Assistance from Volunteers and Nonprofit Organizations

Reaffirmation Clinics [back]

Public Counsel, in the Los Angeles and San Fernando Valley Divisions, and the Public Law Center, in Santa Ana, provide clinics to self-represented debtors before each reaffirmation calendar. In the Northern Division, volunteers recruited by the Legal Aid Foundation of Santa Barbara County attend reaffirmation hearings to assist debtors. This program began in 1997 with Public Counsel’s leadership, following discovery of abusive reaffirmation practices nationwide. Reaffirmation agreement hearings for participating judges at a particular division are scheduled together on the same day and time. This enables pro bono attorneys, coordinated by Public Counsel, the Public Law Center, or the Legal Aid Foundation, to offer debtors information about their rights in a consultation that takes place outside the courtroom before the hearing. Public Counsel also made arrangements in 2011 for students from the California State University, Los Angeles and California State University, Northridge Court Interpreters Program to provide Spanish translation services, both during the attorney consultation and in court.

In 2011, 1,576 self-represented debtors in the Los Angeles Division were assisted before their reaffirmation hearings, while 680 self-represented parties in the San Fernando Valley Division received aid. In the Santa Ana Division, 304 debtors received assistance from the Reaffirmation Agreement Clinic. Riverside did not offer a reaffirmation clinic in 2011.