Legal Aid Society of Orange County
and
Community Legal Services
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Lawyers Referral Service (LRS)
Senior Citizens Legal Advocacy Program (SCLAP)
Domestic Violence Program ||
Hotline and Clinic Services Programs
Serving Orange and southeast Los Angeles County's poor and elderly
The Legal Aid Society of Orange County and Community Legal Services in Los Angeles County
(collectively "Legal Aid") are non-profit agencies that provide free legal services to
Orange County and portions of southeast/south central Los Angeles County's poor and elderly.
They are funded by a combination of public and private sources.
This year, Legal Aid will assist over 26,000 low-income individuals and seniors with legal
matters through its four offices in Santa Ana, Anaheim, Compton and Norwalk. Approximately
two-thirds of these clients were women, with a large percentage of the services provided for
them either directly or indirectly benefiting children.
Legal Aid's clients are generally either at or below the poverty level. According to the 1990
Census, Orange County has over 200,000 residents and the Los Angeles service area that we serve
has over 150,000 residents who have incomes below the federal poverty level -- a number that
continues to grow every year. Thousands more have incomes that make hiring a lawyer
impossible.
Legal Aid's Seniors Program has no low-income requirement, however, offering legal assistance
to anyone age 60 or over.
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Assisting with family law, housing, health, education and consumer problems
Legal Aid assists individuals with family law, housing, health, education, consumer and
government benefit problems. Repeated surveys of the local community have shown these issues to be most vital to Orange County's poor and elderly.
The majority of the cases Legal Aid takes on are related to basic survival issues that are
either life-threatening or affect the most basic of necessities, such as someone's loss of
shelter or inability to get much needed medical services.
Legal Aid does not handle cases for criminal defendants or lawsuits for monetary damages
that a private attorney would accept on a contingency basis.
A partnership with the legal community
Legal Aid has a strong partnership with Orange and Los Angeles County's legal community. They
work closely with the Orange County, Los Angeles County, Southeast and South Central Bar
Associations and other local attorney groups to adequately serve the needs of the community's
poor and elderly.
Legal Aid operates a Lawyers Referral Service (LRS) for the benefit of the public that each
month refers approximately 960 individuals to members of the local private bar for assistance.
Each person referred by LRS receives one-half hour of assistance without charge. Payment for
any assistance provided beyond the initial consultation is the responsibility of the client.
Over a third of those using the service report that the consultation provided during this
initial meeting is sufficient to meet their needs.
Legal Aid also refers clients to the Public Law Center (PLC) of Orange County for
pro bono legal assistance from members of the local private bar.
Providing satellite offices to serve our community's residents
The Legal Aid Society of Orange County provides two offices in Orange County and two offices in
southeast Los Angeles County to better serve the residents of our community:
Orange County
- The main office in the city of Santa Ana to serve the residents of Costa Mesa, Dana
Point, Fountain Valley, Garden Grove, Huntington Beach, Irvine, Laguna Beach, Laguna
Hills, Laguna Niguel, Lake Forest, Los Alamitos, Midway City, Mission Viejo, Newport
Beach, Orange, San Clemente, San Juan Capistrano, Santa Ana, Seal Beach, Stanton,
Sunset Beach, Tustin, Villa Park and Westminster.
- An office in the city of Anaheim to serve the residents of Anaheim, Brea, Buena Park,
Cypress, Fullerton, La Habra, La Palma, Placentia and Yorba Linda.
Southeast and South Central Los Angeles County Community
- An office in the city of Compton, the Thurgood Marshall Justice Center, to serve the
residents of Carson (north of the 405 Freeway), Compton, East Compton, West Compton,
Cudahy, Hollydale, Huntington Park, Lynwood, Maywood, South Gate, Walnut Park and
Willowbrook.
- An office in the city of Norwalk to serve the residents of Artesia, Bell, Bell Gardens,
Bellflower, Cerritos, Downey, Norwalk and Paramount.
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Legal Aid has five main departments:
Litigation Department
The Litigation Department has not yet submitted their text.
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What is the Lawyers Referral Service?
The Lawyers Referral Service is a public service operating under the management and control
of the Legal Aid Society of Orange County, a non-profit corporation.
The purposes of the Lawyers Referral Service are: to make legal services more available to
the general public by providing a way in which any person may be referred to a member of the
California State Bar in Orange County or Southeast Los Angeles County; and to provide
support to the Legal Aid Society of Orange County for furnishing legal services to those
persons eligible for its programs.
The Lawyers Referral Service provides a way for matching clients who are in need of legal
services with lawyers who are interested in and competent to handle their legal problems.
The Lawyers Referral Service can refer you to an attorney who is qualified to handle your
legal needs. Our panel attorneys are screened for qualifications, they carry malpractice
insurance and are in good standing with the State Bar of California. The attorney will
provide a free one-half hour consultation by phone or appointment to evaluate your specific
legal needs. The attorneys are not Legal Aid attorneys. They will charge you for
their services. Fees should be discussed during the initial consultation.
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Senior Citizens Legal Advocacy Program
The Senior Citizens Legal Advocacy Program (SCLAP) is designed to provide free, courteous,
high-quality legal services to residents age 60 and over. Services are rendered on a first
come, first served basis. Any legal emergencies will be addressed as soon as possible. If
the Seniors Program cannot assist you with your particular legal problem, they will attempt to
refer you to an agency or attorney that can help.
SCLAP provides representation in the areas of government benefits, health, housing, consumer
problems and, in other cases, to the extent resources allow, where a senior has an immediate,
serious need for legal representation. The Seniors Program provides legal advice on a wide
variety of issues:
- Government Benefits - Social Security and SSI
- Landlord-Tenant - Evictions, mobile home and housing issues
- Health - Medicare, Medi-Cal, HMO's and nursing home issues
- Consumer Problems - Contracts and debt collection defense
They can also provide advice and referrals in areas such as bankruptcy, small claims, wills,
powers of attorney, conservatorships, personal injury, workers compensation, family law and
real estate.
There are some legal matters in which the Seniors Program does not offer
representation:
- Criminal cases
- Tax matters
- DMV hearings / traffic or parking citations
- Bankruptcy
- Probate / estate planning
- Cases in which you want to sue for money
The Senior Citizens Legal Advocacy Program project
is funded in part through funds from the
Federal Older Americans Act as allocated by the
Orange County Board of Supervisors.
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Domestic Violence Program
Community Legal Services operates a Domestic Violence Program at the County Superior Courthouses
in Compton and Norwalk that assist approximately 3,000 local area victims of domestic violence
and civil harassment each year. The program assists victims in obtaining restraining orders to
protect themselves, their children and other family or household members who may be in physical
danger from a spouse or partner. They are also assisted, if needed, in their effort to obtain
child custody, child support, restitution, spousal support or custody/control of property.
The program has been extremely successful and been formally honored by the National Association
of Counties for its excellence and innovation. Because of the generous efforts of dozens of
trained volunteers and a low overhead, it has also been very cost effective.
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Hotline and Clinic Services Programs
Advice and Counseling over the phone
To better serve its client community with its very limited resources, Legal Aid has established
new Hotline and Clinics Services Programs.
Under the supervision of attorneys, Hotline paralegals provide advice, counseling and referrals
over the phone to eligible clients. The type of advice typically given over the phone concerns
legal problems that are easy to identify and can be resolved by actions that are easy to
explain.
Multi-lingual Services
Although many Hotline staff members are bilingual, Legal Aid has subscribed to AT&T's
Translation Service which permits Legal Aid to "conference-in" a translator, often in less than
a minute.
Gateway to other services
The Hotline also functions as a gateway to Legal Aid's Self-Help Clinics and other in-depth
services. Self-help clinics, Legal Aid's most cost-effective referral option, are available
for numerous subject matter areas:
- Family Law
- Simple dissolutions
- Sole custody
- Paternity actions
- Landlord-Tenant
- Tenant's rights and responsibilities
- Eviction defense
- Also, self-help clinics will soon be offered in the following areas:
- Dispute mediation
- Consumer Law
- Bankruptcy
- Small Claims Court procedures
- Government benefits
Extended Hours
With the assistance of the private Bar, the Legal Aid Hotline remains open from:
Monday through Thursday
9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Friday
9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Closed weekends and all court holidays
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