Public Law Center

Public Law Center is so grateful for the outstanding contributions of our 2024 Summer Law Clerks! The Summer Law Clerk program provides valuable additional support to our legal units, and offers the students exposure to pro bono work to encourage these aspiring attorneys to begin a career in legal aid or incorporate pro bono work as a key component of their practice. Our thanks to all of the students for their hard work this summer, and we wish you all the best as you continue your studies this fall!

Need help with your DACA renewal application? PLC is hosting free DACA clinics to provide assistance with DACA renewals. To book an appointment, please email [email protected]

Today is Juneteenth, an important opportunity for us to celebrate freedom and the advancement and achievements of the Black community. While there is much to celebrate today, we also acknowledging the work still to be done to eliminate systemic racism in our society and institutions, and PLC is committed to that work. We are proud to support and partner with the Thurgood Marshall Bar Association and encourage you to follow them and support their events and activities.

We are honored to recognize the UCI Law Criminal Justice Clinic with our Community Partner of the Year award at the Volunteers For Justice Event.

There are extremely few pro bono resources for post-conviction relief in Orange County, and the UCI Law School's Criminal Justice Clinic (CJC), led by Professor Katie Tinto, plays a huge role in filling this access to justice gap. The CJC has a particularly special partnership with PLC's Immigration Unit in assisting human trafficking survivors. Many of these clients become involved with the criminal justice system either directly through the trafficking scheme of which they are a victim, or as an indirect result of the trauma they experienced due to their trafficking. The work of Professor Tinto and her team of students to reopen, overturn, or reduce the convictions of these trafficking survivors is a key step in the healing journey of these clients, and plays an important role in enabling them to create a new, more stable future.

We look forward to recognizing their efforts on June 11! Get your tickets here: https://one.bidpal.net/plc/welcome

Public Law Center wishes our followers a Happy Pride Month! PLC is proud to work with and alongside the LGBTQ+ community through our work with the LGBTQ Center Orange County, the Lavender Bar Association, and the OC Health Care Agency. We encourage you to support these and other local Orange County LGBTQ+ organizations this month and year-round!

This year at our Volunteers For Justice Event will be honoring Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP [Official] for their significant pro bono contributions in 2023.

Sheppard Mullin's pro bono team, led by Steve Cardoza, has helped finalize 115 adoptions since 2021 in partnership with PLC's De Facto Parent and Dependency Adoption Clinic. PLC is responsible for filing about a third of the total dependency adoptions that take place in Orange County, with Sheppard Mullin's team handling about a quarter of those. They have a 100% success rate in their cases, achieving a successful legal outcome in these cases and thereby honoring the joy and love that the adoptive parents have brought to these children's lives.

In addition, another pro bono team at Sheppard Mullin, led by Isaiah Weedn, dedicated over 1200 hours in 2023 alone on an impact litigation case, Santa Ana vs. Mental Health Association. In this matter, PLC and the pro bono team at Sheppard are defending a nonprofit organization that operates a multi-service center in Santa Ana. The center provides unhoused individuals with treatment, case management, and various other holistic services, in furtherance of their overall mission to improve the quality of life of Orange County residents impacted by mental illness. While the litigation is still on-going, Isaiah and his team have demonstrated their deep, unwavering commitment to the case through its ups and downs to date.

We are immensely grateful for Sheppard Mullin's contributions and look forward to thanking them at the Volunteers For Justice Event! Get your tickets now: https://one.bidpal.net/plc

Join the OCBA Veterans and Military Committee to learn how you can help veterans qualify for a life changing discharge upgrade as well as obtain benefits through the Veterans Administration. Register at https://bit.ly/3K4c7bG

Tickets are now on sale for Public Law Center's annual Volunteers For Justice Event! Join Orange County's legal community on Tuesday, June 11, 2024 from 5:30-8:30PM at The Promenade and Gardens by Turnip Rose in Costa Mesa.

At The Volunteers For Justice Event, we will come together to celebrate Orange County's pro bono community, hear powerful stories from our clients and volunteers, and look to the future to see what we can accomplish together in 2024 and beyond. Get your tickets now: https://one.bidpal.net/plc/welcome

While scams may vary, the anatomy is the same! Public Law Center is excited to be partnering with Council on Aging - Southern California and special guest Brad Chabot from the FBI to host the Anatomy of a Scam workshop on Thursday, March 21 at 10:00 AM on Zoom.

Join us for a discussion of common elements and red flags of scams, and the growing issue of Cybercrime. Learn how to spot scams and protect yourself. Sign up now! https://publiclawcenter-org.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZMucemrpzguGNelPX9CBUXP0Rw25n35t5wt #/registration

PLC is hosting an in-person Citizenship Legal Clinic on Friday, April 26! We will assist eligible lawful permanent residents with preparing and filing Form N-400, Application for Naturalization (Citizenship) with USCIS, including fee waiver applications for those who are eligible. Please call (714) 541-1010, ext. 332 to make an appointment. Walk-in appointments will not be available.

Public Law Center ayudará a los residentes permanentes legales elegibles a preparar y presentar el Formulario N-400, Solicitud de Naturalización (Ciudadanía) ante USCIS, incluyendo la solicitud de exención de tarifas para aquellos que sean elegibles.
Cuando: viernes 26 de abril de 2024. Llame al (714) 541-1010, ext. 332 para hacer una cita. Las citas sin cita previa no estarán disponibles. Hay interpretación disponible.

Public Law Center has now launched a new in-person legal clinic with a new community partner! PLC is now working with the Trabuco Center to host our Irvine Recovery Clinic, where we provide free legal services to low-income Irvine residents. Supported by the City of Irvine, PLC is providing housing, immigration, health, consumer, veterans and family legal services to Irvine community members in need.

If you or someone you know needs to book an appointment at the clinic, please call the Keen Center at (949) 724-6926.

Mark your calendars! Public Law Center's Volunteers For Justice Event will be hosted on Tuesday, June 11, 2024 from 5:30 to 8:30 PM at The Promenade and Gardens by Turnip Rose in Costa Mesa!

PLC is celebrating a big win for our nonprofit client, Grandma’s House of Hope! Grandma’s House Of Hope provides emergency and transitional housing coupled with trauma-informed supportive services to marginalized residents of Orange County. They were denied a conditional use permit by the City of Anaheim to expand their transitional housing for women with mental health disabilities who are experiencing homelessness. PLC and our pro bono team from Holland & Knight jumped in to challenge the city's denial as being in violation of several housing laws.

The Orange County Superior Court recently agreed and ruled in favor of Grandma's House of Hope. We applaud this ruling, which enables Grandma’s House of Hope and other organizations like them to continue to provide critical housing access to our neighbors experiencing homelessness, without the need to secure a conditional use permit. This amazing win was the fruit of tireless labor by our pro bono partner, Holland & Knight, our former Housing Unit Directing Attorney, Ugochi Anaebere-Nicholson, and our current Housing Unit Directing Attorney, Richard Walker!

Racial justice is essential to achieving equal access to justice. This Black History Month, we celebrate the heritage of the Black community, and recognize the Black leaders of the past and present who are forging ahead to create a more just world. We encourage our community to support the Thurgood Marshall Bar Association and their events – including their upcoming commemoration of Brown v. Board of Education on February 29.

We are thrilled to welcome six new members to Public Law Center’s Board of Directors.

Marcus McCutcheon is Counsel at BakerHostetler, focusing his practice on cybersecurity and data privacy matters.

Sourabh Mishra is a Partner at Hueston Hennigan, focusing his practice on complex commercial litigation, intellectual property litigation, white collar criminal defense, and investigations.

Susie Park is the Assistant Dean for Career Services at the Chapman University Fowler School of Law.

Ivette Perovich is the Associate Principal Counsel at The Walt Disney Company.

Eric V. Traut is a Partner at Traut Firm, a Santa Ana Law Firm specializing in serious injury and wrongful death cases.

Jiaxiao Zhang is a Partner in the Los Angeles office of Kirkland & Ellis LLP, focusing her practice primarily on intellectual property litigation matters, and is the outgoing Co-Chair of the PLC Advocates and member of the Volunteers for Justice Silent Auction Committee.

We are so grateful to these exceptionally accomplished individuals for contributing their time and talent to support PLC’s continued growth. Please join us in welcoming these new members to the PLC team!

Get an early start on changing lives for the better in 2024 with a tax-deductible donation to Public Law Center’s Year-End Campaign today. Your gift to PLC will ensure high-quality civil legal aid is available to our most vulnerable neighbors in their time of need. Together, we served over 3000 low-income Orange County residents in 2023. With your donation and continued support, we will advance our mission of providing access to justice in 2024 and beyond. Give Now: https://publiclawcenter.networkforgood.com/projects/210147-support-access-to-justice

PLC’s Family Law Unit and our community partners have served as a vital resource to survivors of domestic violence throughout Orange County. In 2023, PLC has assisted over 800+ clients who are survivors of domestic violence. You can help us stand with domestic violence survivors with a tax-deductible donation to our year-end campaign. Give today: https://publiclawcenter.networkforgood.com/projects/210147-support-access-to-justice

Happy Holidays from Public Law Center! Wishing you and your loved ones a safe and joyous Holiday season.

Please note that our offices will be closed beginning December 22 at noon and will reopen on January 2, 2024. We look forward to reconnecting with you in the new year.

If you have never donated to PLC before - now is your chance! All new donor's contributions will be matched by a generous supporter up to a $5,000 total gift. Don't miss your opportunity to double your impact and help provide free legal services to low-income families. https://publiclawcenter.networkforgood.com/projects/210147-support-access-to-justice

Turn your stocks into social impact! Donate your stocks to PLC to provide life-changing legal services to low-income and vulnerable members of our community. To get started, email April at [email protected]

Your generous support empowers PLC to help clients like Eva. Eva had been misled by a family member, who told Eva that she was signing paperwork that would guarantee her home would stay with him if she passed away. Instead, that paperwork actually transferred the home title to her family member without her knowledge. After that, she began to feel unsafe in her home, and her family member stopped paying the mortgage and put the house into foreclosure. When Eva approached the police, they said there was nothing they could do, as the home was not in her name anymore.

Eva approached PLC to get her home back, and with the support of Snell & Wilmer as pro bono counsel, the team was able to help Eva eject all adverse parties, transfer the house title back into her name, negotiate with her lender, and receive a settlement which allowed her time to find new, reliable tenants and remain in her home.

With your help, PLC can reach more clients like Eva in 2024. And for this month, any new donor’s contributions will be matched by a generous supporter, up to $5,000 total. Give today to double your impact!

https://publiclawcenter.networkforgood.com/projects/210147-support-access-to-justice

Today is World AIDS Day – a day to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS, honor the lives of those impacted, and to unite around the goal of ending the epidemic. PLC’s AIDS Legal Assistance Project (ALAP) is one of our organization’s most long-standing programs, and is the only legal services program in Orange County dedicated to helping low-income people living with HIV or AIDS. Launched in 1993, ALAP provides free legal services to clients, which allows persons living with HIV to focus on their health and well-being, rather than their legal problems. In the last 10 years, ALAP provided no cost legal services to over 1000 clients in Orange County.

Today is Giving Tuesday, a day focused on radical generosity and giving back to our community. If you haven't had the chance to volunteer or give to PLC this year, now is the perfect opportunity. Your gift will provide members of our community with life-changing, no-cost legal services. Your generosity will empower our clients to take on their legal challenges with a trusted ally at their side.

AND for all new donors to Public Law Center this holiday season, your gift will be matched! Each donation made by a new donor to PLC will be doubled up to a $5,000 total match.

Don't miss your chance to double your impact! Give today: https://publiclawcenter.networkforgood.com/projects/210147-support-access-to-justice

As we sit down to give thanks at our Thanksgiving tables today, we wanted to thank you - our supporters.

With your generous support, we are able to help families facing eviction, deportation, fraud, and other legal crises, by providing them with a compassionate and dedicated attorney at their side. Together with you, our supporters, we are helping our friends and neighbors stay in their homes, remain united with their families, and get a little closer to economic security. It is a gift to be able to serve others, one for which we are deeply grateful.

Without this community of steadfast PLC donors, partners, and volunteers, we would not be able to serve our clients. Thank you for your dedication to helping Orange County families access justice.

Are you a W-2 employee or independent contractor? Public Law Center is offering free workshops to help independent contractors understand their rights and responsibilities.

Join the virtual workshop on Wednesday Nov. 29 at 12:00PM for English and Thursday, Nov. 30 at 12:00PM for Spanish, to learn the tax basics from our Federal Tax Clinic and hear about other helpful resources available to you.

If you have any questions about the workshop, please call (888) 230-3741 or email [email protected].

Link to join the workshop: https://publiclawcenter-org.zoom.us/j/8141197454

We were delighted to co-sponsor Public Law Center’s 11th annual Halloween Bash last week. Orange County associate Tess Messiha (dressed as a bumblebee) was among the over 200 guests in attendance. Public Law Center, which provides free legal services to low-income residents and other nonprofits in Orange County, raised over $50,000 from the event.