A CLIENT STORY

“Martha”* was employed as a server and bartender at a restaurant. She came to the Katharine and George Alexander Community Law Center (KGACLC) at Santa Clara Law for help because she was not receiving all her wages, overtime pay, or meal and rest breaks. After conducting an extensive interview to gather the details under the supervision of a Law Center attorney, a Santa Clara Law student drafted a letter to the restaurant owner requesting Martha’s payroll, timekeeping, and personnel records. This letter also notified the restaurant owner that Martha intended to file a claim for unpaid wages, overtime pay, and violations of her meal and rest break requirements. The next day, the restaurant owner terminated Martha. Then, with the help of the KGACLC, Martha filed a wage claim and a retaliation claim with the Labor Commission.

The Labor Commission then issued an Order, Decision, or Award (ODA) in Martha’s favor. When the restaurant owner did not pay Martha, the Labor Commission recorded a judgment in Santa Clara County Superior Court. The Labor Commission also determined that the restaurant owner retaliated against Martha in violation of the relevant Labor Code provisions and awarded Martha back pay and penalties. Again, the restaurant owner failed to pay. By statute, the Labor Commission must file a lawsuit if retaliation determinations are unpaid. The Labor Commission filed suit, and the Law Center signed a common interest agreement with the Labor Commission. The Law Center worked on the case with the Labor Commission attorney and attended the mediation, and the case settled. Martha says she was happy with the result and thankful that the Law Center assisted her.

Martha is one of more than 1,000 low-income individuals and families reached each year by the KGACLC in three key practice areas: workers’ rights, consumer rights, and immigration rights. Martha’s case was handled in the Workers’ Rights Clinic and illustrates the complexity of cases that the clinic regularly sees.

Nearly Three Decades Of Service

The Katharine and George Alexander Community Law Center began nearly 30 years ago in 1994, as the East San Jose Community Law Center (ESJCLC), which was housed in a small office on Alum Rock in San Jose. This project was created by La Raza students and law professors at SCU who saw a need to help day laborers collect wages they were due. In 1995, the Center began offering assistance with consumer matters, and in 1997 it expanded to help low-income entrepreneurs with their legal needs. In 2004, George Alexander, a former professor and dean of the Santa Clara University School of Law, and his wife, Katharine, made a generous donation to the ESJCLC, and the Center was renamed the Katharine & George Alexander Community Law Center.

Over the past three decades, the Law Center has grown into a robust program that serves more than 1,000 individuals each year through a combination of clinics, direct representation, community outreach programs, and workshops. These extensive pro bono legal services, valued at more than $60M, are made possible through the generosity of many donors as well as the combined work of expert mentor attorneys and Santa Clara Law students who perform real-world legal work and serve others within this mentoring framework.

*Note: The story of “Martha” is based on a real story; personally identifying and other information was changed to protect privacy.

WORKERS’ RIGHTS PRACTICE AREA

The Workers’ Rights Practice Area provides free legal services to low-income individuals who have experienced unfair and illegal treatment at their place of employment. The Workers’ Rights Clinic focuses on a wide variety of issues including:

• Unemployment issues

• Wrongful termination

• Unpaid wages (meal and rest break violations, unpaid overtime, unpaid vacation, final paycheck, etc.)

• Harassment and discrimination at the workplace for various reasons (race, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, pregnancy, age [over 40], disability, etc.)

• Retaliation from employers

• Help with Family and Medical Leave Act/California Family Rights Act and California Paid Family Leave Act issues

• Assistance with representation at the Labor Commission, the California Civil Rights Department, and the Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board

• Assistance with claims at the CA Department of Labor Standards Enforcement, Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) now California Civil Rights Department (CRD), Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and the National Labor Relations Board

Ruth Silver Taube J.D. ’93 is the supervising attorney of the Workers’ Rights practice and an adjunct professor at Santa Clara Law. A passionate and award-winning advocate with many decades of experience in the field, Silver Taube also does extensive community work. She serves as special counsel to Legal Aid at Work, legal services co-chair of the South Bay Coalition to End Human Trafficking, is a delegate to Santa Clara County’s Human Trafficking Commission, and a founding member of the Bay Area Equal Pay Collaborative.

“This SCU clinic is the only program in the county that does workers’ rights, so it fulfills a critical need,” says Silver Taube. In the Workers’ Rights Clinic, a Law School course that Silver Taube teaches each semester and in the summer at Santa Clara Law, she meets with students twice a week. On Tuesdays, in the clinic portion of the class, students conduct client interviews (conducted via phone since 2020 due to Covid). On Thursdays, Silver Taube teaches a 2-hour class in which she covers a wide variety of critical topics, including wages, termina- tion, discrimination, leave acts, employee benefits, unemployment, immigration rights, privacy, union rights, and more.

“In class, I do a lot of hypotheticals, so it is both practical and theoretical,” says Silver Taube. “I want students to really learn how to look at these employment problems—how to spot the issues, how to effectively interview clients, what agency or agencies can help, what the statute of limitations are, and so on,” she says.

In the clinic portion of the class, Silver Taube and five or six volunteer supervising attorneys pair up and work closely with each student. “Key to our service delivery model are the many volunteer mentor attorneys whose knowledge and expertise helps us supervise more students and ultimately serve more clients,” says Deborah Moss-West J.D. ’94, executive director, KGACLC. “We owe much gratitude to them.”

After the students interview clients, they meet with their supervising attorney to discuss possible solutions. The students then follow up with the clients, giving them advice and referrals. Students also write memos, which are reviewed by Silver Taube. “Students do a lot of followup work, including conducting research, calling an employer or union, or writing a demand letter,” Silver Taube explains.

“We don’t have the resources to litigate cases, but we do represent a few clients at government agencies,” says Silver Taube. “For the most part, we refer cases that need to be litigated. I often partner with KGACLC’s immigration practice if our clients need that kind of support,” she says.

Empowering Law Students

“It is very meaningful to me to provide this service to low-income immigrant clients, and I also truly love working with students,” says Silver Taube. “The clinic offers such an important experience for students, many of whom have not seen firsthand what exploitation or wage theft looks like, or how sexual harassment plays out and the impact on the clients,” she says. “This work opens the students’ eyes to the plight of low-wage immigrant workers, and it is so empowering for students to be of service,” she adds.

Celebrating Three Decades Of Service

“This work also helps students become better lawyers. Whether you are plaintiff side or a defense attorney, you need to be able to evaluate a case, look at motivation, and truly understand the client and their life experience. This clinic sharpens students’ skills in so many areas,” she says.

In addition, Silver Taube says she is grateful for the energy, passion, curiosity, and skills that the students bring to the table. “We are especially fortunate to have a diverse group of law students who can speak a lot of languages,” says Silver Taube, which enhances the clinic’s ability to serve as many clients as possible.

“This clinic is the highlight of my week,” says Silver Taube. And she is clearly dedicated to and passionate about the work. “In between semesters, I do all of the client interviewing so we don’t have a gap in advice or service,” she explains. In all of her community work, Silver Taube networks and points people toward the many services offered by the KGACLC. “I make sure to increase the visibility of our program. I want to help everyone,” she says. Through joint clinics and other outreach work, she has made connections to many different immigrant communities.

“Ruth is a tireless ambassador for KGACLC, from her early volunteer days to now teaching the Workers’ Rights Clinic,” says Moss-West. “She goes above and beyond the call of duty.”

One point of pride for Silver Taube is that many of the clinic’s volunteer supervising attorneys are her former law students (see sidebar). “We are fortunate to have such dedicated and capable volunteer attorneys,” explains Silver Taube. “It shows the impact of the program that students come back and that volunteering attorneys come back,” she says.

One such alumni volunteer is Hai Dao J.D. ’14. “I volunteer because the high cost of living in the Bay Area means every paycheck matters to low-income families,” he says. “Jobs keep households in the communities they grew up in and helped to create, and [that] affords the next generation the opportunities their parents sacrificed to provide for them.”

AN “INCREDIBLY REWARDING” EXPERIENCE FOR LAW STUDENTS

Over the past 30 years, more than 2,000 students have worked in one of the KGACLC clinics, and more than 500 have worked in the Workers’ Rights Clinic. Many students rave about the powerful impact this work has had on their lives.

“The Workers’ Rights Clinic has been the most positive and helpful course I have taken in law school,” says Daphne Wilson J.D. ’23. “The clinic was an incredible opportunity to develop important skills that I will carry into my future practice,” she says. “This experience helped me gain confidence in my ability to be an effective advocate for clients in the future,” she says. “This clinic has solidified my passion for this career.”

Tracie Ehrlich 3L says the class offered her substantial “transferable counseling and advising skills,” and “the kind of practice that is hard to come by in law school.” “Helping disadvantaged clients navigate the legal system has given me real-time education on what it means to counsel and advise as an attorney,” she says. “It has also illustrated for me the critical role that attorneys play in providing people in need with the information and resources that can truly have a positive impact.”

“This class provided the rare opportunity to apply class lessons in a realworld, client scenario,” says Rachael Loriaux J.D. ’23 (expected). “This is an incredibly effective way to learn the material because I had to explain the law to another individual in layman’s terms. This course has also helped me have confidence as a law student to work with clients and interpreters,” she says, adding, “I also learned the value of having a network of resources to provide for clients.”

Abdul-Malik Bdaiwi, a 2L, says that working at the Law Center “gave me the opportunity to do what I came to law school to do: to help people. Meeting with some clients broke my heart and had me holding back tears while attempting to maintain professionalism over the phone, but I was able to help them, and I would not give up that opportunity for anything,” he says.

Charles Lee 4L says he appreciated how everyone took the work very seriously. “[We] all shared the joy and sorrow of the clients,” he says. “The clinic reminded me that I’ve always wanted to be a person who could make some impact on someone else’s life,” he added. For more information or to make a donation to support the Community Law Center, visit law.scu.edu/kgaclc.

2021-22 KGACLC Worker’s Rights Volunteer Attorneys

Sarah Abraham

Brooke Barranti J.D. ’21

Timothy Broderick

Christine Coughlan J.D. ’21

Hai Dao J.D. ’14

Robert Greeley ’87, J.D. ’97

Sarah Jabin J.D. ’21

Bill Jhaveri-Weeks

Darya Landa J.D. ’15

Drew Lewis

Ming Liu J.D. ’19

Kasia Markham J.D. ’20

Rachel Mino

Felwina Opiso-Mondina J.D. ’16

Joaquin Torres J.D. ’21

Huy Tran J.D. ’12

Kyle Weinheimer J.D. ’16