May/June 2021
In This Edition
Celebrating Pride Month with our Staff & Clients
Counting Down to Volunteers for Justice - Meet the Honorees
Elizabeth Gonzales Adds New Role as Consumer Advocate
Celebrating the LGBTQIA+ Community
As we mark the beginning of Pride Month, Public Law Center celebrates and stands with our LGBTQIA+ staff and board members, clients, and community members here in Orange County and beyond. We renew our commitment to partner with and fight alongside LGBTQIA+ communities to bridge the justice gap and fight against injustice.
Meet Our Volunteers for Justice Honorees
Public Law Center’s Volunteers for Justice Virtual Event will be a special opportunity to not only reflect on our successes during an unprecedented year, but also a celebration of four decades of life-changing impact in Orange County.

Tune in Monday, June 14th to see the wide-ranging pro bono work of our Law Firm of the Year, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP. When our clients were most vulnerable, the Morgan Lewis team in Orange County and across the United States stepped up big time to provide critical legal services. Their attorneys provided invaluable legal muscle for our Immigration and Housing Units, but did not stop there. From staffing our Domestic Violence Clinic to helping a struggling non-profit organization serving local youth, Morgan Lewis’ partnership with PLC truly exemplifies the not-so-secret recipe for pro bono success we’ve developed these past 40 years.
We will also honor our Attorney of the Year, Brandon C. Amash of O’Melveny & Myers LLP. You will not want to miss Brandon’s journey with his client through the U.S. immigration system. It is no exaggeration to say Brandon’s continuing pro bono efforts sheds light on the brutality, and sometimes absurdity, of our immigrant detention apparatus. With future pro bono leaders like Brandon, PLC is hopeful for our ability to bridge the justice gap in Orange County in our next 40 years.
During each milestone year, PLC honors people and organizations who were instrumental in our development as Orange County’s Pro Bono Law Firm. This year, we present a very special 40th Anniversary Founders Award to Community Legal Aid SoCal. Then known as Legal Aid of Society of Orange County, the organization provided the seed funding and early home for PLC’s predecessor, Amicus Publico. Forty years later, the partnership between Public Law Center and Community Legal Aid SoCal continues to put our shared client communities first.

Come learn more about PLC’s history and our bright future at the Volunteers for Justice Virtual Event. Join us on Monday, June 14 to celebrate our 40th Anniversary and honorees. More information is available here.
Directing Attorney Elizabeth Gonzales Joins Inaugural Debt Collection Advisory Committee as Lone Consumer Advocate
The California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI) recently announced the formal creation of its inaugural debt collection advisory committee. PLC Consumer Unit Directing Attorney Elizabeth Gonzalez will serve as the sole consumer advocate on the seven-member board.

“My hope is to be a voice for other consumer advocates but, more importantly, for the consumers across the State of California who find themselves unable to understand or enforce their rights,” said Elizabeth, who is appointed for a two-year term.

The committee is slated to host its inaugural meeting on July 28, 2021 and is expected to meet twice per year or as needed. The committee members include:
 
  • Elizabeth Gonzalez, Public Law Center 
  • Scott Hyman, Severson & Werson 
  • Mark Naiman, Absolute Resolutions Corporation 
  • Cindy Yaklin, States Recovery Systems Inc. 
  • Tamar Yudenfreund, Midland Credit Management 
  • Ohad Samet, TrueAccord Corporation 
  • Prasad Krishnamurthy, UC Berkeley School of Law

“It is an honor to serve as the consumer advocate on the Debt Collection Advisory Committee. The Committee is an integral part to the success of the DFPI and will serve as a way to inform the DFPI of debt collections issues. My appointment will hopefully provide the perspective of those with boots on the ground in consumer debt collection matters,” Elizabeth concluded.

Please join us in congratulating Elizabeth on this appointment!
PLC Offers Assistance to Blue Water Navy Veterans with Agent Orange Exposure
Following a May 14 announcement by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) that veterans who were previously denied service connection for an Agent Orange related presumptive condition due to lack of in-country Vietnam service will automatically have their claims readjudicated, PLC stands ready to assist low-income Orange County Blue Water Navy veterans and their families. 

Although the VA will automatically readjudicate existing claims without any action by the veteran, staff from PLC’s Operation Veterans Re-Entry can assist with new applications for benefits by Blue Water Navy veterans or survivors of Blue Water Navy veterans. 

“There are a few scenarios where Public Law Center’s assistance may be beneficial to Blue Water Navy veterans,” said Senior Staff Attorney Ryan Ueda. “In addition to veterans seeking to newly apply for benefits, PLC can help if VA makes any errors in assigning the effective date of the benefits. We can also assist survivors of deceased Blue Water Navy veterans newly apply for survivors benefits if the deceased veteran died from a condition related to Agent Orange exposure,” he continued. 

The 1991 Agent Orange Act created a presumption of exposure to Agent Orange, but VA interpreted the presumption as only applying to veterans who stepped foot on the landmass of Vietnam or served in the inland waterways of Vietnam. A 2019 court case, Procopio v. Wilkie, analyzed the language of the Agent Orange Act, and determined Blue Water Navy veterans are also entitled to the presumption. 

The May 14 notice relates to the application of Nehmer v. US Dept of Veterans Affairs, which in 1991, resulted in a consent decree in which VA agreed to automatically readjudicate claims for Agent Orange exposure that were denied before the enactment of the Agent Orange Act. In 2020, the District Court for the Northern District of California held that the 1991 consent decree's requirement of automatic readjudication also applies to the newly eligible Blue Water Navy veteran's claims. A subsequent announcement from VA on May 27 noted the addition of bladder cancer, hypothyroidsim and Parkinsonism to the list of those presumptively associated with exposure to Agent Orange.

If you have questions about benefits for Blue Water Navy Vietnam veterans, please contact PLC's Operation Veterans Re-Entry at 714-541-1010 x301.