One voice alone can’t paint the picture of the tireless work legal aid attorneys are doing to ensure that all Oregonians have their most critical legal needs met. Today we highlight the work of Debra Lee, the Executive Director of the Center for Nonprofit Legal Services in Medford, Oregon.
The Campaign for Equal Justice is grateful to Debra for taking the time to share some of her story with us.
MEET DEBRA
“I am an immigrant. My family came to the U.S. from China in 1956 when I was 7 years old. We didn’t know any English.
As a young person, I saw a lot of discrimination towards people of color. I thought that if I had the legal skills, I could help people, and that's why I went to law school.
I earned my law degree in 1978. In 1985, I was appointed by Governor Vic Atiyeh to be on the State Welfare Advisory Board. I was able to help with welfare reform to make sure that vulnerable families would not be cut off unfairly. That felt right to me.
In our work with the Center for Nonprofit Legal Services in Medford, we pride ourselves on being innovative, collaborative, and able to provide comprehensive civil legal assistance. We really try to be responsive to emerging community needs and we have many families that we help. However, the immigrant communities that we work with are the most vulnerable, especially now, during the pandemic.
If it was pre-pandemic, my office would be filled with people, but we have been closed to the public since March 15th. However, we are still making sure we are there for people. Folks know that they can still get assistance from us. Even with an empty office, we are still doing the work to make sure justice endures.
Access to justice is fundamental to our democracy and I am committed to resolving poverty issues, supporting diversity, and increasing access to justice locally and statewide.
This is my life’s work. Please support the Campaign for Equal Justice.
Donating to CEJ means that I can keep protecting the interests of people who have no voice.”
Support the work that Debra is doing to ensure that all people in Oregon have access to justice.
#justiceendures#CEJ ...
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One voice alone can’t paint the picture of the tireless work legal aid attorneys are doing to ensure that all Oregonians have their most critical legal needs met. Today we highlight the work of Patrick Chaney, a staff attorney at Legal Aid Services of Oregon in Roseburg,Oregon.
The Campaign for Equal Justice is grateful to Patrick for taking the time to share some of his story with us.
Meet Patrick.
“When I was in law school, I volunteered at a Legal Aid office. I knew then what I wanted to do. Once I passed the bar, I joined Legal Aid Services of Oregon in Roseburg and I never looked back.
Legal aid serves Oregon from 17 regional offices staffed by 108 attorneys and I am now one of those attorneys. We are the final step of recourse for a low-income Oregonian. If a tenant shouldn’t be evicted and there is a process in place trying to evict them, I show up to make the argument. I am that final step. I feel a great deal of responsibility in that.
Our work has become even more important now during this pandemic. Low-income workers, domestic violence survivors, homeless people, and farmworker communities are already under a great deal of stress, and these current circumstances don’t help. Although physical offices are closed, the 108 attorneys in this state are still working hard, and thanks to technology and perseverance, we are reaching more people than ever before.
Unfortunately for many of our clients--especially in rural areas--access to the internet is limited. So I meet them where they are. For some, that means mailing the form they need or leaving useful information in a dropbox outside my office. If it becomes necessary, I meet with my clients, masked and six feet apart, in a public park. I do all of this to make sure that justice endures.
I am lucky to work with a small, cohesive staff. Daily virtual staff meetings keep us connected, which helps me to know that the folks in my area will still have help when they need it, especially now. With the moratorium on no-cause and non-payment of rent evictions, working to make sure landlords honor the moratorium has become a large part of the work I do.
Some of our clients have lost work and are now many months behind on their rent. Sadly, there are cases where landlords are trying to get people out of their homes by turning off the utilities. This is of course illegal, so that’s where legal aid steps in to help. .
There is so much to be done and legal aid needs your support now more than ever. Knowing that we have organizations like the CEJ supporting us allows us to keep pushing into new areas of impact work that we might not have had the resources to be able to address otherwise. Work like criminal expungement that helps clean up the criminal records of people who have worked to turn over a new leaf. It feels good to help.
Legal aid helps ensure fairness in the justice system, even during a pandemic.
That’s the reason I do it.”
Support the work that Patrick is doing to ensure that all people in Oregon have access to justice.
#justiceendures#CEJ ...
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