The three clinics available through the School of Law are:
- Criminal Defender Clinic (Berkeley)
- Elder Law Clinic (Pleasant Hill)
- Housing Advocacy Clinic (Berkeley)
Criminal Defender Clinic The mission of the Criminal Defender Clinic is to provide legal services to low-income clients in misdemeanor and "factual innocence" cases, as well as to provide hands-on experience for law students interested in this area of law. Students participate in a weekly skill development seminar that includes brief writing and client interviewing workshops. Students also participate in videotaped simulation exercises focused on cross-examination, oral argument, negotiation, and other essential skills. Clinic Director The Clinic Director is Stephanie Adraktas. Ms. Adraktas was a Goldmark Fellow at the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project and a trial attorney and felony supervisor at the Public Defender in Seattle, Washington. She served on the Washington State Sentencing Guideline Commission representing the criminal defense community. She was a senior trial attorney with the San Francisco Public Defender and worked as a consultant and staff attorney at the Office of Legal Affairs for the Drug Policy Alliance in Oakland, California. Ms. Adraktas has specialized in "third strike" and DNA cases and represents clients in post conviction proceedings.
Elder Law Clinic The Elder Law Clinic provides free legal assistance to elders (age 60 and above) who have been the victims of financial abuse or fraud and who are of low- to moderate-income. The Clinic serves seniors who live in Alameda, Contra Costa, and Solano counties. The Clinic also offers public presentations that can help seniors and families recognize and prevent potential elder financial abuses. The Supervising Attorney/Director and law students interview every client who seeks assistance, and if appropriate, the Clinic then undertakes legal representation. Issues may be resolved with phone calls, letters and negotiation, or require complex, long-term activity, such as litigation. If the Clinic cannot handle the matter, it finds the appropriate agency or lawyer to do so and shepherds the client through the transition. Clinic Supervising Attorney and Director The Clinic's Supervising Attorney and Director is Virginia M. George. Ms. George was formerly in private practice in Walnut Creek, specializing in estate planning, probate, and elder law. She was a deputy district attorney for Contra Costa County for 14 years, prosecuting felony offenders, particularly focusing on sexual assaults committed against children. She prosecuted over 160 criminal trials to verdict. She is past president and current board member emeritus of Contra Costa Senior Legal Services and member of the Board of Directors of the Contra Costa County Bar Association. Speaking Engagements and Seminars Conducted 2008-2009:
- Monument Community Partnership, Concord
- Community Presbyterian Church, Pittsburg
- Delta Villa Resource Group, Antioch
- Central County Senior Coalition, Walnut Creek
- CASE ("Communities Against Senior Exploitation");
- "Train the Trainer" Orientation at JFK University
- "Be Aware-Protect Your Assets" Bank of the West;
- Danville Town Meeting Hall
- Solano FAST (Financial Abuse Specialist Team)
- "Call to Action", San Francisco;
- Elder Financial Protection Network
- Financial Planning Forum, Palo Alto
- Emeritus College at Diablo Valley College
Issues Involving Elder Financial Abuse:
- The risk of elder financial abuse is increasing exponentially as Baby Boomers are now approaching their 60s.
- Public awareness of elder financial abuse is only now approaching the level of awareness of domestic violence twenty years ago.
- Isolation increases vulnerability.
- Over 75% of known perpetrators are the victim's own family members.
- At least 40% of reported perpetrators are the victim's adult children
- Like viruses, scams against the elderly are constantly evolving to evade detection and prosecution.
Sample Case Overviews:
- A 66-year old senior befriended a homeless man and hired him as a handyman. The handyman responded by moving into a small barn on the senior's property without the senior's knowledge or consent. From there, the handyman gradually moved into the senior's home, intimidating the senior by constantly carrying a hatchet on his tool belt. Verbal abuse escalated into financial fraud. The ELC assisted the senior in obtaining a restraining order to get the handyman out of his home and cut off abuse of his finances.
- An 85-year old senior began to have serious misgivings after she wrote a check for multiple thousands of dollars to a dubious company for a long-term nursing insurance policy. The company agreed to cancel her contract, but kept making excuses as to why they could not refund her money. The ELC contacted the company's owner, who promptly set up a repayment schedule. The senior received a full refund.
- A 76-year old man discovered $450,000 in credit card debt, auto loans, mortgages and lines of credit that his daughter fraudulently obtained in his name. The senior's home is now "upside down" as the mortgage exceed the home's value. The ELC is working on resolving this abuse through a mediated settlement.
(925) 969-3341
elderlaw@jfku.edu
Housing Advocacy Clinic (Berkeley) The Housing Advocacy Clinic is an innovative collaborative effort between JFK University School of Law and Northern California's largest legal aid provider, Bay Area Legal Aid. Third and fourth year law students have the opportunity to work in the on-campus clinical offices, providing direct representation to low-income clients facing the imminent threat of a loss of their housing. The Clinic represents defendants in Superior Court unlawful detainer actions, provides assistance to clients in Rent Board proceedings, advocates on behalf of tenants with habitability defects and in fair housing matters, and provides counseling at the San Francisco Tenants Union and Project Homeless Connect. The Clinic strives to meet the two-fold purpose of teaching students to be advocates for social justice through direct hands-on experience and instruction in lawyering skills and values, and of providing quality legal services to low-income tenants in the San Francisco Bay Area and other disadvantaged and under-served groups. Clinic Director The Clinic Director is Ora Prochovnick. Ms. Prochovnick was a partner and founding member of Bayside Legal Advocates, a woman-run community law office in the Mission District of San Francisco, where for ten years her practice focused on tenant advocacy, nontraditional family law, police misconduct cases and civil rights litigation. In addition to maintaining a small private practice, she is a member of the Bay Area Lawyers for Individual Freedom, the National Lawyers Guild and the National Lesbian and Gay Law Association. She has previously served on the board of directors of the AIDS Legal Referral Panel, and is currently on the board of the Eviction Defense Collaborative and the "brain trust" committee of the National Center for Lesbian Rights. Ora has been frequently recognized for her pro bono contributions, receiving many awards, including the 1993 State Bar Pro Bono Service Award and the 2003 San Francisco Bar Association Award of Merit. She was named a Northern California Super Lawyer by San Francisco Magazine in 2004 and 2005, and received the Transgender Law Center's 2008 Community Ally award.
