Newsletter

The Lord continues to bless the work of the CLAO in so many ways. We want to keep you informed of the cases we are involved in and the growth of this needed ministry.

SOME OF OUR CURRENT ACTIVITIES:

We won! CLAO has just overturned a court ruling that indirectly promoted abortion. In response to a CLAO emergency writ, the local appellate court stated: “We… strongly disagree that becoming pregnant is a voluntary act designed to reduce income and avoid the payment of child support”. In this case of a limited income CLAO client, the higher court reversed the ruling of a family law court commissioner who had commented, “[S]urely the law does not countenance a mother avoiding her obligation to pay child support by merely becoming pregnant and quitting work.” The appellate justices agreed with our CLAO briefs and found the commissioner’s comments “legally erroneous” and concluded they “would undermine a reasonable person’s confidence in the fairness of the proceedings”. We praise God for the labors of CLAO staff attorney Merritt McKeon who handled this writ.

The defense of an unjust collection lawsuit against disabled consumers is now being handled by a volunteer CLAO attorney. A mentally disabled woman was tricked into signing a contract by a car dealer when her husband, who is disabled with CP, temporarily left the dealership to gather some paperwork from home. When they discovered they were cheated by the dealer, they attempted to cancel the deal, but are now being sued by a collection agency.

CLAO has amicably worked out a child visitation dispute between a CLAO client and a court appointed guardian. The CLAO client, who has gotten off drugs and turned around his life, now hopes to reestablish a relationship with his teenage daughters. “Blessed are the peacemakers, as they shall be called sons of God.”

MINISTRY GROWTH

We have a new monthly contributor--- Calvary Chapel East Anaheim. Through their monthly pledge, God is enlarging “the borders of our tent. “

We have a new board member, Gary Streed, who brings us some wonderfully practical financial and business expertise. Among other things Gary is an author of materials and lecturer on Stewardship and Financial Accountability.

Through Gary’s guidance and direction, we have just completed our first annual budget for the CLAO. If you would like a copy of our financial information just let us know with the enclosed response envelope!

Praise the Lord! New York attorney Tom Lee has been volunteering some extremely valuable time doing intake and administrative work for CLAO while he processes his California admissions paperwork. Tom has many years of faithful work as a staff attorney for a Christian ministry back east and is a great blessing to us all in the CLAO office.

More blessings! We now have some extremely talented volunteer law clerks and paralegals for the summer. Thank you Lord!

But we are still looking for more volunteers.

We need a lawyer experienced in Family Law to periodically provide phone consultations only to our indigent clients that may need just a few minutes of occasional guidance and encouragement.

We are praying for lawyers to take on a single case from start to finish or to provide occasional consultation in a variety of areas of law. Please be in prayer about your involvement with CLAO. We want to facilitate you in this wonderful opportunity of love.

A number of Christians who can afford to pay for legal representation are calling us to ask for referrals. If you are a Christian attorney, please let us know if you will take referrals. We have a sign-up system, and would be pleased to know your areas of interest for referrals. A statement of faith is required.