The Palo Alto Area Bar Association (PAABA) promotes local service and fosters attorney camaraderie. PAABA was established in order to provide a more personal, responsive professional association for those attorneys living and working in the mid-peninsula, including the areas of Menlo Park, Atherton, Woodside, East Palo Alto, Portola Valley through Palo Alto, Los Altos, and Mountain View. PAABA invests a great deal of time and financial attention to reaching out to the local communities. PAABA’s Lawyer Referral Service provides legal assistance to area community members. Additionally, PAABA collects donations for the Ecumenical Hunger Project, conducts a free drop-in legal clinic for members of area communities, and visits local high schools to facilitate energetic debates by high schools students regarding issues of constitutional law.