The commission said Friday that 32 firms qualified for the Raising the Bar in D.C. campaign. Collectively, the firms donated $5.83 million in 2025 to legal aid groups that serve low- and moderate-income residents in the nation's capital.
"We urge more firms to follow this example," D.C. Access to Justice Commission Chair James Sandman said in a statement, calling lack of access to legal help "an urgent crisis in the district."
The campaign, which launched in 2010, recognizes firms that donate a certain portion of their D.C. office revenue to legal services groups.
There are three levels of giving. Those who contribute 0.11% of their D.C. office revenue qualify for the platinum level. The gold level is for those who give 0.09%, and silver is for those who give 0.075%.
The structure means firms of any size can participate, "and firms must increase their giving when their revenues increase to qualify for each level of giving," the commission said in an announcement recognizing the qualifying law firms.
Last year, the commission honored 34 firms for giving $5.6 million in 2024.
The commission said in this year's announcement that demand for legal services is growing, as are operational expenses for those who provide them.
DC Affordable Law Firm's executive director, Gabby Mulnick Majewski, told Law360 Pulse in an interview Monday that attorneys at her organization have seen increased demand across its practice areas.
They served 924 clients in 2025, up from 490 in 2024, she said.
DC Affordable Law Firm attorneys concentrate on family law, immigration, and probate and estate planning. They work with modest-income clients who can't afford standard legal representation but don't qualify for traditional legal aid.
With the D.C. region hard hit by job losses related to federal government cuts, the number of people qualifying for services has grown, Majewski said. In addition, many are struggling with the high cost of living.
DC Affordable Law Firm's clients include people who are "gainfully employed, often in multiple jobs," she said, but their pay is often not "commensurate with what it takes to live in a city as costly as D.C." and raise a family, she said.
Private contributions are critical to organizations such as DC Affordable Law Firm, she said.
"I think it's important that contributions from firms and from private bar attorneys [are] not looked at as charity," she said. "These are really investments in a broader, holistic, healthy legal ecosystem that ensures that legal support and access to counsel are not only for those who can afford to pay."
Private donations also give organizations flexibility to meet clients' needs as they have fewer restrictions than government grants, she said. That "enables us to lean in where the needs present across the community."
--Editing by Rich Mills.
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