At Legal Prep Charter Academy in the Garfield Park neighborhood, CVLS partners with the Public Interest Law Initiative (PILI) to provide legal assistance in the community. Together we host an in-person clinic once a month to help low-income clients with their civil legal needs. The clinic is currently not seeing clients in person due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but earlier this year, a couple of Kirkland & Ellis attorneys handled an intake together and tackled the case themselves.
The client, Beatriz, has an adult daughter with autism spectrum disorder and an intellectual disability. Beatriz is her daughter’s main caretaker and helps her to bathe, eat, and perform other daily functions. Receiving no support from the father, Beatriz also works part-time to support herself and her family. Her daughter was eligible for special needs programs to ease the burden on Beatriz, but Beatriz needed to obtain guardianship to qualify for enrollment.
Hearing Beatriz’s story, Kirkland associates Rebecca Hart and Sophie Daroff wanted to help. They filed a petition for guardianship, attended multiple court dates, and successfully worked out all the procedural issues along the way. This February, the Court granted Beatriz guardianship of her daughter. Thanks to Rebecca and Sophie, Beatriz can now handle her daughter’s affairs without issue!
