Executive Director’s Message

During this time of year we often take time to appreciate our family and friends, good health, a stable home and gainful employment. But for the estimated 12,500 homeless veterans in Los Angeles, the holidays are not a time for celebration. Alone and isolated, vulnerable, surviving on the streets without shelter, adequate food or medical care, they are invisible and forgotten. LAFLA’s Bill Smith Homeless Veterans Project (BSHVP) helps homeless veterans and those at risk of homelessness secure veterans and other benefits, medical care and support services so they can get off the streets and stabilize their living situations. BSHVP, named in honor of attorney Bill Smith who worked tirelessly on behalf of veterans from the 60’s until his death in 1999, was created in 2000 by LAFLA in response to the appalling fact that despite their service to our country, at least a quarter of the homeless individuals in Los Angeles are veterans. In this season of giving, I hope you will take a moment to make a contribution to support the Bill Smith Homeless Veterans Project or to the many other programs and services that LAFLA provides that make a measurable difference in the lives of tens of thousands of low-income individuals and families each year. Donate Now

A Time for Thanks
As we come to the close of 2009, we have many people to thank for their support. Most recently, our 2009 Access to Justice fundraiser raised more than $450,000 as we honored Robert K. Ross, M.D., Howard Miller and Latham & Watkins LLP for their dedication to our mission. We are grateful to our dinner patrons and to everyone who supported us through the 2009 Annual Fund Drive, Grand Cru and other fundraising endeavors, and who gave generously of their time to pro bono and volunteer efforts. We couldn’t do what we do without your support. We look forward to your sustained partnership in 2010 as we continue to build an “Institution of Excellence.” On behalf of the board, staff and clients of the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles, I wish you Happy Holidays and Peace and Prosperity in the New Year.

Silvia R. Argueta, Executive Director

articles

Fundraiser Salutes Justice Leaders

From left to right: Harriet Posner, partner, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, and LAFLA board president; Alan Clark of Latham & Watkins LLP and LAFLA board member; Chuck Samel, partner, Latham & Watkins LLP; and Silvia Argueta share a light moment at the 2009 Access to Justice event. Latham & Watkins LLP received the 2009 Pro Bono Services Award, while Robert K. Ross, M.D, president and CEO of The California Endowment was recognized with the Access to Justice Award. State Bar President Howard Miller and partner of Girardi Keese was honored with the Maynard Toll Award for Distinguished Public Service.

Photo by Peter Wintersteller © Berliner Studio/BEImages

New Law Prohibits Misuse of Legal Aid Name

By Toby Rothschild, LAFLA General Counsel

Maria needed help responding to a law suit filed against her. She called 411 to find a legal aid organization for assistance. After calling the number, Maria was told to meet “Sharon,” the representative, outside the filing office at the courthouse and instructed to bring $350.00 for preparation of her papers. Sharon didn’t file the answer, but asked for an additional $200 to correct the problem. That’s when Maria came to LAFLA. She asked for Sharon and was told that she didn’t work at our legal aid office. The client had been ripped off.

This scenario is common throughout the State of California, especially in low-income and urban areas. To prevent the continuation of this growing problem, especially in light of the economic recession, AB590, a new law recently passed and effective January 1, 2010, will prohibit anyone from using the name “Legal Aid,” “Legal Aide” or any confusingly similar name, unless it is a nonprofit organization that provides civil legal services for the poor without charge.

The new law will also allow any consumer injured by such activity to sue the phony legal aid provider for damages and to seek a court order requiring them to stop using the name. Furthermore, the law will permit any legitimate legal aid program to sue to stop the misuse of the name. In either case, a successful plaintiff can recover attorney’s fees from the phony organization.

In the past, LAFLA sued such a phony service, and the private firm representing LAFLA spent more than 3,000 hours to shut down the phony organization. This new law will make the process much simpler, and will help protect low-income clients from people who prey on them by using the legal aid name.

Homeless Vets Program Undertakes New Projects & Partnerships

Although the 2009 Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count Report recently released by the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority shows that the number of homeless individuals in Los Angeles County has decreased, the unfortunate fact remains that of the 50,000 currently homeless, one fourth are war veterans. LAFLA’s Bill Smith Homeless Veterans Project (BSHVP) provides homeless veterans and those at risk for homelessness with many critical services including filing claims for compensation or pensions from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), securing medical care and stabilizing their living situations.

The BSHVP has been in operation for almost 10 years and serves veterans from every war and military conflict. The majority of our clients continue to be African American and Hispanic veterans from the Vietnam War, a group in danger of being overlooked as attention turns to the needs of incoming veterans from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Read a Vietnam Vet’s Story.

Over the next two months, the BSHVP will embark upon new partnerships and strengthen current partnerships to enhance its capacity to deliver these vital services. This month, with on-site supervision by Manatt, Phelps and Phillips, LLP, the project will expand its monthly clinic at the VA’s West Los Angeles Medical Center, conducted by Manatt, Phelps and Phillips, LLP by providing on-site supervision. Now veterans will be able to get assistance not only with legal issues such as driver’s license reinstatement and record expungement, but also with veterans and other government benefits.

In January, Government Benefits Attorney Nicole Perez will begin teaching a veterans benefits practicum at Loyola Law School. Nicole’s students will have the opportunity to learn about VA benefits law both through lectures and hands-on experience as they work on cases under her supervision.

At the beginning of 2010 the Project will re-establish a partnership with the Department of Public Social Services through which disabled veterans receiving General Relief will be screened to determine if they are eligible for much higher-paying veteran’s benefits. The BSHVP is supported by LAFLA’s Associates Advisory Board.

Deferred Law Associate Shares Experience

By Ann Chang, Law Associate, Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP

As a Public Interest Law Fellow from the law firm of Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, LLP, I began working at LAFLA in May with LAFLA’s Consumer and Family Law Units. I was assigned my first big case, the case of Brenda R., by Managing Attorney Ana Storey, who oversees both units. That gave just three days for me to prepare for a hearing that was scheduled to rule on her abuser’s order to show cause for custody and for law enforcement to locate and retrieve her two young children. So my first task was to request a continuance to allow more time to prepare Brenda’s response.

Brenda left California with her two young children (ages 2 and 5) in November 2008. She fled to protect herself and her children after surviving seven years of mental and physical abuse from her boyfriend. I was shocked by her story. I thought this story only existed in movies and books.

For more information about LAFLA’s Deferred Associates Program, please contact Tai Glen, pro bono director at tglenn@lafla.org.

In July 2008 Brenda’s boyfriend broke two of her fingers during an attack. It was then that she realized she needed to leave him for good. She knew it would be difficult; she had not worked outside the home in over two years since the birth of her youngest child. She had no access to money or credit cards, so she needed to save money and asked her boyfriend to stop making payments on her car. Her excuse was that she did not really need the car, and that she wanted to use that money to go back to school. In the months that followed, the boyfriend slowly began to give Brenda that money. She diligently saved all she could and, by the end of October 2008, she had saved about $500. She felt it was just enough to put her plan in motion. On the morning of October 31, 2008, Brenda packed up as much as she could in her truck and left with her children. She fled to Washington State, where her mother lived. It was the one place she knew she had any hope of being safe.

Working with Brenda was difficult. In addition to living outside of California, she had little money, no computer or fax machine for the quick turn-around of paperwork, screened all of her phone calls and did not have a cell phone. We had to provide Brenda with a calling card.

Luckily, I was able to work with Kris from the Northwest Justice Project to get everything ready for our hearing. Unfortunately, the day our response was due, we had trouble filing it. Our response should have been free to file, but the court insisted that a “first appearance” fee of $320 was needed. However, with Ana’s quick thinking we were able to file the papers.

With Ana mentoring me through the process of litigating a domestic violence/custody case, I was able to build a strong case with compelling evidence. I asked the court to take judicial notice of the boyfriend’s previous domestic violence conviction and the restraining order that was in effect in Washington State. This was important since it demonstrated that two different courts had already found a history of domestic violence. I also lodged a confidential Department of Children and Family Services case plan that detailed the history of abuse. All of this evidence triggered a family code section that allowed the court to presume that Brenda, as the non-perpetrating parent, should get sole physical and legal custody of the children.

All of our hard work paid off at the court hearing. The court granted Brenda everything she asked for: sole physical and legal custody of the children, with only professionally supervised visits for their father.

I learned a lot in a very short amount of time, and I feel good that my work made such a difference in the life of this client and her children.

Japanese Officials Visit LAFLA

LAFLA’s thriving legal practice serving the Asian & Pacific Islander communities prompted a visit from representatives of the Consulate General of Japan and the Japanese Ministry of Justice.The distinguished guests were in Los Angeles to learn about LAFLA’s legal services as part of the Japanese Ministry’s new policy to reinforce legal assistance in Japan. The delegates fanned out across the globe to investigate other service provision systems and to see first hand how they work. Other U.S. stops included New York, and Washington, D.C. where they met with Legal Services Corporation staff members.

From top left to right Yasushi Toyoda and Naoya Maeda, Consulate Generals of Japan; Takeshi Matsumoto, Japanese Ministry of Justice; Joann Lee, directing attorney of LAFLA’s API Unit; and Managing Attorney Ana Storey of LAFLA’s Consumer and Family Law Units. From bottom left to right, Mari Hong Oki, interpreter; Matsuki Ozuka, Japanese Ministry of Justice and LAFLA law clerk Kiriko Takahashi.

LAFLA Team Participates in United Way’s HomeWalk

In the News

• Christian Abasto, managing attorney of LAFLA’s Housing & Eviction Defense Units, and Lane Nussbaum, a LAFLA attorney working on eviction cases, were interviewed by ABC Network News for a story about a client facing eviction due to job loss.
• Executive Director Silvia Argueta was a guest on the Café Espuelas Public Affairs Program on KTNQ 1020 AM, the largest Spanish language radio station in Los Angeles. Argueta discussed LAFLA’s program and services.
• Minty Siu-Kootnikoff, attorney at LAFLA’s Santa Monica Office was interviewed by the “Santa Monica Daily Press” for a story about our domestic violence clinic located at the Santa Monica Courthouse.
  Courthouse clinic helps victims of domestic abuse
• “The reality of the situation,” was the title of a letter written by Susan Millmann, LAFLA senior attorney, Minty Sui-Kootnikoff, LAFLA attorney, and Patricia Butler, director of Sojourn Services for Battered Women and Their Children. The letter appeared in the “Santa Monica Daily Press” in response to a column titled: What’s the Point: Many men should ask for help sooner. LAFLA’s response outlined the courage of battered women to obtain restraining orders.