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October 14, 2009 -- ABA Journal's Legal Rebels

Luz Herrera: ‘Low Bono’ Pioneer

PROFILE POSTED OCT 14, 2009, 01:55 PM CDT BY STEPHANIE FRANCIS WARD

Federally funded legal aid is free, and that needs to change, says Luz E. Herrera, a Harvard Law grad who focuses on access-to-justice issues for low- and moderate-income people.

She allows that those with incomes at the bottom of federal poverty guidelines often can’t afford to pay anything and shouldn’t have to. And for some issues, like domestic violence, she says there should never be a fee. But Herrera believes that in many practice areas, clients would appreciate the choices they’d get by paying something—and that it’s patronizing to assume they can pay nothing.

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See the entire profile at http://www.legalrebels.com/posts/luz_herrera

June 2, 2009 LA Times

Latina lawyer learned law at Harvard, gains wisdom in Compton

Attorney Luz Herrera hopes that Sonia Sotomayor, if confirmed to the Supreme Court, can get across the message that the Latino experience is already 'a part of the fabric of U.S. society.'

March 10, 2009 L A Times

Another sign of tough times: legal aid for the middle class

Among the resources available to the newly cash-strapped are online services, self-help centers and lawyers who offer group rates.

By Carol J. Williams
March 10, 2009

Richard Massey's suburban Anaheim home was valued at $700,000 two years ago when the bills for his cancer surgery came due and he had to tap the equity to pay them.

See the full article at http://articles.latimes.com/2009/mar/10/local/me-legal-aid10

April 29, 2009 Daily Journal

APRIL 29, 2009 | LAW PRACTICE

New Lawyers Are Asking, 'What's Next?'
Laid-off Associates Seek Temp Jobs, Pro Bono Work, While Grappling With Bleak Future

By Rebecca U. Cho
Daily Journal Staff Writer

As an associate at O'Melveny & Myers, Anthony Arnold tracked the legal blogs. He had read that Latham & Watkins laid off 440 people on a bleak Friday morning. So he was prepared on the following Tuesday in early March, when an O'Melveny representative broke the news to Arnold that he would be let go from the firm.

Now out of a job, Arnold found himself faced with a question he had not expected so soon in his young career: What next?

(Excerpt. For the entire article, contact the Daily Journal.)

March 3, 2009 The Daily Journal

MARCH 3, 2009 | LAW PRACTICE

From Tijuana to Compton, via Harvard Law

by Martin Berg

(Excerpt. For the entire article, contact the Daily Journal.)

Banks turning into zombies, markets careening in free fall, law firms discarding lawyers, nonprofits pummeled, fear and gloom everywhere.

Where to go for a little jolt of hope and inspiration?

How about Compton?

That's where I met Luz Herrera, in a storefront office in a former deli on a dreary stretch of East Compton Boulevard next to a beauty parlor.