Local News in Brief : Welfare Legal Aid Pact

Los Angeles County supervisors, over the protests of county employees, approved a three-year contract with a private law firm that will represent local welfare recipients who have been denied supplemental security income benefits.

The supervisors, in a 3-1 vote, approved the pact with the law firm of Turchin & Lee, whose lawyers will represent two-thirds of the county’s welfare appeal cases for a flat fee of $680 for each winning case. Another private law firm handles the remaining cases.

Supervisor Ed Edelman, who cast the lone dissenting vote, had sided with county employees who presently represent welfare applicants. Edelman and the other critics questioned whether private attorneys would shun the difficult cases because they may not be paid and expressed concern that applicants also would have difficulty traveling to the law firm’s offices in Long Beach and Glendale.

Eddy Tanaka, director of the county’s Department of Public Services, told board members that the law firm will go to the homes of clients with transportation problems. A county audit also indicates that the use of private lawyers instead of county employees would save the county $508,064 during the three years of the contract, he added.