Bet Tzedek Legal Services

Bet Tzedek`s services include advice, guidance and representation in proceedings, administrative hearings and appeals. [3] Bet Tzedek also offers educational programs for customers and other service providers. Bet Tzedek`s services are provided through the following programs: Bet Tzedek represents clients with a range of state and federal benefits, including Social Security, Medi-Cal, Medicare, SSI/SSDI (disability), home support services, veterans benefits, CalWORKS, Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (Food Stamps), WIC and Adoption Assistance, KinGAP. [7] Bet Tzedek represents clients in appeal proceedings, assists clients in applying for benefits and identifies appropriate programs. An 85-year-old woman was threatened with forced placement in a nursing home because Medicaid would no longer provide the home care services that allowed her to stay at home for 45 years. A 78-year-old man was charged with more than $40,000 for critical surgeries because his HMO Medicare failed to inform him of the procedures needed to have that care covered by his HMO. A young man with AIDS was threatened with eviction by his landlord, who said he was not a tenant even though she had accepted rent from him and AIDS services, double the legal rent for a dilapidated studio. In each of these cases, the students at the Bet Tzedek Legal Services Clinic had managed to protect the interests of their clients and recover their health benefits and/or home for themselves. Every year, Bet Tzedek – which means “House of Justice” in Hebrew – represents dozens of elderly and disabled people seeking health, disability and housing benefits that they would not be able to get without the help of the hospital.

By representing these individual clients, student lawyers also identify systemic issues that affect thousands of people in similar situations. Often, the result is a class action lawsuit to resolve these issues. As a result of Bet Tzedek`s class action lawsuits, thousands of New Yorkers are protected from arbitrary cuts to their home care services; the Social Security Administration has changed its restrictive guidelines to determine when HIV-positive people are eligible for benefits; Hundreds of applicants for social housing with disabilities are protected from intrusion by the public housing authority into their confidential medical records. The clinic works with 25 students and 3 full-time lecturers with a workload of over 200 clients. Clients are referred by organizations and courts familiar with the reputation of the clinic and its faculty, Professors Leslie Salzman and Rebekah Diller – respected litigators and educators in the areas of elderly, disability, health and housing law. Under the supervision of the clinic`s faculty, students have primary responsibility for interviewing potential clients and witnesses. examine the facts; Development of legal theories based on extensive legal research; draft pleadings, applications and pleadings; Argue motions; Hold hearings and trials before administrative authorities in state and federal courts; negotiating settlements; and advising clients. During a mandatory one-year seminar on the theory and practice of welfare processes, students gain the skills and substantive law they apply to represent clinic clients and also address the ethical issues they face as lawyers. Bet Tzedek provides free legal assistance to thousands of Los Angeles County residents who would otherwise be denied access to the legal system that underpins our democracy, regardless of their racial, religious, or ethnic background. Bet Tzedek provided legal emergency services during and after the Los Angeles riots in 1992, when four LAPD agents were acquitted of beating black motorist Rodney King.

The central themes of the unrest – racial profiling, civil rights violations, endemic poverty, poor housing conditions and unemployment – were also at the heart of Bet Tzedek`s work. Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley praised Bet Tzedek for providing services during and after the civil unrest. Advocates continue to see clients in downtown senior centers during the unrest. When parents are unavailable or unable to care for their children, grandparents often step in to provide a loving home and protect their loved ones from the emotional turmoil of foster care. Bet Tzedek Legal Services founded the Kinship Care Project in 2002 to serve the needs of more than 88,000 children in Los Angeles County who live with their grandparents. The Kinship Care Project offers a variety of services to grandparents and others who raise young family members. [11] For the past five years, Bet Tzedek has provided free and expert legal advice to these poor families struggling to provide adequate housing, education and health care to these forgotten or abandoned young children. [11] Bet Tzedek Legal Services` deportation defence project provides expert advice, advice and representation to those in need of assistance. Bet Tzedek accepts deportation cases on an individual basis and verifies the merits of all cases. Each year, Bet Tzedek serves as an advisor to 100 families facing illegal eviction from their homes, with a success rate of more than 90%. [10] A network of pro bono lawyers and law firms provides pro bono legal representation to clients as well as ancillary services to the Bet Tzedek program. Bet Tzedek counts on this generous support to improve the mission of its program.

The Housing Law Project provides legal assistance to Los Angeles County tenants who face eviction lawsuits and illegal housing conditions. Seniors and people with disabilities are at the heart of much of the service, as they often target evictions to circumvent rent stabilization laws and attract new tenants to higher rents. The project lawyer represents these clients, develops solutions to systematic legal problems in housing construction and recruits, trains and supervises a network of volunteer lawyers. [9] Today, many of Bet Tzedek`s initiatives are the only programs of its kind that exist. His free legal representation helps low-income people of all races and religions in Los Angeles and gives people directly the knowledge and tools to protect their rights. Noel survived a gunshot wound only to discover that the legal battle for benefits would be the battle of a lifetime. Bet Tzedek`s lawyers ensured that Noel had access to the benefits and services he deserved and provided his family with the necessary support services to help them move forward. Bet Tzedek welcomes the fundamental commitment to full and equal access to justice for all. The U.S.

legal system was created to serve all citizens equally, but without equal access to the justice system, low-income citizens are disproportionately susceptible to unfair and illegal practices such as forced labor practices, intellectual disability abuse and neglect, illegal debt collection, and racially targeted victimization. Bet Tzedek`s pro bono lawyers offered free legal representation to Angelenos who otherwise would never have had access to the court system. As demand soared in the mid-1970s, Bet Tzedek quickly grew from an organization run by part-time volunteers to a full-service, full-service center offering free legal assistance throughout Los Angeles. We are the nationally recognized leader in providing legal services to low-income seniors. Bet Tzedek, one of the leading social justice centers in the United States, is based in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1974 by a group of Jewish lawyers determined to solve human rights issues and endemic humanitarian needs in Los Angeles. Their philosophy of social justice was rooted in a central principle of Jewish law and Jewish doctrine: “Tzedek, tzedek tirdof – justice, justice that you should seek. The number of people we provided free legal services to in 2020 AARP and the National Alliance for Caregiving estimate that 4.3 million adults in the state of California provide unpaid care to a parent or adult friend. [6] The total value of family care is estimated at $276 billion.