Pilot Program Gives Free Legal Aid for Needy in Family Cases

She is the wife of a fundamentalist clergyman who regularly beat her. Several times, she mustered the courage to leave but, because she lacked the finances and feared her husband, she returned home.

After an especially severe beating last month, she sought refuge in a Van Nuys shelter for battered women. The shelter referred the woman to the Family Law Center in Panorama City, a new, federally funded pilot program administered by the San Fernando Valley Bar Assn.

“This woman was kept in a state of childlike servitude,” said Rose Cohen, the center’s directing attorney. “She was beaten as punishment for disobeying her husband. She literally had nowhere else to turn.”

The woman, who still lives at the shelter, will go to court next week to seek a divorce. Through the center, she will be represented by an attorney she could not otherwise afford.

Opened in December

The center opened its doors Dec. 2 in an office donated by the bar association at 8134 Van Nuys Blvd. Its purpose is to provide legal representation to people who have no money to hire attorneys to represent them in divorce, domestic violence, child and spousal support and child custody cases.

If successful, the program--the only one of its kind in the country--will serve as a nationwide model for similar federally funded programs, said Susan Keating, the bar association’s executive director.

It performs a key role in that Neighborhood Legal Services in Pacoima, the federal Legal Services Corp. office that serves the area’s poor, does not accept clients who have domestic problems, Keating said. Faced with budget cutbacks in recent years, the legal aid agency has had to limit its services to clients who have housing, job or public-assistance problems.

“It’s a matter of priorities,” Keating said. “Legal Services is more concerned with keeping a roof over people’s heads and food on their tables.”

Applied for a Grant

The bar association saw the need, applied for a grant from the Legal Services Corp. and was awarded $150,000 to conduct the pilot program for a year, Keating said.

Attorney Lee Kanon Alpert, bar association president, said that, according to government statistics, there are 126,000 people in the San Fernando, Santa Clarita, Simi and Conejo valleys who cannot afford an attorney. Alpert said association leaders applied for the grant because they believe everybody should be able to obtain legal representation, regardless of their financial status.

To qualify for the free services of an attorney, clients need only furnish proof that their income is below federal poverty standards, which begin at $6,652 annually for a one-person household.

Sharley Allen, the administrative assistant who staffs the center from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, said qualification standards are flexible. The program allows income deductions such as rent and child care or support in determining eligibility, she said.

“A person can own their home and we will still help them,” Allen said. “Owning a home doesn’t necessarily mean a person can afford an attorney.”

New Classes of Poor

Before the federal program was established several years ago, Keating said, the bar association provided legal services to those who could not afford to hire their own attorneys. She said that today’s poor differ dramatically from those served in the past.

“Most of our clients weren’t born poor,” Keating said. “They’re just middle-class people who are temporarily down on their luck. Some have lost their jobs. Others have had attorneys but have run out of money to pay them for various reasons.”

One client, she said, is a man who lost his job, as did his wife, when the company they were both working for went out of business. The couple had five children and, because of financial problems, their marriage broke up. An attorney from the center is representing the husband in the divorce action.

“He came in here the other day wearing a cashmere sweater and a gold chain,” Keating said. “You couldn’t tell just by looking at him that he is poor.”

Keating said the center has had only one client who is non-English speaking.

Attorneys Volunteer

Allen, former office manager for Municipal Judge Meredith Taylor, said more than 60 “highly qualified” attorneys have volunteered to handle cases for the center at “drastically reduced fees.” Participating lawyers receive a maximum of $750 for handling child custody cases and $350 for all others. Allen said the amount they are paid does not even cover the attorneys’ expenses.

A major objective of the program is to provide legal services to the poor in a more cost-effective manner, Keating said.

“We’ve eliminated a lot of the overhead costs,” she said.

In addition to office space, the bar association also is providing equipment and support staff for the program.

Clients are referred to the center by Neighborhood Legal Services, local attorneys and social service agencies. Allen, who does the initial screening of clients, said many people now are learning about the program from friends. In December, she said, “before anyone knew we were here,” the center handled 30 clients. So far this month, Allen said, she has scheduled appointments for 43 more people.

“We’re supposed to serve at least 300 clients with the $150,000,” she said.

Out-of-Court Settlements

Cohen, who maintains her own family law practice, works at the center two days a week, interviewing clients and, if necessary, referring their cases to participating attorneys. At times, Cohen said, she can resolve an issue without taking it to court.

For example, she said she was able to contact the district attorney’s office and get a child-support lien against one client’s salary lifted. Cohen said that, because of a misunderstanding, the client, who earned $600 a month, had been subjected to a wage assignment of $350 a month for child support.