Silvia R. Argueta Named New Executive Director

Interim Executive Director Silvia R. Argueta has been selected by LAFLA’s Board of Directors as the Foundation’s new Executive Director, effective immediately. Since joining LAFLA in 1999 as a senior attorney in LAFLA’s Government Benefits Unit, Argueta has handled impact litigation cases on issues involving access to health care; health policy, Medi-Cal, Medicare, Social Security and California Work Opportunities and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs).

Board President Harriet Posner of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP had this to say: "Silvia is a seasoned and compassionate attorney whose leadership and dedication to LAFLA’s mission will advance the Foundation’s legal work at a time when the demand for free legal services is enormous. She has a passion for litigation and effective policy changes that have a positive impact in the lives of poor and disadvantaged clients."

"For 80 years, LAFLA has been at the forefront in helping low-income and poor clients navigate the halls of justice, and now in these difficult economic times when many are losing their homes, jobs, benefits or suffering from domestic violence, we will continue to pursue the promise of equal access for those who have nowhere else to turn. I am honored to have the opportunity to lead an outstanding staff and to work with such a dedicated board." said Argueta. Read press release

articles

Social Workers Bring
Holistic Approach to Client Services

Clients who receive legal assistance from LAFLA often have a variety of social service-related problems when they visit our offices. In an effort to serve our clients in a more holistic and comprehensive way, LAFLA has hired a number of attorneys with dual training in social work. The program fist started in the early 60s, and currently, LAFLA has six social workers, three of whom have dual degrees in law and social work, on staff. Kathryn Cronin works in our Family Law Unit providing much needed case management and support to victims of domestic violence, while Alisa Neary has created and recently begun implementing support groups for victims of domestic violence, provides community education, conducts outreach, and offers both short and long-term case management services. Jane Kim predominantly assists clients from our Asian & Pacific Islander communities by educating them about government benefits and accompanying them to various agency appointments.

Sharon Balmer, an attorney in the Government Benefits Unit (GBU), notes that her social work background is extremely helpful in providing assistance to clients, many of whom suffer from a mental illness. An education in clinical social work also allows Nicole Perez, also part of the GBU Unit, to provide sensitive, informed help to clients needing assistance with a government benefits matter. Not only does she address pending legal issues that arise, but she also provides ancillary support that integrates social work core tenets such as empowerment and client self-determination.

Dominique Quevedo works specifically with victims of torture who are clients of LAFLA’s Immigration Law Unit. "This population is especially vulnerable due to the egregious torture they suffered in their country of origin and the trauma that results. In addition, they often face lengthy separations from their children and loved ones once they arrive in the United States," explains Quevedo, who provides empathetic case management services and emotional support to help ensure that clients successfully integrate into their communities and achieve stability.

The National Association of Social Workers notes that the social work profession is grounded in core values such as service, social justice, dignity and worth of the person, importance of human relationships, integrity, and competence. Whether conducting outreach, providing case management, or conducting a support group, LAFLA social workers are mindful of these values. As part of an inter-disciplinary team of attorneys and paralegals, they provide invaluable support to both clients and advocates.

Vietnam Veteran Refused Home Loan Modification

An August 4 news report from the Treasury Department revealed that only a small number of homeowners - 235,247, or 9 percent of those eligible - had been helped by the latest government program created to modify home loans and prevent foreclosures. Subsequent news stories appeared in the local and national news media. LAFLA’s consumer law attorneys voiced their concern months ago that some of the banks were not cooperating, and therefore our low-income clients, desperate for lower patments were not helped. Recently, one of the largest banks refused to modify the loan of Mr. Herrera, a 55-year-old Vietnam-era veteran who has cancer. As a result the client’s home was to be sold in a foreclosure sale on August 5. At first, the bank agreed to modify the client’s loan, but lost some of his loan modification paperwork. Instead of working with the veteran, they refused to process his loan modification to make his loan payment more affordable.

Herrera came to LAFLA desperately seeking help. To stop the foreclosure, our attorneys filed for bankruptcy on behalf of the client, and are planning to file a lawsuit to force the bank to modify Herrera’s loan, as they had originally agreed to do. Herrera has postponed needed cancer surgery because he fears that he would be homeless after the foreclosure sale of his home. "Our client’s situation is a clear example of exactly how some banks are handling their loan modification program despite receiving money from the Federal Government.

Government Benefits Attorney Pushes for Regulation of State Trade Schools

Disappearing jobs have helped drive thousands of people to state-run trade schools. In the hopes of learning a trade or new profession with higher pay, people enroll in trade schools only to be cheated out of an education or training. Schools often use high pressure tactics to get the students to sign an enrollment agreement without sufficient time to read the documents. Unfortunately mostly minority and low-income clients are lured in by these false claims. And now, the unemployed can be solicited by these for-profit schools at job fairs which was prohibited by prior law.

According to Senior Attorney Elena Ackel, the former Private Postsecondary and Vocational Education Reform Act of 1989 became inoperative on July 1, 2007 and was repealed on January 1, 2008. The Act is administered by the Bureau for Private Postsecondary and Vocational Education in the Department of Consumer Affairs. The previous Act’s intent was to ensure minimum standards of instructional quality and institutional stability in private postsecondary educational institutions. Ackel says the amended version of AB 48 is far worse than no bill at all because it sanctions a host of misrepresentations masquerading as student protections. In the past, Ackel has litigated against systemic misrepresentation by trade schools.

"We’ve been without a decent bill or a state approval process for two years. Under federal law, Title IV aid should have been stopped for these schools but the administrators had political influence and the law was ignored," Ackel explained. "With the new Obama administration, trade schools have realized that their funding source is at risk, so they’re pursuing a bill that masquerades as regulation."

Assembly Bill 48 will be debated in the Senate Appropriations Committee on August 17. Ackel has been representing 12 students from the Corinthian Campus, a publically traded chain of schools. The school was sued by the California attorney general’s office for abusive practices in 2007.

Ackel has been a valiant advocate at LAFLA for more than 25 years. She has had an extraordinary career that includes some of the most far-reaching advocacy in the country. In the 1970s she pioneered suits against predatory lenders who used deceptive tactics to trick senior citizens out of their homes. And in the 1980s, she worked with other legal services lawyers on Lopez v. Heckler, a Ninth Circuit case addressing the erroneous termination of 42,000 Social Security recipients. Read one student’s story

LAFLA Staff Celebrates Summer
with a Softball Challenge

LAFLA’s dedicated team of attorneys and advocates from our East Los Angeles and West Offices teamed up recently for a competitive game of softball against employees at our Long Beach Self Help Center. Energy, camaraderie and trash talking were high among the players, friends and family who attended the game. It was a close game, but Michael Ortiz, Director of our Immigration Unit, front and far right, delivered the winning run for a final score of 6-4 in favor of the East/West team. Employees at the Long Beach Self Help Center are already demanding a re-match

In the News

• Eviction Defense attorney Tamara Webster, who works in our Long Beach Office, was quoted in a July 31 article titled: Renters can suffer when owners are in bankruptcy in the Long Beach Press-Telegram. The article is part of an ongoing series: Faces of the Recession: Others’ problems affect average people.
• LAFLA Board member Jim McAdams, and president of the Long Beach Grand Cru fundraiser was interviewed live on KROQ Radio public affairs program "Open Line" on Sunday, July 24. McAdams promoted the Long Beach Grand Cru and provided insight to LAFLA’s history, programs and services. The program was rebroadcast on August 2 on KCBS-FM "JACK FM", KROQ HD-2 "Roq of the 80’s", KRTH-FM "K-EARTH 101" (called "The Forum"), 97.1 KAMP-FM "AMP Radio" and KTWV-FM "The Wave."
• Senior Attorney Elena Ackel was the source of a July 21 Hector Tobar column Safe Streets Act works a little too well which ran in the Los Angeles Times. The Safe Streets Act, one of the strictest in the nation when it comes to unlicensed drivers, was intended as a tool used against drunk drivers and allows police to impound vehicles driven by people with suspended licenses -- even if they’re not the registered owners. Unfortunately Ackel’s client was wrongly punished.
• Senior Consumer Law attorney, Dorothy Herrera Settlage and her team contributed to an Opinion column titled: Out of house and home in the Los Angeles Times that profiled five homeowners whom LAFLA’s foreclosure attorneys have assisted. The story ran on July 20.
• Run-Down Apartment Building Tenants Reach Record Settlement was the title of a July 20 article in the Daily Journal about a habitability law suit in the amount of $4.5 million. Housing litigators Fernando Gaytan and Barbara Schultz worked with attorneys at Hadsell, Stormer, Keeny, Richardson and Renick and the Western Center on Law and Poverty on the case. The lawsuit settlement represented one of the highest amounts awarded to individual plaintiffs who brought a habitability suit in Los Angeles County.