. >> reporter: in college, adrian tirtanadi had an idea that free legal help was the most effective antipoverty tool available but there was a problem. >> virtually nobody i talk to thought it would work. >> reporter: except his law school pal virginia taylor. >> virginia was the only one i ever met that was crazy enough to want to try. >> reporter: virginia's family kind of thought she was crazy, too. >> my mother went up to the social worker that we worked with and said, like, what have you done to my daughter! you're going to make her poor for the rest of her life. >> reporter: now nearly 4 years after opening bayview-hunters point community legal, the two cofounders have made it work. in a small office shared with a salvation army, the nonprofit employs 4 lawyers and has nearly 200 volunteer law students and paralegals. it's taken on nearly 1,000 cases and closed nearly 70% of them all without charging a dime. and because 80% of its clients make less than $15,000 a year, clearly the neighborhood needs the free legal help. >> we really believe that with enough, you know, passion for our clie

in college, adrian tirtanadi had an idea that free legal help was the most effective antipoverty tool but there was a problem. >> virtually nobody i talk to thought it would work. >> reporter: except his law school pal virginia taylor. >> virginia was the only one i ever met that was crazy enough to want to try. >> reporter: virginia's family kind of thought she was crazy, too. >> my mother went up to the social worker that we worked with and said, like, what have you done to my daughter! you're going to make her poor for the rest of her life. >> reporter: now nearly 4 years after opening bayview-hunters point community legal, the two cofounders have made it work. in a small office shared with a salvation army, the nonprofit employs 4 lawyers and has nearly 200 volunteer law students and paralegals. it's taken on nearly 1,000 cases and closed nearly 70% of them all without charging a dime. and because 80% of its clients may less than $15,000 -- make less than $15,000 a year, clearly the neighborhood needs the free legal help. >> we really believe that with enough, you know, passion fo