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The Alona Cortese
Elder Law Clinic

The Elder Law Center partners with local legal aid organizations and pro bono attorneys to provide seniors with legal help.

The Alona Cortese Elder Law Center was founded in 2000 to provide service to the needy elderly in Orange County.

Some of the services provided at the Elder Law Center are Drafting of a Will, Advance Health Care Directives, Representation at an Administrative Hearing and Elder Abuse. Students also help advise them about their rights as consumers, and help them protect themselves from financial abuse.

Many referrals come from the Senior Citizens Advocacy Center of the Legal Aid Society of Orange County which holds monthly clinics at various senior centers throughout Orange County. The Elder Law Center attempts to provide legal services to elders who are in need, but may decline representation where the case is outside the expertise of the Center or where the client could obtain private counsel.

Students must complete or be enrolled in Evidence. This ensures that the students can become certified by the State Bar as certified law students to argue cases. Lastly, students must be in good academic standing with the School of Law.

  • On June 9, 2004, the Clinic received notice of a victory in an Administrative law case. Our client had been denied disability benefits despite a severe disabling illness. Chapman Law student Marc Caress represented her at an Administrative Hearing, and drafted not one but two briefs in support of her position. She was awarded disability benefits and retroactive benefits, going back almost two years. Our client will no longer have to fear that she has to choose between paying her rent and buying groceries or medicine.
  • On February 25, 2004, the Clinic had a victory in a Medicare hearing in front of an Administrative Law judge. Nathan Fransen represented our elderly client who had been denied Medicare benefits. Our client, when close to death, had been airlifted from a small hospital to a large hospital that specialized in her condition. Despite pre-approving the transfer, Medicare then later denied coverage of the transfer, costing our client over $10,000. The judge informed us after the hearing that, while she wouldn't issue an opinion for a week or so, she would be ruling in favor of our client. We convinced the judge that airlifting our client was medically necessary. Our client was grateful, as you might imagine.
  • In 2000, two Chapman students successfully represented clients in hearings. Stephanie Tran prevailed in an Administrative Law hearing and re-hearing, successfully obtaining unemployment benefits for her client. Anna Mendiola obtained a ruling overturning a denial of General Relief benefits for her disabled client.
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