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Kingdom Legal Services, Inc.

Journey to the promised land

Part 2 of 2

by Jonathan Gramling

Ever since they graduated from the University of Wisconsin Law School, Krystal Williams Oby and Lena Archer Saffold have been searching for the right situation in which to practice law. They found it, taking separate paths, in Kingdom Legal Services, Inc., a nonprofit, faith-based, full-service law firm founded in July 2003 through Northside Christian Assembly.

Faith is very important to Oby. Her faith is proactive and is a part of everything she does, the center of her life. And so, Oby did not want to have to suppress her faith in her work environment - or any other environment for that matter. "Separation of church and state does not mean you can't talk about your faith," Oby said during an interview with The Madison Times at her office on E. Doty Street, faced on one side by city government and the other by the state capitol. "It doesn't mean you can't share your faith. It doesn't mean you can't be a religious person and work for government. I don't care who I work for, I can work for a government agency, and it's not a violation of church and state to put up a Jesus poster in my office if it is my office. Maybe I can't put it in the common areas, but in my office, I can hang a cross. I can wear a cross."

While some may be put off by - or be suspicious of - a legal firm that professes out front to be a faith-based service, Oby insists that faith-based represents the source of her partner's, Lena Archer Saffold, and her motivation, and not a requirement for service. "You don't have to be a Christian to come here," Oby said. "At least half our clients are not. You could be an atheist, absolutely. We'll still bless you with some good services. Religious affiliation has nothing to do with whom we serve. But clients that come to us understand that this is an outreach ministry of the church. So they already come to us with the understanding that we do this out of our faith. Some people don't care that we are faith-based. They don't even know we are faith-based when they come. And the reason they know when they leave is that they get a brochure. There are people who walk in and out of here and they don't even know it's faith-based except they see it on a brochure."

However, if people want faith-based legal services, that is what they will receive from Kingdom Legal, including prayer. "If a client wanted to come in and talk about their faith, that's wonderful," Oby said. "And if a client asks us about our faith, that's great, we're going to talk about it and there are no limits and it is client driven."

In Kingdom Legal, Oby feels she can fill a void that she sees in the legal field. While there are legal services available to people on the bottom end of the income scale - and people on the upper end can afford to pay for their own - people in the middle can have a hard time paying for legal services because all of their income is tied up in fixed assets like a home. "Moderate-income people tend to fall through the cracks," Oby observed. "There are no agencies that focus on the moderate-income family, the working Joe. That means you can either be working poor, working two jobs, and you just make a little too much above the federal guidelines in order to get free service, but you don't make near enough to put a private firm on retainer."

Kingdom Legal has a sliding scale, income-based fee schedule. While Kingdom Legal charges regular rates for those who can afford to pay, they supplement the fees of moderate-income clients with donations they receive as a nonprofit. They call these donors Kingdom Builders.

As a faith-based legal firm, Oby also feels that they are uniquely attuned to the needs of churches and other faith organizations. "Now when churches, ministers, and other faith-based organizations have questions about their organizational structure or what their filing requirements are with the IRS, they don't have to go to a firm that specializes in non-profit law, they can come to Kingdom because not only do we understand nonprofit law, but we also have an intricate understanding of ministry," Oby emphasized. "We understand the structure and the polity. We understand because we are part of the faith ministry. We understand the unique the legal needs of those working within the faith community and those serving the faith community."

Oby also understands the tensions and sometimes blurring of the lines between church and state. One of her clients whom she currently represents is the defendant in a case involving the refusal to provide health care related services based on religious beliefs. "The separation of church and state is a static concept," Oby said. "People are trying to make it dynamic. The Constitution is what it is. It hasn't changed. However, because of people's political goals or whatever, they want to change the rules. And most people in the general public have no clue as to what that even means. So the only thing they know is what they hear on television or what someone says."

One of the biggest battlegrounds in defining the meaning of establishment of religion is within the schools. And while many believe that religious activity must end at the property line of public schools, Oby insists that the line is not a physical one.  "There are cases where school principals - I'm talking nationally - have confiscated student Bibles during free reading time," Oby recounted. "The teachers will tell their students they can bring in a book of their choice. Well, kids are bringing in Bibles and teachers are taking them and sending the students to the principal and the principals are telling them not to ever bring them to school again because it is a violation of church and state. And that is pure ignorance. It isn't a violation at all because the school is not telling all the children that they must bring a Bible for reading time. That would be a violation of church and state because that is a government or public agency forcing a particular religion on someone else. Now because the school allows religious speech, that is not forcing religion on other people who have to hear it. That's kind of where the cases are coming now. People don't want to even hear anything religious. Well, that's unconstitutional, clearly. 'I can propagate what I believe, but you can't propagate what you believe if it has anything to do with Christianity because that violated my right not hear about it.' Well, you can't do that without taking away everyone's right to speech."

"It's not a violation of church and state for children to have Bible clubs in the public school system," Oby continued. "It is not a violation of church and state for teachers to participate in the after school Bible Club. If any other non-academic club is allowed to meet in the school, you have to allow a religious club. But what is happening is school administrators are just kind of taking it upon themselves. They just don't want to get into trouble. So the first thing they say is 'We don't want the ACLU after us, so we just are not going to allow this religious Bible study to take place.' But they allow other groups to meet that have nothing to do with the basic course work."

Kingdom Legal is very zealous in having people know what their legal rights are. In addition to providing legal representation, they will also be providing free legal seminars. "We will be contacting faith-based, nonprofit organizations to let them know we are available to educate the community on relevant legal issues," Oby said. "So, here's a list of issues. You pick two or three issue, tell us what month you want us to come, and we will give you a free legal education seminar. We want to educate people on the law and the judicial system. We don't have an agenda."

Their only agenda is to serve - in a faith-based way.