Our Programs
DIRECT LEGAL SERVICES
The Buhai Center provides free family law services to low-income Angelenos who are survivors of domestic violence, have a complex family law issue, or have limited access to the court system. For more information on applying to be a Buhai Center client, please click here. For stories about clients we have served, please click here.
The Buhai Center provides three types of free legal services to eligible clients: legal consultations, individual case management services, and pro bono court representation.
Legal Consultations
For eligible clients, the Buhai Center provides free legal consultations on family law issues, including dissolution, parentage, domestic violence restraining orders, child custody, property division, and child and spousal support. In these free legal consultations, volunteer law students and attorneys interview eligible clients and, at the direction of a supervising staff attorney, provide individualized advice on legal options or strategies available to the client. The legal advice may also be supplemented by referrals to other agencies for assistance or information about filing court paperwork.
Individual Case Management Services
For eligible clients, the Buhai Center provides free intensive, ongoing legal assistance in dissolution, , and domestic violence restraining order actions through case management services delivered by a Buhai Center staff attorney. These services include pleading preparation, ongoing legal advice, and assistance in preparing for court hearings, all on a one-on-one basis. Volunteer law students and attorneys may support these services.
Pro Bono Court Representation
Marshaling the services of private practitioners in addition to staff attorneys, the Buhai Center facilitates free legal representation to eligible clients facing barriers to self-representation because of severe abuse or fear, case complexity, or other circumstances limiting access to the courts. In-court representation is not a guaranteed service and is entirely at the discretion of the Buhai Center based on the availability of Buhai Center resources.
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT, EDUCATION, AND ADVOCACY
In addition to direct legal services, the Buhai Center actively addresses community needs through education, advocacy, and special projects. Some examples include:
Volunteer and Law Student Development
As part of the Buhai Center’s active program of recruiting and training volunteers to help its clients, the Buhai Center becomes a conduit by which attorneys, law students, and other professionals maximize their skills to give back to the community. The Buhai Center offers robust training programs to its volunteers on family law matters as well as other legal issues impacting the Buhai Center’s clients.
The Buhai Center currently offers volunteer opportunities for law students, law school graduates, attorneys, and interpreters. Additional information on volunteer opportunities is available here.
Family Law Clinic with Southwestern Law School
In partnership with Southwestern Law School, the Buhai Center has conducted a Family Law Clinic course each year since 2018. The program offers students the opportunity to serve Buhai Center clients while learning how to interview, prepare pleadings, and manage cases and clients. More information about the clinic is available here.
Our Projects
Over the years, the Buhai Center has responded to emerging or existing needs with innovative and strategic initiatives. Current projects include:
CURRENT PROJECTS
Community College and Neighborhood Outreach
Partnering with local schools and other non-profit institutions, the Buhai Center conducts day-long, on-site legal counseling sessions and group educational presentations to help community college students and community members facing critical family law issues.
Vera Brown Curtis Project
Named after Vera Brown Curtis, a passionate advocate for disenfranchised persons, with funding from the Los Angeles Chapter of The Links, Inc., the Buhai Center initiated an effort in 2015 to increase its visibility and offer assistance to Black Angelenos living in some of the most economically disadvantaged neighborhoods of Los Angeles.
HISTORIC PROJECTS
Mothers Behind Bars Project
To help facilitate healthy family reunification, the Buhai Center conducted education workshops for incarcerated women on domestic violence, child custody, child welfare, paternity, and child support.
Women’s Gender-Responsive Jail Project
The Buhai Center worked with Los Angeles County and Sheriff Department personnel and members of the Gender Responsive Advisory Committee (GRAC) on this project, formerly named the Mira Loma Women’s Jail Project. The project initially aimed to investigate, monitor, and provide recommendations related to the proposed move of the Los Angeles County women’s jail (CRDF) to the Mira Loma Detention Center in Lancaster, 90 miles away from the existing hub of service providers, courts, and community organizations in Lynwood. The project’s seminal report was relied upon in part by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors in February 2019 when announcing its decision to abandon the Mira Loma move. The project’s second report aimed to bring attention to the ways in which family visitation with incarcerated mothers promotes public safety and child welfare and to advocate for improving visitation policies and programs at CRDF.
Community Legal Education Program
Begun as a pilot in early 2019, the Buhai Center taught men’s and women’s legal education classes at various probation offices.
Veterans Family Law Project
Started in the fall of 2018 and led by the Buhai Center’s Equal Justice Works fellow, this project provided free family law services to low-income veterans. The Buhai Center provided services that include direct
representation, advice and counsel, and know-your-rights presentations to inform veterans on custody and visitation which are frequently impaired because of absence and PTSD. This program focused on helping veterans strengthen their relationships with their children.