Egan Law announced the opening of FLIC (Family Law & Immigration Center). M. Jude Egan, executive director and supervising attorney of FLIC, reports that the center provides a new model of legal assistance services to those who, otherwise, could not contract comprehensive legal assistance or pay monthly installments, or who decide to exercise greater control over their fees and legal costs. “The need for this center stems from the lack of lower-cost legal resources in the areas of family law and immigration. Existing legal aid clinics are often limited to serving only people below a certain standard. income or who have a specific immigration status and are, in any case, limited by available personnel resources, “said Egan.
According to the 2010 US Census, 64% of households in Santa Maria speak a language other than English, and 62% of households subsist within 125% of the poverty line. Additionally, approximately 65% of family law parties represent themselves in family court, while data from the American Immigration Council indicates that only 37% of immigrants in deportation cases had counseling throughout the country, a figure that is much lower in the case of Central American immigrants.
Egan, who is also a California State Bar Certified Family Law Specialist , adds that because “FLIC operates on a clinic or doctor’s office model, it is not subject to government limitations on who it can give service. Everyone is welcome regardless of income or immigration status. An attorney advises the client, establishes the strategy and advises the client, and assigns the staff who will draft and present documents in court or before the Consulate. ”
The model of access to a lawyer at any timeoffered by FLIC differs from the Legal Document Assistant and self-managed legal services that can help with legal forms, but are not allowed to provide legal advice under state law. While there are Legal Document Assistants in poor communities, they are often unduly forced to dispense with legal advice. I have seen how this ‘advice’ has cost the parties tens of thousands of dollars and even in many cases, losing the case. In some cases, a meeting of as little as 30 minutes with an attorney could have prevented tragic results, “Egan said. “We are not targeting legal document assistants (LDAs) or self-management legal providers per se. However,
Elizabeth Ramirez Barragan , an immigration attorney who also handles family law matters and is a FLIC deputy director / staff attorney, says: ” One ofThe biggest challenges of working with full service law firms is that the attorney and client often do not know exactly how much legal action is going to cost. We help anyone, from those who are trying to control their legal costs to those who need legal help, but do not have the resources to hire an attorney to do everything for them, who knows, well, exactly how much it will cost before it is done. work. “In addition, Ramírez explains,” FLIC allows clients to select and choose the legal services they receive from a menu of options each with a fixed price: from simple consultations and document drafting to comprehensive representation service.
ABOUT FLIC: FLIC provides legal advice, assists in writing documents and declarations for divorces, custody and maintenance to children and spouses, requests for waiver of fees and presentations with financial information. Our team will complete the appropriate forms under the direction of the attorneys, and advise on how to handle a case in court, including how to resolve problem cases. When it comes to immigration, we’ll help you with all aspects of immigration law, from Dream Law-related presentations to visa applications. Lawyers can also appear before the law on behalf of their clients with a limited scope, by mutual agreement, according to each case.
FLIC attorneys and staff meet with clients through Zoom. We are licensed to practice throughout the state of California and can advise individuals on matters throughout the state.
For more information, visit www.fliconline.us .
CONTACTS: Donald Tremblay – Public and Community Relations, 718-664-3405 , dtremblay@earthlink.net OR Starr Egan- Public and Community Relations, 805.540.4550 , Starr@StarrHall.com