RONNA S. REED : Acting general counsel, Public Law Center

Elderly people who have lost their homes to fraud, divorcing couples, grandparents who wrest guardianship of grandchildren from their own children--Ronna S. Reed lives in a different world than she inhabited for five years as a business litigator. But she hasn’t left Orange County. Her agency coordinates volunteer attorneys and litigates housing and health care cases on behalf of people in poverty. Reed, who took over the directorship of Public Law Center in January, recently spoke with Times staff writer Anne Michaud.

Has demand for your services increased during the recession?

During December and January, we accepted more than 500 family law cases. Those 500 cases are our total contract for the year, and we accepted those in two months. The economy is so bad it creates tremendous strain on families.

Unfortunately, Legal Aid is getting hundreds of requests monthly, and we’re taking 60 cases a month from them. We’ve doubled the number of cases this year that we’re taking. But it’s certainly not servicing all the need.

Are they divorce cases?

Yes, and support modifications, custody disputes.

What is your relationship to Legal Aid?

Legal Aid is required by federal law to spend a certain percentage of its budget, 12.5%, on what are called private attorney-involvement programs. We are private, nonprofit. Legal Aid is almost exclusively government-funded.

We have a contract with them to take a certain number of referrals every year. We are part of the solution generated during the Reagan Administration for the lack of legal services for the poor and low-income.

Where do your cases come from?

About 95% of our claims come through Legal Aid. We have a contract with them to take 500 cases a year. We have 617 open cases now. Last year we took 830 cases, which represented about 5,000 attorney hours. That’s $750,000 worth of legal services, according to the state bar valuation.

Do you have enough attorney volunteers?

We have 750 attorneys signed up to do our volunteer work, and there are 9,500 in Orange County. The percentage in Orange County who are working on pro bono is low compared to San Diego and Los Angeles counties.

Why do you think that is?

I think that, historically, Orange County is not a charitable place. There is not a culture of community-mindedness.

I don’t know if it’s because the money isn’t old enough here. I don’t think that conservative politics necessarily equates with a lack of charitable giving.

How much money do you raise each year?

We have to raise $240,000 every year. About $200,000 is paid by Legal Aid and the State Bar Trust Fund money. But, unfortunately, since those are so sensitive to interest rates, we’re probably going to get a 25% decrease in funding in June. (The money pays for a seven-member staff, rent etc.)

Who are your clients?

We’re generally defending people who find themselves in unwanted litigation. Or we’re trying to exercise rights that are already guaranteed them, that they couldn’t exercise without the assistance of an attorney.

For example?

A typical client would be an underemployed or unemployed female in the middle of a dissolution (divorce). And the issue is usually a division of debt rather than a division of assets.

With whom else do you work?

We do work on behalf of senior citizens. We’ve seen a big increase in elder abuse cases. The elderly are being preyed upon, having relatives and friends take the interest from their homes through third and fourth trust deeds. Or shady lenders charge excessive fees or schedule balloon payments and cause the elderly to lose their homes.

Is there another type of case you’re seeing more frequently now?

We’ve got a lot of consumer fraud, people who sign contracts for goods or services that are not followed through on. These don’t rise to the level of criminal fraud; they’re not going to be prosecuted through the district attorney’s office. They’re small amounts of money, relatively speaking, but $1,000 or $2,000 means a lot to a person who lives on $8,000 a year.

Do you get personal bankruptcies?

We get a lot of bankruptcies. The people who are coming to us for bankruptcies are people who have fallen through whatever safety net is supposed to exist. They own homes, or did own homes, in Mission Viejo and Laguna Hills and Newport Beach. One minute they’re upright citizens, the next minute they’re living in their cars.

Because they lost jobs?

Yes, they lose their jobs and everything goes bad. All of a sudden, all of the creditors are there hounding them.

What have you learned since you became PLC director?

That the business community in Orange County needs to think about the long term when deciding what kind of a county we want to have. I get requests from people whose employees can’t get the legal help that they need because they can’t afford it.

We have to think about creating jobs where people earn enough money so they have a stake in what’s going on. Those problems solved make for a better work force and a happier citizenry.

On not being able to afford legal services.

“People just stop believing in the system. They regard the system as something that confronts them rather than something they participate in.”

On the need for change.

“There are 200,000 people in Orange County living below the federal poverty levels. A society will not function--it will always have problems--if people are forced to live in the margins.”

On the agency’s overflow of cases.

“We have to make decisions about who has the most pressing problems, who stands to lose the most, who needs representation the most.”

On leaving business litigation law for public interest law.

“If you spend all your time defending the interests of people who have money, you just don’t get the satisfaction you went to law school for.”