News
Assisting a Retired Veteran with a Collection Lawsuit
Marshall Arbor (fictitious name) is a divorced senior citizen and retired veteran living alone on a fix income in Orange County. He contacted Community Legal Aid SoCal (CLA SoCal) [Continue Reading]
Extended Service: A Family Law Case Story
By Roxanne Hernandez, Senior Attorney Note: The below preface was originally shared in September 2023 and serves as the back story for the recent update of the case. Preface [Continue Reading]
Millennials are Making Their Mark on Legal Aid
At Community Legal Aid SoCal (CLA SoCal), our HR statistics show Millennials make up 41% of our 144-member staff, which makes it the largest segment of the program’s intergenerational workforce that spans from the Baby Boomers to Gen Z. Of the groupings, Millennials are the first cohort to grow up steeped in the use of digital technology. Continue Reading Millennials are Making Their Mark on Legal Aid
Assisting a Client Seeking Special Immigrant Juvenile Status
Lula (fictitious name) was born in Mexico and immigrated to the United States when she was three years old. In her teen years, she became a dependent of the Orange [Continue Reading]
Perseverance: One Client’s Journey Towards a Fully Favorable SSI Decision
Submitted by Esther Gomez, Staff Paralegal, Public Benefits Unit Tracy (fictitious name) is a 44-year-old woman who suffers from hidradenitis suppurativa (HS), a chronic inflammatory skin condition that causes painful [Continue Reading]
Eviction Defense for a Disabled Client
By Terea Williams, Registered Legal Aid Attorney An eviction, unlawful detainer case is an extremely stressful experience for a client, and even more so when they do not have the [Continue Reading]
Advising and Representing a Client in Debt Collection
By Melina Fuentes, Staff Paralegal Our client Massimo Vega (fictitious name) is 54-year-old non-literate monolingual Spanish speaker who works as a caregiver for his sickly wife. Jefferson Capital, a third-party [Continue Reading]
Q & A—Shirly Sun and Jeff Tsair, Volunteering at the Expungement Clinic
Community Legal Aid SoCal holds monthly Expungement Clinics on Saturdays from 8:30 am to 1:30 pm in partnership with UCI Law School student volunteers. At the clinics, we assist clients [Continue Reading]
Community Legal Aid Socal’s Response to the Supreme Court’s Decision in City of Grants Pass
The Supreme Court ruled on Friday in City of Grants Pass v. Johnson that fining and jailing unhoused people for violating anti-camping ordinances, even when they have no access to [Continue Reading]
Advocating for Client’s Gender-Affirming Care
By Joan Chang, Senior Attorney, Health Unit Alicia (fictitious name) is a 34-year-old male to female transgender individual who, when facing multiple barriers accessing gender-affirming surgeries, contacted Community Legal Aid [Continue Reading]
Three Short Stories of Advocacy for Survivors of Domestic Violence
By Roxanne Hernandez, Staff Attorney -One- I was assisting my client Patricia (fictitious name) with a legal separation, and we needed to file and serve an Amended Petition for Dissolution. [Continue Reading]
Perseverance, Through the Years
By Cheryl Bigos, Senior Attorney Clarissa (fictitious name) was born in Egypt where she worked as an anesthesiologist. In 2012 she met and married her husband, Joe (fictitious name), and [Continue Reading]
