Philadelphia Attorney Training
(January 2002)

On January 25, 2002, NCLC presented its final Philadelphia workshop for the Immigrant Justice in the Consumer Marketplace project. This workshop was a legal training for attorneys who assist or are interested in assisting immigrants victimized by consumer scams and abusive practices. The training was co-sponsored by the Language Access Project of Community Legal Services, the Asian American Bar Association of the Delaware Valley, Ceiba, the Hispanic Bar Association of Pennsylvania, and the Philadelphia Volunteers for the Indigent Program. The attendees included attorneys from a wide range of backgrounds, including solo practitioners; attorneys from small, medium and large firms; legal services attorneys; and volunteer attorneys who help nonprofits.

The training started off with a brief overview by
Chi Chi Wu of NCLC on the Pennsylvania Consumer Protection Law,
which is a critical tool for combating consumer abuses against immigrants.

The next presentation, conducted by Irv Ackelsberg of Community Legal Services, focused on home improvement contractor fraud. Mr. Ackelsberg presented examples of home improvement contract fraud that targeted linguistic minority communities, and discussed how such fraud relates to predatory lending. He also reviewed a number of legal theories that can be used to help victims.

The morning was rounded out with a discussion led by Ms. Wu on how to combat immigration consultant fraud using the Pennsylvania Consumer Protection Law and the unauthorized practice of law statute. NCLC project staff Stef Cooper also informed the audience that a group of immigrant advocates has been meeting on the issue to discuss policy and organizing strategies to address the problem. Anyone interested in joining this effort should contact Ms. Cooper at stef8@earthlink.net.

After a light lunch, Ms. Wu gave an introductory presentation on federal and Pennsylvania fair debt collection laws. She then focused on the topic of medical debt, which is an issue disproportionately faced by immigrants. Ms. Wu review pre-litigation strategies, affirmative claims, and defenses that attorneys can use to assist immigrants facing overwhelming medical debt.

As a wrap-up to the Philadelphia portion of the Immigrant Justice in the Consumer Marketplace Project, NCLC will be sending out a special mailing to Philadelphia-area immigrant advocates in the next few months. If you would like to receive this mailing and are not on NCLC's mailing list, please contact Chi Chi Wu at cwu@nclc.org.