Page 10 - Sonoma County Gazette July 2017

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My grandparents, Antoni and Marysia Kryłowski, were Polish immigrants. Our name was later changed to “Kerosky” when their children went to school and the American teachers
didn’t know how to spell their
Antoni and Marysia.
DEAR READERS: Do you have a legal question on your mind? If so, please email me at debra@newbylawoffice.com. Your name will remain confidential. This Q & A Legal Column is intended as a community service to discuss general legal principles and does not create an
attorney-client relationship. Note to Readers: Below is Part Two of Three: re: Free Law Clinics o ered through Empire College School of Law..
name.
Antoni and Marysia both
Elder Law Clinic: Who says there isn’t a Santa Claus? Every Tuesday evening, a band of law students, under the guidance of supervising elder law attorneys Lauren Gardner and Maggie Brothers, o er free legal guidance to seniors (age 62 or over) in our community. The issues vary but the commitment and the quality of legal guidance o ered is consistent. “Most of our clients are low-income,” comments Lauren Gardner, who has supervised the clinic for almost six years. “We do not appear in court or draft court documents, but we can ‘ghost write’ a letter for the elder if they are being hounded by creditors or the victim of a scam. We can also help draft a simple estate plan, for example, a Will, Power of Attorney, and Advance Health Care Directive, but not a Trust.”
came from small villages in Southern Poland. My grandfather came from a poor family with many children. He had to drop out of school to help support his family. When he became an adult, there were no jobs available; there was little industry there and limited opportunity. My grandmother also had no future in her little village. She was facing a life of poverty and since the country was dominated by the Russians, there was also violence and persecution from their more powerful neighbors.
Antoni and Marysia didn’t have a visa when they came here. They had no “papers”. They were not formally invited. Like many others, before them and after them, Antoni and Marysia just came and we as a society accepted him. They needed work, we had jobs to fill here; they came and took on those jobs. America in the beginning of the 20th century needed heir labor and welcomed them here, even if they came without a visa.
The Elder Law Clinic is the rst and the oldest community legal clinic supported by Empire College School of Law. The drop-in clinic is held Tuesday evenings from 4:15 to 5:45 pm (but participants must show up and sign in by 5 pm to be seen that evening) at the Salvation Army Silvercrest Residence, located at 1050 3rd Street in Santa Rosa. Phone: (707) 736-6150.
Mary, Anthony, Martha, Eleanor, Ray Kerosky
“The clinic o ers a great resource for the law student to go beyond reading case law and instead deal with real life situations that impact the daily lives of another human being”, notes Lauren Gardner. Some of the elder clients are so grateful, that they return to the clinic with baked goods or other goodies for the legal elves. See... there is a Santa Claus!
So my grandfather and
grandmother left their homes
and their family, everything that was familiar and moved far away so that they could find jobs. It was not an easy move to make, but it was necessary for them to survive.
Immigration Law Clinic: Immigration Law is a complex web of laws and policies...so complex that just about every letter of the alphabet (plus double- letters, just like the seating at Oracle Arena) are used to de ne the type of visa required to enter and remain legal in the United States. The Immigration Law Clinic is o ered every Monday from 6:00 to 8:00 pm on campus, located at 3035 Cleveland Avenue, Santa Rosa (just north of Redwood Credit Union and next to the Family Law and Civil Courthouse).
At that time, in Pennsylvania, there were a lot of jobs. There was a growing economy, opportunity, and a multi-ethnic community that accepted people who spoke broken English, or no English at all like Antoni and Marysia.
The clinic o ers advice and support on one very narrow yet important immigration issue, what is called U Nonimmigrant Status, which is available
only to victims of violent crimes, such as sexual abuse, assault, and/or domestic violence. The underlying public policy is to encourage undocumented individuals to report o enders and to feel safe in their cooperation with law enforcement. Sadly, many of these “U” cases involve children.
Antoni got a job in the coal mines. He and Marysia rented a small house from the coal company. Maria bore 8 children and did most of the child care; Antoni worked long hours in the coal mines. They just got by financially but through hard work, they survived. They raised children, made sure they got a good education, went to church, and lived a good moral life like most Americans.
“We serve some of the most vulnerable immigrants in our community,” quips Robyn Mancini, a local immigration attorney and supervisor of the Immigration Law Clinic at Empire Law School. “The law students take the case from start to nish. The unfortunate part is that the process may take years and only 10,000 are granted every year. Plus, the system is backlogged.”
My father, Thaddeus, or as his friends called him “Ted”, grew up in a poor family, but safe and secure, in a wonderful community, full of immigrants and their children, diverse and accepting of diversity. Ted attended school, served our country in the war, and even went to college for awhile.
Once the crime is reported, the process for the victim to obtain U status begins. California law is unique in that the “Certifying O cial” from law enforcement must respond within 90 days to the request for certi cation, so at least that timeline is shortened a bit. The process not only gives the victim a voice, but it also paves the path to legal residency for the victim.
Later, Ted got a job, he made a better life for himself than his parents had. He had US citizenship from the start of his life, he had the right to drive, to work, to go to college, and of course the right to live the rest of his life here.
The Immigration Law Clinic boasts a powerful track record on securing U Nonimmigration Status for their clients, as they have had “many, many granted” over the years since the Clinic was started in 2009 by immigration law attorney Julie Cyphers. Robyn Mancini, an immigrant herself from Canada, is an Empire Law School graduate and was drawn to immigration law early-on in her legal career. “The greatest part about being an immigration attorney is that I keep families together or put them back together. That work is extremely rewarding to me,” says Robyn.
Now, long after my grandfather’s death, Antoni has about 100 grandchildren and great grandchildren, most of them college educated, most of them in professional jobs, contributing to our society and our economy. I was lucky enough to come from this type of immigrant story.
If you would like more information about the legal services o ered at the Immigration Law Clinic, or if you are a licensed attorney and wish to volunteer and help at the Immigration Law Clinic, please call Robyn Mancini at 707-528-3917.
Kudos to Empire College School of Law – o ering free legal guidance to our community with the help of curious and motivated law students, under the steady hand of committed licensed attorneys. The spirit of giving is alive and well in our legal community.
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