MAKING A DIFFERENCE : Legal Corps: Filling a Lawyer Vacuum

Affordable legal services are scarce for people who earn too much to qualify for legal aid and too little to hire a private attorney. It’s especially hard in South-Central Los Angeles, which has few lawyers to begin with. Enter the Legal Corps of Los Angeles, a nonprofit organization formed in August, 1993. Five paid staff lawyers and a cadre of volunteers are part of this program inspired by the American Bar Assn.’s Greater Access and Assistance Project, which is intended to encourage lawyers to do more for the working poor.

Eligible clients receive legal advice free of charge and litigation service for a flat fee of $50 plus any filing and expert fees. Legal Corps of Los Angeles staff are helping San Diego lawyers set up a similar operation and hope to expand service to the east San Fernando Valley, Wilmington and East Los Angeles over the next two years.

LEGAL CORPS SERVICE AREA

Number of persons per lawyer in California: 400

Number of persons per lawyer in South Central Los Angeles Los Angeles: 15,000

Source: Legal Corps of Los Angeles

A LEGAL NETWORK

Corps staff works out of South-Central office space donated by the county. Individual and corporate donors underwrite its $300,000 annual budget. A network of volunteers supplements the operation’s day-to-day efforts:

Los Angeles County Barristers, the local bar association’s young lawyers’ group, provides regular in-house support at no charge and free counsel during outreach events such as community law days.

The corps’ legal advisory panel, volunteer lawyers from throughout the county, provide pro bono consultation to the staff from their own offices via telephone and fax. Volunteer lawyers are called for advice about twice each month.

Students from Loyola, USC, Hastings and Southwestern law schools volunteer at the center. Some earn college credit for their service.

Law firms and advisory panel attorneys offer free legal service at their offices for South Central small business owners referred to the Legal Corps by Operation Hope, Inc., a nonprofit economic development corporation.

CASE STUDY 1

Problem: The Browns allege that a lending institution and its agents forged numbers on financial documents, increasing the interest owed on their home loan and nearly doubling their monthly mortgage payments. They are in a legal fight to keep their home.

Legal work required so far: more than 120 hours

Status: While the court decides the case, an injunction allows the Browns to keep their home and orders them to make loan payments at their original monthly rate.

CASE STUDY 2

Problem: Jose Turcios and Carlos Silva worked on the streets as mechanics for eight years, saving $30,000 for a down payment on a Los Angeles business site. They say they unknowingly purchased land that had underground gas tanks on the property. The partners are now embroiled in a dispute with the sellers over liability for the property’s condition at the time of the sale. The conflict may jeopardize financing with a lender eager to work with the fledgling businessmen to improve their auto shop.

Legal work required so far: 70 hours

Status: Efforts to settle with the sellers out of court have failed. Legal Corps attorneys filed a formal complaint Nov. 18.

CASELOAD

In 14 months:

3,300 service hours to 250 individual clients valued at $742,500. More than 500 hours of services to four nonprofit group clients and community outreach

types of cases:

Consumer Law: 40%

Elder Law: 30%

Housing Law: 25%

Employment Law: 4%

Disability: 1%

TO GET INVOLVED

Call (213) 588-2027. For appointments call (213) 588-7200.