Success Stories
Immigration and Family Law, a Cross-Unit Effort
By Sarah Yanez, Attorney, Immigration Unit My client Amanda, a citizen of a European country, met her United States citizen husband, Jasper, when they were both in their late teens [Continue Reading]
Assistance with Appealing Termination of Social Security Disability Benefits
By Eric Michael, Staff Attorney, Economic Maintenance Unit Among the various reasons clients seek help from the CLA SoCal Economic Maintenance Unit is for assistance obtaining Social Security disability benefits [Continue Reading]
Facilitating Systemic Change
Community Legal Aid SoCal’s (CLA SoCal) Health Consumer Action Center (Health Unit) has long been aware that transgender individuals in Orange County face many barriers to accessing medically necessary care. [Continue Reading]
Standing Up for Seniors
A Success Story from the Seniors Unit Dr. M (fictitious name) is a sophisticated senior who is living on disability due to a myriad of health issues that challenge her [Continue Reading]
Prepared and Ready
By the Housing Unit When our client, Karl (fictitious name), first contacted us, he had lived in his unit for about 4 years. He was renting a backhouse and there [Continue Reading]
Appealing the Wrongful Denial of Disability Benefits
A success story from the Economic Maintenance Unit Mary (fictitious name) contacted CLA SoCal in June 2020 after receiving a notice of denial for her Social Security Disability Benefits application. [Continue Reading]
Freedom from Forced Servitude
The story of a human trafficking client from the Immigration Unit By Veronica Joya, Supervising Attorney In 2015, Janus (fictious name) came to the country with great expectations after he [Continue Reading]
The Drive to Return Home
By Alton Donatto, Paralegal When he came to us for help with an Unlawful Detainer (eviction) filed by his sibling, Joshua (fictitious name) had resided in his parent’s home for [Continue Reading]
Securing Relief
By Christa Daley, Staff Attorney, Family Law Unit Despite that our client, Diandra (fictitious name), was the victim of past physical abuse for which her husband Marco (fictitious name) had [Continue Reading]
Avoiding Eviction
A success story from the Housing Unit Steve and June (fictitious names) were living in their apartment for over a year with no problems until this past March when their [Continue Reading]
Settling Debt
A story of consumer defense during the pandemic By Betty Serrate, Staff Attorney The year 2020 started reasonably well for my client, Agapito Santos (fictious name). At 69, he was [Continue Reading]
Supporting New Hopes, a client story from the Immigration Unit
Lauren (fictious name) left behind a prosperous life when she moved to the U.S. to marry her husband, Rob (fictious name), an American citizen. She had high hopes of building [Continue Reading]
