ABA Journal, As Los Angeles Deals With Wildfires, Law Schools Offer Support:
As the wildfires around Los Angeles cause significant chaos for residents, Southern California law schools are mobilizing—with students and faculty offering assistance to those who’ve lost their homes. …
Area law school clinics, including those at the Pepperdine University Caruso School of Law, Loyola Marymount University’s Loyola Law School and the University of California at Los Angeles School of Law, are jumping in.
At Pepperdine Caruso, in Malibu, California, volunteers served 23 people and families at two clinics, says Jeff Baker, the law school’s associate dean. The campus has significant experience with wildfires, including in December 2024, when students sheltered in place for the Franklin fire. That blaze grew to more than 2,800 acres, and about 20,000 people were given evacuation orders, the Associated Press reported. …
Frost, a Los Angeles litigation law firm, partnered with the law school at these clinics.
On. Jan. 25, the law school will host a clinic in Pasadena, California, where Baker expects a larger turnout. Four clinical faculty, about 20 law students and over 60 attorneys signed up to volunteer.
“We will continue to coordinate periodic clinics throughout the region to provide limited-scope advice and counsel clinics, and we are aiming to launch our full Disaster Relief Clinic later in 2025 to provide direct representation,” Baker adds.
In addition, Pepperdine Caruso hosted a Jan. 16 online training for 1,100 attorneys volunteering to help the community. It followed an online event two days earlier, which offered information on handling Federal Emergency Management Agency forms and insurance matters. More than 200 community members attended.
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