"A Case Study: Lawyering to Meet the Needs of Monolingual Asian and Pacific Islander Communities in Los Angeles"

by Joann H. Lee - 020077

Abstract Number: 020077

May 2002

Joann Lee's article examines the practical and theoretical problems faced by the Monolingual Asian and Pacific Islander (API) Community in Los Angeles. Specifically, Lee presents a case study of one individual's attempts to resolve her legal problem and the way in which the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles has responded by implementing language lines, clinics, and nontraditional outreach methods to service the cultural and linguistic needs of the API community in Los Angeles.

Lee, an attorney at the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles (LAFLA), illustrates to the reader the cultural and linguistic barriers that exist which often prevent the legal aid community from extending service delivery to non-English and non-Spanish speaking communities. Understanding these difficulties, Lee discusses some of the common mistakes made by legal services providers in serving the API community and how Asians, often seen as the "model minority," are sometimes overlooked by civil poverty law and social service providers. The article concludes by drawing on the lessons learned in serving the API community by the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles and the ways in which collaborative efforts with community based organizations offer the most effective ways to extend services to the API community in Los Angeles. To read the article as a PDF document, click on the text below.

Contact Information:

Joann H. Lee
Directing Attorney
Asian and Pacific Islander Outreach Unit
Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles
1102 Crenshaw Boulevard
Los Angeles, California 90019
Phone: (323) 801-7976
Fax: (323) 801-7945
Email

Additional Information:

• Joann H. Lee, A Case Study: Lawyering to Meet the Needs of Monolingual Asian and Pacific Islander Communities in Los Angeles, Clearinghouse Rev. (May-June 2002) 172-184. (358kb, PDF)

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