Steve Goodin

Review of Harriett Buhai Center for Fami...

The Harriett Buhai Center for Family Law is unique...

The Harriett Buhai Center for Family Law is uniquely effective among legal services non-profits because of its disciplined approach to the acceptance of new clients. The Buhai Center is a dream rescuer for economically disadvantaged clients who meet the case selection criteria; it is also a philanthropic donor s dream, and it meets the fondest wishes of those who dispense publicly funded grant monies or private foundation funds that their monies be awarded only to an organization that delivers the greatest bang for the buck. I base my statement on more than 40 years of very close observation of non-profit service organizations, private corporations, and public institutions, including time spent as a volunteer attorney at the Buhai Center.

Buhai conducts domestic violence and family law outreach programs at community colleges, schools and for law enforcement, in custodial settings like the women s jail. This reflects a dedication by Center management and staff to raise consciousness about legal rights and remedies, to the personal empowerment for those who have been through horrific and debilitating life experiences, and to crime prevention by illuminating the legal ways of addressing the consequences of domestic violence.

Volunteers are put through a rigorous training program under the tutelage of experienced Buhai staffers. Training includes specific interviewing techniques to develop the facts of the case presented and to determine the appropriate remedy, child custody law, community property fundamentals and a step-by-step guide to family court. Not every client seeking representation for a child custody, parentage or dissolution case is accepted. Acceptance depends on the client meeting strict income guidelines and, among other criteria, being a victim of domestic violence in the relationship or the victim of an attempt by one spouse to defraud the victim of community property rights in a pension or retirement fund or other community property. This happens more often than we like to admit in long-term marriages where one spouse has stayed home to raise the children while the other spouse works for an employer sponsoring a retirement fund or pension. Clients with developmental disabilities or other disadvantages are another category of applicant that Buhai looks for.

Buhai focuses on clients in Los Angeles County and runs self-help clinics for the clients whose cases it accepts. Clients are shown how to correctly and accurately prepare the complex legal forms required to obtain a dissolution decree, including a property settlement and custody and visitation agreements or court orders that is in the best interest of any minor children of the relationship. The clients are interviewed, for the most part by volunteer lawyers and law students who have been put through the Buhai Center s tough training program. A report is written and carefully evaluated by the Center s senior staff and management before a decision is made.

Particularly complex cases are referred to legal counsel in private practice with expertise in the area who work on a pro bono basis. Buhai works closely with private specialist litigation and appellate attorneys and with the Department of Child Support Services and other community-based agencies and service organizations that the client may be involved with; the goal is the cost - effective and focused delivery of legal services to the client and any children who may be involved.

The many testimonials and tributes from clients throughout Los Angeles County as well as a range of community leaders, governmental agencies and elected officials are evidence of the success of Buhai Center and its management and staff for the implementations of and effective non-profit business plan.

I am proud to have had the honor of being associated with the Harriett Buhai Center for Family Law