Projects SupportedSince 2012, the CBF Pro Bono Project has been providing financial support to pro bono projects throughout California that educate and provides services for pro se bankruptcy filers. California continues to have roughly 25% of bankruptcy petitions filed in pro se, which is about three times the national average. The Pro Bono Project is CBF’s attempt to help alleviate the burden to courts caused by pro se debtors and promote the administration of justice in bankruptcy courts. CBF’s pro bono efforts have raised approximately $81,000 since its inception in 2012. Its donations have supported a number of causes including a project to create a self-help web video for pro se debtors on the topic of reaffirmation agreements produced by the Law Library Justice Foundation in San Diego; the Legal Aid Foundation of Santa Barbara County; Orange County Public Law Center; Alameda County Bankruptcy Association-Volunteer Legal Service Corporation; Riverside Legal Aid’s Pro Se Self-Help Clinic; Credit Abuse Resistance Education (CARE) Program-Southern District of California; Legal Aid Society of San Diego – Bankruptcy Clinic; Voluntary Legal Services Program of Northern California; La Reina Legal Clinic in Palm Springs; The Bankruptcy Self-Help Center in collaboration with Neighborhood Legal Services of Los Angeles County and Public Law Center in Orange County. How the CBF Pro Bono Project Raises Money. 2023 Project Beneficiary - Honorable Richard M. Neiter Summer Bankruptcy Fellowship & Externship Fund The LABF's Honorable Richard M. Neiter Summer Bankruptcy Fellowship & Externship Fund, which launched in 2021, is intended to promote diversity in the Central District of California’s bankruptcy practice and provide financial assistance to law students who will be serving as full-time judicial externs with a Central District bankruptcy judge. 2022 Project Beneficiary – Monterey In 2022, CBF raised nearly $9,000 for Bay Area Legal Aid (BayLegal). BayLegal works with very low-income communities throughout seven Bay Area counties to advocate for their legal rights and remove legal barriers to health, safety, and stability. BayLegal works to prevent domestic violence and sexual assault, increase economic stability, protect consumers, expand access to healthcare, and prevent homelessness. Our clients include the working poor, families with children, foster youth, seniors, immigrants, veterans, individuals impacted by the criminal and juvenile legal system and persons with disabilities. By serving clients at a wide range of access points, including our six regional county offices, mobile advocacy, community-based clinics and service sites, and nationally recognized legal hotlines, BayLegal has a unique viewpoint to identify patterns of illegal practices and barriers to our clients’ rights in need of broader advocacy and potential impact litigation. BayLegal strives to create equitable access to resources and services to build a foundation from which our clients can thrive. 2021 Pro Bono Recipients – Los Angeles and Orange County This year, CBF raised over $10,000 to support The Bankruptcy Self-Help Center in collaboration with Neighborhood Legal Services of Los Angeles County (NLSLA) and Public Law Center (PLC) in Orange County. NLSLA has been on the front lines in the fight for justice since 1965. Each year, NLSLA provides free legal assistance to more than 150,000 individuals and families. NLSLA advocates specialize in areas of the law that disproportionately impact the poor, including affordable housing and eviction defense, access to public benefits, support for domestic violence survivors and their children, access to healthcare, worker and consumer rights, as well as employment and training. The Bankruptcy Self-Help Center is an important collaboration between NLSLA and the United States Bankruptcy Court in the San Fernando Valley and has been in operation for more than a decade. The Bankruptcy Self-Help Center was created to ensure that everyone – regardless of their ability to pay for a lawyer—could have meaningful access to the bankruptcy process. Since its opening, staff, and volunteers have worked closely with the court to help thousands of unrepresented debtors access the critical information and tools they need to file for bankruptcy and obtain a financial “fresh start.” For the first time in years, NLSLA is facing severe budget cuts from the city, state, and county, as well as from private funders. Financial support from the CBF will allow NLSLA to continue to fight to help people keep their homes, manage their debts, navigate the precarious public benefits system, and ensure people have access to the healthcare they need and deserve. PLC is a non-profit organization that provides free civil legal services to low-income individuals in Orange County. The Consumer Law unit specifically assists debtors and creditors in bankruptcy court. PLC offers a self-help clinic at the bankruptcy courthouse (during normal times and virtually now) that provides guidance and advice to self-represented individuals in bankruptcy court. PLC also provides representation to Chapter 7 debtors, both with in-house staff attorneys and through its volunteer attorneys. PLC litigates motions and adversary proceedings in bankruptcy court, both for debtors and creditors, depending on the issues of the case. In addition, PLC works on debt collection issues generally, and will seek out alternatives to bankruptcy when feasible for clients. Like many other bankruptcy attorneys, PLC is expecting an increase in need for assistance with bankruptcy for our low-income clients over the next couple of years and it anticipates needing to increase the bankruptcy-related services available in Orange County. 2020 – Conference cancelled due to COVID-19 2019 Project Beneficiary – Palm Springs. The 2019 pro bono efforts were led by Sharon Weiss of Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP and Ed Hays of Marshack Hays, who helped raise CBF $9,000 the La Reina Legal Clinic, which is administered through the Desert Center for Legal Education in Palm Springs, California. This year’s pro bono efforts were bittersweet because our donation was made in memory of our friend, John Melissinos, who passed away on April 2 at the age of 54. John leaves behind his wife, Candice, his two young daughters, Chesney and Logan, his father Adrian, his brother Andrew and countless friends and family. John served as the President of the Los Angeles Bankruptcy Forum and was actively involved with the CBF, most recently serving on the pro bono committee in 2018 and as a session producer this year. The mission of the California Desert Trial Academy College of Law is geared toward the educating, training, and developing extraordinary legal advocates. CDTA was founded by John Patrick Dolan and Irene Garcia Dolan after conversations with F. Lee Bailey and Gerry Spence. Long time CBF members Jenny Doling and Summer Shaw serve as faculty to the law school. As part of its school, the Desert Center for Legal Education provides legal counseling for limited means clients in the Eastern Coachella Valley through the La Reina Legal Clinic. The Clinic assists its clients by consulting with them about the bankruptcy process and explaining the differences between chapter 7, 11, and 13 cases alternatives. It offers assistance to pro per chapter 7 debtors from initial counseling, credit counseling requirements, preparing the bankruptcy petition and schedules, preparing for the first meeting of creditors, completing the post-petition financial education course, and meeting with them once they receive their discharge. It serves as a referral source for debtors requiring chapter 11 or chapter 13 services. The Clinic also provides advice on landlord-tenant, family law, and minor criminal matters which is available on a “no” or “low-cost” basis. 2018 Project Beneficiary – Sacramento This year, CBF raised over $7,000 to support the Voluntary Services Program of Northern California. Since it’s founding in 1981 as the Voluntary Legal Services Program of Northern California, thousands of volunteer attorneys and other legal professionals have given generously of their time and expertise to provide free (“pro bono”) legal services to thousands of low income people who live in the Sacramento region. We were created through the joint efforts of Legal Services of Northern California (LSNC), local attorney and then County Bar President Tom Eres, attorney/now Judge James Mize, and the Sacramento County Bar Association (SCBA). We still receive support from LSNC and the SCBA for the work that we do. VLSA offers legal clinics and projects in many civil legal areas including debt collection defense, employment, family, and probate. 2017 Project Beneficiary – San Diego. A little bit about…. Legal Aid Society of San Diego – Bankruptcy Clinic Credit Abuse Resistance Education (CARE) Program-Southern District of California CARE National Website CARE San Diego Chapter Website 2016 Project Beneficiary – Riverside.
Riverside Pro Se Clinic 2016 (from left to right): Clinic Managing Attorney Robert Simmons;
Riverside Pro Se Bankruptcy Clinic 2016 The 2015 Pro Bono Silent Auction – CBF decided to hold an onsite auction to raise additional funds for the CBF Pro Bono Project. The Bay Area Bankruptcy Forum decided that the funds raised would be donated to the Alameda County Bankruptcy Association-Volunteer Legal Service Corporation to help it expand and improve its existing clinic, which should significantly increase the number of pro se filers the ACBA-VLSC reaches each year. Over $20,000 was successfully raised with the help of our generous Insolvency Community donors and bidders. The funds donated to the ACBA-VLSC went to help it cover the cost of a new, larger facility for its clinics, additional equipment and employees, and increased volunteer recruitment and training. 2014 CBF Annual Conference OCBF Proposal LABF Proposal 2013 CBF Annual Conference |
