Westside Legal Aid Office May Be Closed

The Los Angeles Legal Aid Foundation, one of the region’s principal providers of free legal counseling to the poor, may be forced to close its last office on the Westside next month because of money problems.

The possibility that the office will shut down raises the specter of dozens of low-income clients stranded without legal representation. However, officials in Santa Monica, which foots much of Legal Aid’s local bill, and others are pledging to find ways to make up for the potential loss.

Legal Aid’s office on the Westside is in a nondescript building on Pico Boulevard in Santa Monica. Operating 23 hours a week, it handles tenants fighting evictions and other housing-related cases--as many as 15 a week, according to Legal Aid officials.

May Close July 1

But because the office is only a part-time operation, it has become costly to run, Legal Aid staffers say. A request for more money from Santa Monica was turned down; Jack Schwartz, managing attorney of the Westside office, says he’s not taking on new cases, and he believes the “odds are” that the office will be closed by July 1, though a final decision has not been reached.

“It’s sad,” said City Councilman David Finkel, who is following the situation. “They do good work.”

Finkel and other city officials said, however, that they will try to guarantee that other agencies, especially the newer Santa Monica-based Westside Legal Services, fill the void left if Legal Aid closes shop.

The moment of truth came for Legal Aid in recent weeks as Santa Monica drew up its budget. City staff members recommended that the local Legal Aid office be granted the same amount of money it received last year, plus a 4% cost-of-living increase, for a total of $63,983. Legal Aid had requested $113,852 in an effort to expand to full-time operation.

At the same time, Westside Legal Services was granted a similar cost-of-living increase, bringing its funding to $118,606, plus an additional $49,107 for a new domestic violence counseling program.

No Extra Funds

City officials said they had hoped Legal Aid’s central headquarters would come through with the extra money that the local office seemed to need. But that has not happened.

“We were looking for them to give more funding as a demonstration of their commitment to the Westside,” said Julie Rusk, human services coordinator for the city of Santa Monica. “They didn’t seem willing to do that.”

The Legal Aid Foundation, Rusk added, has many priorities in other parts of Los Angeles. Westside Legal Services handles exclusively residents of the Westside.