making law accessible to those in the middle class--people who do not qualify for free legal aid but who lack discretionary income to pay lawyers’ regular hourly fees.
His timing was right. A family-owned storefront previously used by his grandfather was available. And the rough-edged neighborhood was starting to turn around economically.
Hughes, a lawyer, was able to recruit other attorneys who were willing to schedule weekly shifts at the coffeehouse in exchange for potential client referrals. The quirky cafe was soon attracting media attention and glowing word-of-mouth endorsements.
Roy Skinner, a Mar Vista handyman and painter, said Friday that he had all but given up on ever resolving a personal injury dispute before he stopped in at the Legal Grind.
“I’m definitely not the kind of guy to go to a $300-an-hour Century City law office,” said Skinner, who ended up filing a lawsuit and winning a large settlement. “I would have let the whole thing go to avoid any hassle. But Jeff hooked me up with a specialist; I didn’t have to pay anything, except for the cup of coffee.”
Several local lawyers, including Loyola law professor Bryan Hull, nominated the Legal Grind for the bar association prize. Hull--who was one of Hughes’ law school teachers--pointed out that Hughes has opened a branch coffeehouse operation in Tarzana and has received inquiries from across the country about expanding the coffeehouse concept.
Hughes said that Legal Grind franchises could be on the horizon, despite the fact that coffeehouses seem to be everywhere. Three such competitors--including two Starbucks--are within walking distance of his place. “It’s become gentrified,” Hughes said, with a laugh, of the formerly seedy Lincoln Boulevard area.
His steady stream of coffee customers includes about 20 a day who come to consult on legal problems as they sit at cafe tables between blackboards that advertise cappuccinos for $2.50 and living trusts for $600.
Hughes said he doesn’t plan to ever leave the Legal Grind to return to a conventional law office, where he would have to again wrestle with writs, briefs and billable hours.
That, he says, would be a real legal grind.
