Agency’s New Head Considers Suing Bank

The first task facing the new director of the largest legal aid center in the San Fernando Valley is to try to recover about $150,000 embezzled by the former chief.

Neal S. Dudovitz, the new executive director of San Fernando Valley Neighborhood Legal Services, said the agency is considering suing Coast Federal Bank in Granada Hills to recover the funds.

Dudovitz said the bank may be culpable because it allowed former director James Steven Carroll, 41, who pleaded guilty Wednesday to federal embezzlement charges, to open a phony account and deposit at least 13 checks intended for the legal center.

“We still hope we will get some or all of it back,” Dudovitz said. “We worked very hard to maintain services, but there is no doubt that if we had more money, we could have done more.”

Carroll Wednesday admitted embezzling more than $260,000, but prosecutors said he may have taken nearly $500,000. The legal aid center has recovered some of the losses through insurance, but at least $150,000 is still missing, Dudovitz said.

Despite the loss, the Pacoima-based agency’s 12 lawyers and 10 paralegals provided legal services to 12,000 people last year, 2,000 more than the year before, Dudovitz said.

“The staff here did a terrific job,” Dudovitz said. “That’s part of what inspired me to come work here.”

Dudovitz, 45, a nationally recognized expert in the legal rights of senior citizens, was chosen last month from a field of 15 applicants for the post, which pays an annual salary of $80,000. Previously, he was based in Los Angeles as deputy director of the National Senior Citizens Law Center.

Several legal luminaries said he is the perfect choice to lead the office.

“I’m thrilled he’s the new director,” said state Assemblyman Terry B. Friedman (D-Brentwood), a former legal services attorney. “He has the expertise, respect and the diligence to put the program back on track. It gives me confidence that what always was a good program will now have an outstanding future.”

Former state Atty. Gen. John Van de Kamp also had high praise for Dudovitz. The two are working together on a case alleging that senior citizens in urban areas are discriminated against by California’s allocation of federal funds for low-income housing for seniors.

“He’s very clearly a child of the ‘60s--you can tell by looking at the pictures of him with long hair,” Van de Kamp said.