By: Amanda Niess
Word on the Street Issue 43, May 2024
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The Wrest Collective is a non-profit law firm located in Boise that works with folks who otherwise are not going to get access to the legal system in a meaningful way. Alongside the law firm lies the Rest Cooperative, a developing social cooperative that will allow community members to have a voice in legal matters.
Together, the law firm and the cooperative make W/REST.
Rithcie Eppink, Casey Parsons and David DeRoin visited our guests in the Word on the Street editorial meeting to create a network of resources and feelings of hope for those who are seeking help.
Eppink, Parsons and DeRoin all have past experience in legal aid and public defending services.
“We are trying to acquire ‘rest’ for ourselves and for our clients and for our community and to wrest means to seize something with force,” Parsons said.
Simply put, Wrest and Rest are playing on one another’s meanings, creating ‘W/REST’.
W/REST is working on all of the different types of cases and legal needs that people have in an area that hasn’t been readily accessible in the past. In other words, these lawyers are trying to fill in some of the gaps that are out there that other organizations cannot tend to.
“Somebody who was wronged doesn’t always have an avenue of relief so Wrest is working toward closing the gap on the limitational illegalities that other organizations or public defenders cannot take care of,” DeRoin said.
Legal needs include, but are not limited to: Immigration cases, helping people with Medicaid issues and accessing other necessary assistance.
Some of the people who W/REST assists are paying them nothing, and for others who can afford it, they are paying what they can put forward based on what their income is and what resources they have available.
The aforementioned Rest Cooperative is an evergreen social cooperative that is wrapped around the Wrest Law Firm. People can join this cooperative as members of the community and then they cooperative can guide where W/Rest should focus their attention
“One of the core things that come with being a member of the W/Rest cooperative will be having a say in what this community law firm does for this community,” Eppink said.
As of right now, the Rest Cooperative is in its developmental stage. For more information, please email hello@wrest.coop or text 208-742-6789 with your name and contact info and a follow up will be sent out when plans become more established.