Older Californians

Do you know a lawyer who is doing wonderful pro bono work with seniors? Let us know, and we will feature them here!

Ron Alexander, Administrative Volunteer, California Indian Legal Services-Bishop Office

Ron considers himself incredibly blessed. "I get to live in a beautiful place between the mountains where I can go hiking and I have a wonderful dog, Togiak, to bring with me." Ron says he's constantly grateful for the deep friendships and spiritual connections he has found in his small rural community. For Ron, volunteering with CILS is a way to pay it forward.

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Katherine Faulds, Law Student Volunteer with Bet Tzedek's Conservatorship Unit

Katherine Faulds, a third-year Loyola law student, is an "exemplary volunteer" with Bet Tzedek's Conservatorship Unit, in her supervisor's words. Katherine started volunteering last spring and continued to serve as a full-time clerk over the summer for Bet Tzedek's Summer for Justice 2011 program.

When Katherine decided to start volunteering with Bet Tzedek, she was impressed with the organization in general, but she wasn't sure what work she wanted to do. The Conservatorship Unit's elder abuse restraining order program swayed her. "I didn't realize it was a completely different type of restraining order, so working on something new was appealing," she says, "And I was attracted to the work because we're helping a population with no other options. It has been very rewarding--though it's tough hearing the stories sometimes." Follow-up from clients helps: "We get a lot of thank-yous," says Katherine, "It's easy for us to fall into a routine but for every client, what we do for them is a big deal."

The rewards seem to outweigh the bad stories--Katherine has successfully recruited several additional volunteers through fairs for paralegals in training, who can gain valuable practical experience working with the Conservatorship Unit.

Bet Tzedek's Conservaotrship Unit assists petitioners with about 40 percent of the conservatorships obtained in L.A. County every year, and volunteers are integral to fulfilling that mission. "There's an initial tendency for students unfamiliar with the work to just dismiss it, which means students can miss great opportunities," says Katherine, "Once you see yourself doing this work and how important it is, it changes you."

When she isn't studying or helping seniors, Katherine plays viola with the LA Lawyers' Philharmonic--catch her on December 6th at the Italian American Bar Association's Supreme Court night!

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Dwight Carlson, Pro Bono Attorney with the Kings/Tulare Area Agency on Aging

Dwight Carlson is an extremely experienced volunteer--this year, he is celebrating his 50th year as an attorney! Dwight started volunteering with the Kings/Tulare Area Agency on Aging at the suggestion of a friend in 2008 and since then, he has seen nearly 150 clients through the county's legal aid program. Dwight's services alone have made it possible for the senior legal aid program to see 10% more clients.

Sarah Shena, the attorney at the Kings/Tulare Area Agency on Aging says, "Dwight makes all the clients feel heard and at ease. He faithfully calendars the second Monday of every month to spend at the Visalia Senior Center. His efforts have also freed me up to do more public education and planning for the office on a larger scale."

Why Dwight likes working with elders:
"Most seniors have had exciting lives. You need to have a sense of humor with seniors because most of them do! They enjoy a good laugh. Working with seniors requires taking an easy approach to life--there's a lot to learn from older people."

Dwight, a senior citizen himself at age 79, enjoyed a full and varied career before he connected with Sarah Shena's program. Dwight served as president of the Tulare County Bar Association in the 1970s, and under his watch, the Bar established the lawyer referral service in Tulare that is still active today. He "semi-retired" from law in 1989 and went into the ministry--he has been a pastor for 23 years, and he continues to help out at his regional church. Dwight enjoys volunteering for many reasons: he feels that attorneys have an obligation to help the less fortunate, but he also finds it extremely personally rewarding. "And it keeps my legal mind in practice!" he says.

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Bob Rice, Law Student Volunteer with Legal Aid of Marin

Bob Rice, a 2012 JD candidate at Golden Gate University, is a regular volunteer with many clinics and a member of several pro bono organizations around the Bay Area. He has participated in legal outreach clinics dealing with immigration issues, housing, criminal law, and consumer debt. Bob truly enjoys working with the seniors who attend these clinics. One client who stuck with him was a gentleman in his late 80s who did not speak English and arrived at the clinic with one of his daughters. The client's other daughter had needed to borrow money, so he had deeded his house to her. When things went south, the client had received an eviction notice. While Bob couldn't save the house, he was able to help the gentleman delay the eviction so that he could find other housing. "Seniors are incredibly grateful," Bob says, "You are dealing with someone who has a serious problem and they just need someone who can simplify it and get them the help they need."

Bob, with Sara Malan of the AIDS Legal Referral Panel at a housing clinic

Bob may be a student now, but he spent the majority of his first career on the other side of the lecture hall. Most recently, Bob was a professor of horticulture at CalPoly until 2009, and has taught in Africa, the Middle East, and the Caribbean. Bob spent his previous career sharing his expertise in plant cultivation with people living in developing countries, and he has continued his commitment to service as a law student. Bob considers himself lucky to have had many options when he decided to leave horticulture, and he chose law school because he saw it as an opportunity to increase access essential help that is usually out of reach.

Bob volunteers for the personal reward of helping someone who is underrepresented and working with other like-minded people. Additionally, Bob found that "volunteering with Legal Aid of Marin and the Justice Bus in Watsonville was a great opportunity to follow the entire legal process, not just intake, and to work with lawyers more extensively."

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Nora Devine, Law Student Volunteer with OneJustice

Nora just completed her 2L year at USF, but she has been advocating for the rights of people with disabilities since grade school. Nora has low-vision and first decided to become a lawyer in order to reach out to others working through the same struggles she faced. While she usually focuses on the rights of young people with disabilities, one of her best experiences as a pro bono volunteer was serving an older Californian.

At a bankruptcy clinic in San Francisco, an older man arrived alone. He was a former Marine who had immigrated to the US as a teen, and his work as a realtor had been hit hard by the recession. His problems were compounded by the fact that he was losing his eyesight. Nora saw that he had trouble reading the small print on the backs of forms, but he did not want to let his family and friends know how bad his vision had become. Nora carries a magnifier with her and was able to help him read his forms. She also connected her client to Lighthouse for the Blind, which hosts workshops for older people who are losing their vision. The man was incredibly relieved just to talk to someone who understood, and Nora was glad to guide someone who is navigating the scary world of having a disability for the first time as an adult.

Nora encourages all first-year law students to volunteer at pro bono clinics, like those organized by OneJustice's Doan Nguyen, to gain experience. Nora plans to make pro bono an important part of her legal career. "Pro bono helps you improve your own skills and learn about different areas of law," she says, "I'm so thankful for the opportunities I have had as a volunteer."

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Sharon Isenhour, Pro Bono Attorney with Senior Citizens Legal Services

""I make every attempt to put a good face on lawyers and make clients' legal issues understandable."

--Sharon

Biggest surprise about serving older Californians pro bono:
"I discovered that pro bono was a surprisingly good marketing tool. Representing pro bono clients and their diverse legal needs introduced me to local counsel and others, whom I would never have met otherwise."

Sharon is an attorney with extensive experience with elder law, conservatorships, and guardianships, but she took an unusual path to a career in law. She got married in college, had three children and had to drop out. Although she went back a multiple of times, she never did get an undergraduate degree.

Sharon went back to law school after she got divorced while her children were in college. She worked as a legal assistant during the day and attended SF Law School at night. She loved it. She became involved with pro bono work immediately after graduation through her first firm, now Burnham Brown, and the Alameda County Bar.

When Sharon moved her practice to Santa Cruz County, she knew she wanted to continue her pro bono work. She now volunteers with Terry Hancock at Senior Citizens Legal Services.

Of her experiences serving pro bono, Sharon says: "It would not be truthful to say that I think all of my pro bono clients are the best clients ever. However, I do have wonderful pro bono clients who are gracious and thankful and reward me with "thank yous," "tears of happiness," and fresh fruit. There is nothing more valuable."

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Elaine Roberts Musser, Pro Bono Attorney with the Yolo County Multi-Disciplinary Team

"In serving as a volunteer attorney, there is no question I have received as much if not more than I have given. No price can be placed on the immense personal satisfaction derived from helping those less fortunate and in dire need of assistance. It has been an honor and privilege to serve my community, my county, my state." --Elaine

Elaine Roberts Musser has become a fierce and involved advocate for seniors, even though she started serving seniors pro bono almost by accident. Elaine was looking for a way to use her legal skills when she could no longer practice full time when she received a flyer in the mail for Senior Legal Hotline.

What started as a fluke has turned into a life passion. Elaine is currently a volunteer attorney for the Yolo County Multi-Disciplinary Team, which addresses difficult Adult Protective Services cases; the Vice-Chair of the Yolo County Commission on Aging; Chair of the Triad Task Force; and the Vice-Chair of the Davis Senior Citizens Commission. She is a past board member of the California Center for Homeowners Association Law and has served as a pro bono attorney at Yolo County Legal Clinic and Senior Legal Hotline, among others. Her work has been featured in the media several times--see below for an interview she did about homeowners associations and foreclosures in Oakland, CA.

http://www.ktvu.com/news/20138028/detail.html

Elaine says it makes her proud to be able to intervene between older Californians, a particularly vulnerable population, and the scam artists who hope to take advantage of them by exploiting their frailty, age, or isolation. In a recent case, Elaine helped Fred, an 84-year-old with a heart condition, recover the money owed to him in small claims court when the antiques dealer sold his dining room set for less than ten percent of what it was worth. The entire case, from start to finish took one year to complete. When Elaine asked her client if all the trouble of going to small claims court and collecting on the judgment had been worth it, he emphatically stated "You bet!" Fred had been so ashamed in having been taken advantage of, and felt vindicated at long last.

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Marilyn Clark, Pro Bono Attorney for Grandparent Guardianships at Senior Legal Hotline and the Sacramento courts

Marilyn Clark is a pro bono volunteer with Senior Legal Hotline. She focuses on grandparent guardianship cases. Marilyn calls her practice a "happy area of law" because when a grandparent obtains custody of a grandchild, both parties benefit. Marilyn used to work in family and children's services, so the growing demand for grandparent guardianships helped her make the most of her interest in seniors and professional experience.

Marilyn's work ensures that many California grandparents are able to obtain legal custody of their grandchildren in cases where they would not have succeeded alone. For instance, Marilyn helped an older couple file for custody of their biological grandchildren and a non-relative child. In this case, the grandparents were unfamiliar with the requirements of due diligence in notifying family members, and had trouble navigating the law on their own. Because of Marilyn, the judge granted custody and thanked the grandparents for their service, because otherwise, the kids would have been placed in foster care.

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