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O’Melveny Attorneys Help the Helpless at Clinics

The elderly woman had made her decision. She needed to get her granddaughter out of her home. She loved the young woman dearly, but the substance abuse problems she struggled with had changed the girl into someone her grandmother no longer recognized.

The granddaughter’s friends had also started making the home their own. The yard, once a peaceful retreat, was always filled with boisterous people who didn’t seem to have anywhere to be. The once tidy house was a mess. The granddaughter ignored her grandmother’s pleas to get them out. Worst of all, items started to go missing from the house, and money frequently disappeared from the grandmother’s purse.

She wasn’t sure what to do. A person of limited means, she didn’t have the resources to hire a lawyer—besides, she didn’t want to lose contact with her granddaughter or get her into serious trouble.

The grandmother and her daughter, the aunt of the granddaughter, made their way to the Orange County Courthouse in Santa Ana, where they found exactly what they needed: the Elder Abuse Clinic, a free legal clinic that helps senior citizens navigate the winding landscape of the law.

She was immediately greeted with a warm smile from Ashley Pavel, an attorney with the Orange County office of O’Melveny & Myers LLP. Nearby was a young law student, and the room was filled with other seniors sitting with lawyers. The grandmother and Pavel went to work on her situation.

Filling a Need

Three years ago, the clinic didn’t exist. In fact, it’s the first OC clinic specifically for elderly people, said O’Melveny partner Brett Williamson. It’s the result of a collaboration between the firm’s local office, the Legal Aid Society of Orange County and the University of California Irvine’s law school.

Since 2014, the clinic has given approximately 1,800 residents guidance on legal issues. O’Melveny attorneys help them work through cases that include domestic abuse, financial fraud, manipulation in connection with estates, and contractor fraud.

It’s just one of the numerous pro bono and volunteer projects that O’Melveny lawyers, associates and staff take the lead on. The firm’s corporate social responsibility centers on leveraging staff skills, knowledge and contacts to give access to justice to those who need it. The philosophy is why the firm’s OC office is the winner of the Business Journal’s first annual Civic 50 award in the small companies category.

The elder abuse clinic came about when OC Superior Court Judge Kim Hubbard recognized a need for elderly residents to get legal assistance for a range of problems. She approached the Legal Aid Society and UCI’s law school to ask how they could help. UCI pro bono coordinator Anna Davis reached out to Pavel and Williamson.

“Kim (Hubbard) had noticed that elderly clients would almost always come before her pro se, or without legal representation,” Williamson said. “They would come in saying, ‘I have a problem,’ not realizing how many formal steps are needed for petitions and temporary restraining orders.”

The collaborators put their heads together to come up with a real solution. Now O’Melveny attorneys and UCI law students provide seniors with the legal information they need to move their cases forward. The students work under the direct supervision of O’Melveny attorneys, and the Legal Aid Society manages the clinic.

“It’s very empowering for the seniors,” Pavel said. “At first, it’s almost a therapy session. They come in distraught. So you sit with them, you get the story, you organize the story because it comes in nonlinear pieces. You really empower them: Here are the forms. This is when your hearing is. This is how you give notice. They walk out having ownership of the process and a plan for how it’s going to be better.”

O’Melveny hosts other clinics, including one to help military veterans navigate the complexities of changing their discharge status, and another that helps unaccompanied immigrant children. The latter is held in conjunction with Kids in Need of Defense, which works to ensure no child appears in court without a lawyer.

Support from Leadership

“The pillars of our corporate social responsibly mission are diversity, sustainability, access to justice, access to education and access to healthcare,” said O’Melveny Director of Corporate Social Responsibility and Alumni Relations Rochelle Karr. “The Elder Abuse Clinic and other clinics we host provide access to justice that people may not otherwise have had.”

The firm’s CSR department was formed in December 2015 after Carr approached Chief Operating Officer George Demos with the idea. “I literally jotted it down on the back of a napkin at Red O,” Carr said with a laugh. But O’Melveny has long been engaged in the community.

“There were already so many wonderful things happening in the area of CSR throughout the firm, I just needed to corral them,” Carr said.

“Creating the department was about creating structure around what we already had in place. Our leadership is completely supportive, not just with the dollars and the time, but also in the way they treat pro bono hours. Those hours are treated exactly like billable hours when it comes to advancement and bonuses, which is unusual for a law firm.”

O’Melveny has legal expertise in a broad range of practice areas, including commercial, corporate, antirust, labor and appellate ligation. Many of its corporate clients have their own legal departments.

“We often partner with our clients on pro bono work,” Carr said. “Every day I get emails from clients asking how we can share our passions, work together and have greater impact. At the end of the day, it’s much more meaningful for all parties to be working together.”

‘We’ll Be There’

“Across the board, you ask what the most meaningful part of our work is, and we will always say our pro bono work,” Carr said. “It’s what matters to the O’Melveny lawyers. The real impact we can have, seeing people who now have hope.”

That’s what the desperate grandmother finally got: hope. After working with Pavel, she obtained a limited restraining order that got her granddaughter and her friends out of the house while still providing for supervised visits with her granddaughter.

“These things are so rewarding,” said Pavel, who invites lawyers from any firm to join O’Melveny at the Elder Abuse Clinic. “We’re always looking for more attorneys to support it,” she said. “Just reach out—we’ll be here.”

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