VOLUNTEER: Testimonials

Summer Students: Jessica Mendelson and Krista Celentano - Guardianship Project

Summer Student: Matt Lucas - Domestic Violence Collaborative

Summer Student: Christine Hart - Domestic Violence Collaborative

Summer Student: Jacqueline Lyandres - Domestic Violence Collaborative

Summer Student: Katie Roe - Housing Project

Summer Student: David White - Family Advocacy Project

Volunteer: Roy S. Gordet, Esq. - Conservatorship Project

Volunteer: Jacqueline Cooke Haggarty, Latham & Watkins - Domestic Violence Collaborative

Volunteer: Christopher Jeu, Morrison & Foerster - Guardianship Project

Volunteer: Leah Shough, Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP - Conservatorship Project

Summer Students: Jessica Mendelson and Krista Celentano
DLA Piper’s Jessica Mendelson and Krista Celentano summer associates at DLA Piper worked on a guardianship case involving a little boy named "Jason" and his grandmother "Laurie" under supervising attorney Maggie Crawford. Jason’s parents separated even before he was born, and soon after his birth, his mother moved in with her mother Laurie. Soon thereafter, Jason’s mother left the home leaving Jason with Laurie full time. Laurie filed for guardianship of Jason because he was in her care full time. Initially, neither parent objected to Laurie obtaining guardianship of Jason, but later into the case, the father opposed the action.

Krista and Jessica prepared the client for an evidentiary hearing, preparing her for being a witness. Jessica pointed out, "One thing that was great about working on this case was I got to see how the smaller tasks, like preparing direct examination questions or Westlaw research, helped shape the overall argument our side was making, and I realized just how important these tasks were."

At the evidentiary hearing the judge ruled in favor of Laurie’s guardianship of young Jason. "It was incredibly rewarding to have the guardianship granted, and our clients were so thankful for the work we had done," explained Krista. "As a summer associate interested in litigation, this was an amazing opportunity for me to work directly with a client in need of assistance, and to gain real trial experience." Krista went on to say, "What was the most career changing aspect of participating in the guardianship trial was that it taught me not to be afraid to expand into areas of law I was unfamiliar with. Though I had never worked on a guardianship matter before, by listening to the family involved I learned a lot about what it means to be a good lawyer and to really understand your client’s views. It also showed me how important it is to become involved in your community. The family we worked with grew up in the same surrounding area as I did, and I was able to connect with them on a personal level. It was a great learning experience and although I am practicing intellectual property law, there are so many ways to become directly involved in my community and provide legal services to those who need it most."

Jessica added, "I was so pleased Ms. Johnson received guardianship of Jason – not only was it a terrific result for her, but hearing that ruling really made me feel like the work I was doing made a significant difference in someone’s life!"

Krista is a third year student at U.C. Davis School of Law and has a background in biochemistry and she’s interested in intellectual property litigation. Jessica is a third year law student at U.C. Hastings School of Law and is also interested in intellectual property as a career.

Summer Student: Matt Lucas - Domestic Violence Collaborative
Matt Lucas became involved with Legal Aid as a summer associate at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe . He was assigned to work on a case referred to him through the Domestic Violence Collaborative. Matt worked directly with a client, including conducting a client interview, preparing a supplemental declaration and preparing subpoenas for their witnesses. Matt’s experience also included an attempt to negotiate a settlement with opposing counsel.

"Working on the Domestic Violence Collaborative has been meaningful and educational", described Matt. "At the beginning of the summer, my understanding of the law was purely academic. My pro bono case changed that, and I am grateful for the opportunity to make such a direct, positive impact."

Kristin Cornuelle, the supervising attorney for the project stated, "Matt did pretty much everything except argue at the hearing."

Matt is a 2L at Harvard Law School. He is originally from Chicago and previously worked for Microsoft before entering law school.

Summer Student: Christine Hart - Domestic Violence Collaborative
Christine Hart, another summer associate from Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe also had the opportunity to work with the Domestic Violence Collaborative. "Our client had been in an abusive relationship with the respondent for several years and had a two-year-old daughter with him. In the course of two weeks, we gathered letters of support from our client’s friends and family, police reports corroborating our client’s story, and records from three criminal cases against the respondent, one of which resulted in a conviction of domestic battery against our client. As a certified law student, I represented our client in court, and we obtained a 2-year restraining order to protect her, with temporary supervised visitation for their daughter, pending mediation and an order from the court regarding custody."

Christine described her experience as "fantastic". "I learned so much in a short period of time, and I developed a close, meaningful relationship with my client. Working with her, being an advocate on her behalf, in light of everything that she had gone through, and in light of what was at stake, was extremely rewarding"

Summer Student: Jacqueline Lyandres - Domestic Violence Collaborative
Jacqueline Lyandres became involved with Legal Aid as a summer associate at Goodwin Procter, LLP working with her supervising attorney on a permanent restraining order case. The case involved a client who was trying to obtain the restraining order against his wife, with whom he had three children. Jacqueline prepared arguments, obtained copies of police records detailing the temporary restraining order already in place, including violations that had already occurred, and also spoke directly to the presiding judge on behalf of the client.

Jacqueline and her supervising attorney, Thomas Fitzpatrick, a partner at Goodwin Procter, were able to obtain a one year permanent restraining order based on accounts of both mental and physical abuse of the client, including occurrences that had happened in front of the children.

Jacqueline said, "Not only was I able to help a father who wanted the best for his children, but I was able to gain valuable legal experience and insight from my supervising attorney. It was an amazing experience and I hope to continue doing pro bono work in the future."

Summer Student:  Katie Roe - Housing Project
Katie Roe is a rising 2L at Pacific McGeorge Law School, has a master’s degree in public administration and has undergraduate degrees in criminology and sociology. She is interested in elder law and housing law. Katie’s regular duties with Legal Aid included working at the housing clinics three times a week doing research for the attorneys, preparing litigation and background information and speaking directly with the clients in person and over the phone.

A case that Katie recalls in particular was the case involving a senior client named "Victor." Victor was given a 30 day notice to vacate because it was alleged that he had hit another resident. Katie spent a lot of face to face time with Victor, for whom English was a second language, as well as collected medical reports and a police report. With Katie’s help acting as an advocate, Victor was granted a grievance hearing, where the management of the building rescinded the 30 day notice and allowed Victor to continue living in his apartment.

According to Katie, "working at Legal Aid has reinforced that I’m on the right path – law school was the right choice for me." "Working at Legal Aid SMC has given me new motivation to go back and do really well because I know my end goal is to come back and work for some sort of legal aid association or law firm and help elderly clients." When asked about her experience with the staff, Katie responded, "I couldn’t have asked for a better experience this summer. It was a perfect fit for me and I was so lucky to have Shirley Gibson, David Carducci and Amanda Barden who trained and supervised my work."

Summer Student: David White - Family Advocacy Project
David White is a 2L at Georgetown Law and is interested in a public interest career. David has an undergraduate degree in political science and history from George Washington University. David worked on Legal Aid’s Family Advocacy Project under the supervision of Brooke Heymach, FAP’s Legal Director. David worked on various legal issues for clients who were referred through FAP. He made calls on clients’ behalf to billing offices, hospitals and county medical offices, as well as helped with general correspondence between Legal Aid and its clients. David also had the opportunity to work on a brief for a client who was denied payment to replace her dentures that were 20 years old.

"Basically working at Legal Aid has allowed me to do everything an attorney would do. I went through the entire progression of taking a case from the beginning to the end and I feel that gave me the opportunity to see what being a lawyer is really about," described David of his day to day experience.

Volunteer: Roy S. Gordet, Esq.
As a copyright and trademark attorney for over twenty five years I had never been within a hundred yards of a Probate Department when I received a recruitment brochure from Janet Seldon, Director of Pro Bono asking for pro bono attorneys to take conservatorship cases for Legal Aid’s low-income clients. I really had no idea what it entailed. I watched the extremely helpful DVD by Margaret Laughlin Martin and the Legal Aid Society on how to handle a conservatorship case. I read the materials that accompanied the DVD, with sample documents from real cases, nicely organized to track the actual process. Then I watched the DVD a second time, and the concepts became clearer, and I was starting to get the hang of the vocabulary. I was ready to meet with the client, a young man of 34 who wanted to assume responsibility from his ailing father to care for his severely mentally retarded brother only two years younger.

Weeks after the initial interview and much document preparation, it was time to file the documents and obtain a hearing date. It was exhilarating that all of my completed documents were accepted by the clerk in the probate department, indeed, I received a compliment about my excellent job, which made my day. Pleasing the Clerk’s Office is no small achievement, this I know.

On the day of the hearing everything went smoothly, and I had the pleasure to meet the conservatee, who I thought I already knew to some degree from doctor’s and social worker’s reports, including about his inability to care for himself and that his communication skills are limited to grunts. Nothing in the reports, however, prepared me for the warmth and joy that shone through his smile, or the expressed and visible gratitude of the entire family in the waiting area outside of the courtroom after the Judge granted the Order and the Letters of Conservatorship.

Roy currently expanded his practice to include issues of copyright law relating to trusts and estate planning.

Volunteer: Jacqueline Cooke Haggarty - Latham & Watkins
Background: Jacqueline Cooke Haggarty takes great pride in promoting safe and nurturing environments for families in San Mateo County community in part because this is where she spent her youth. Jacqueline was a Welfare Policy intern at the Congressional Research Service in Washington, D.C. while at U.C. Berkeley and obtained her Masters in Public Policy at Harvard. She attended Georgetown Law and came back to San Mateo County as an associate at Latham & Watkins’ Menlo Park office. Shortly thereafter, Jacqui became involved in the Legal Aid Society of San Mateo County’s Pro Bono program.

Jacqueline describes the power of her experience volunteering in Legal Aid’s Domestic Violence Collaborative:

"Imagine, you are a mother, walking into a room where you sense that your three-year old child may have been sexually molested by her father, and then receiving a suggestion from the child confirming your fears. You have just moved to the remote part of another state outside California and do not have any personal contacts in the area to call for help or support. You are also the victim of domestic violence by this man - your husband – and have been in the hospital several times for head injuries from the abuse. You’ve had him arrested. You flee out-of-state residence and return to San Mateo County where you were raised. You are afraid your husband will come after you and your child. Once again you come to the Temporary Restraining Order Clinic wondering if there is any way you can get help and be safe. And there, you get help filing a temporary restraining order and then Janet Seldon, Legal Aid’s Director of Pro Bono, matches you with an attorney-me-, a volunteer who can help."

Jacqueline was also paired with a mentor attorney, partner Michele Bissada, and her associate, Marisa Dane, from Flicker, Kerin, Kruger & Bissada, LLP, in order to receive valuable family law guidance. Jacqui’s client was also immediately connected to and began receiving counseling services through CORA, and the San Mateo County’s Victim Witness programs.

Jacqueline represented the client at her permanent restraining order hearing and was met with a challenge by the father. He had retained counsel who asserted that California does not have jurisdiction over the minor children; and that the matter should be heard in the other state in which they had been living for a few short months.

The court asked the parties to file briefs on the jurisdictional issues and the matter was set for hearing. At the same time the client was working towards recovery for her and her children. She enrolled herself in community college, obtained employment, worked with a CORA counselor, and enrolled her children in a local child development center specializing in working with children that have witnessed violence and obtaining therapy for her child.

"Ultimately we succeeded in keeping the case in California and the client obtained a multi-year restraining order protecting her and her children, as well as temporary custody and visitation orders". Jacqueline summarizes the experience "I could feel my client’s relief as she left the courthouse, feeling at last sense of peace. Along with my mentor attorneys we worked long and hard on this case. But it was worth it to help a domestic violence survivor get the space she and her children so desperately needed to recover."

Volunteer: Christopher Jeu - Morrison & Foerster
As part of the Guardianship Project, Christopher’s first case was on behalf of a young girl named Samantha. Abandoned by her father, Samantha was hungry and living off the streets. She was taken in by her father’s old girlfriend, Joanna, and Joanna’s family.

Joanna and her husband grew to love Samantha and wanted to protect her from the neglect she suffered with her father. They came to Legal Aid for help, and Christopher was assigned to their case. After listening to their story, he filed a guardianship petition as the first step of establishing Joanna as Samantha’s legal guardian. The state investigated the little girl’s situation and, deciding it was in her best interest, awarded the guardianship to Joanna.

Soon after Samantha’s father reappeared and tried to terminate the guardianship, alleging that Joanna mistreated Samantha. Christopher went back to court to fight the termination and keep Samantha safe. The court granted the father visitation rights but did not terminate the guardianship. Today, thanks to Christopher’s work, Samantha is thriving in a stable home with Joanna’s family.

In Christopher’s words: "It was very gratifying to help people in our community, and I look forward to working with Legal Aid on my next project."

Volunteer: Leah Shough - Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP
Background: A lifelong volunteer, Leah Shough served in the immigration and employment law clinics while attending Boalt Law School at UC Berkeley.  Her first job out of law school involved working pro bono with Legal Services for Entrepreneurs and the federal public defender’s office in San Francisco.  These days, Leah is a corporate law associate with Manatt, Phelps & Phillips in Palo Alto and continues to give back to her community.

After attending a training session, Leah signed up with Legal Aid’s Conservatorship Project and immediately took on Daniel’s case.  Seventeen years old and severely disabled, Daniel was unable to speak for himself, and doctors estimated that his development was equal to a two-year-old child.  His mother Doris worried that as Daniel’s 18th birthday approached, she would no longer be legally allowed to make decisions for her son.

Since Daniel would turn 18 in just a few months, Leah immediately sought a limited conservatorship for Daniel.  But the conservatorship was hotly opposed by a center for people with disabilities that seeks to retain full legal rights for disabled persons. Believing it was acting in Daniel’s best interests, the group inaccurately told Doris that if she sought the conservatorship, she could be deported and Daniel could lose his SSI benefits which they both depended on.

The hearing took place right before Daniel’s birthday.  After seeing Daniel’s severe state of disability and hearing positive recommendations from the social worker, court investigator, the judge rejected the center’s report in opposition to the conservatorship. The judge then granted a general conservatorship Doris.  Now Daniel can be protected and cared for by his mother as he always has been.

In Leah’s words: “It’s a different kind of reward to work with a client and really be able to contribute to a life.”