The ins and outs of League legal services
Negotiations regarding salary, benefits and working conditions are the main job of the League, but as an additional benefit, the League assists officers with legal problems. There are three primary ways that a League member can seek legal assistance from the League. They are: the Director’s one-hour program, the Legal Plan and requests through the Legal Committee. They can be confusing because each is different. Let’s look at them one at a time.
Director’s one-hour program
We have panel attorneys who specialize in many areas of law. To name a few: family law, trusts, criminal defense, discipline, employment law, civil litigation, discrimination, arbitration, writs, workers’ compensation, personal injury, immigration, real estate, foreclosures, mortgage loans, estate planning, retaliation, hostile work environment, disability pensions, copyrights, trade- marks, franchises, small business, DUI, DMV hearings, probate, ADA issues, landlord/tenant, bankruptcy and construction law.
As a League member, the League will pay for a one-hour consultation with one of the panel attorneys. The League is not involved with the actual attorney/client relationship or participating in any way with the legal problem, it is only paying for the first hour. Any attorney time, or legal action, after that first hour is the sole responsibility of the League member. If the first hour solves the problem, fine. Any additional action should be arranged with a personal retainer agreement with the attorney and paid for by the member.
Legal Plan
As a League member, you are eligible to join the Legal Plan. The Legal Plan was started in 2000 with around 30 percent of the League membership joining. As of last month, 97 percent of League members are enrolled. The Department’s discipline system is our strongest recruiter.
Joining the Legal Plan costs $11 per payday. It provides panel attorney representation for all personnel complaint interviews, Boards of Rights, Skelly responses where one or more suspension days are proposed, civil defense in certain situations, criminal defense in certain situations, Brady letters, ORWITS letters, Pitchess issues in certain situations, bench warrants and contempt proceedings for failure to appear in on-duty situations, grand jury subpoenas and reimbursement for 30 suspension days per year (see the Legal Plan document on the League website for details).
If you are represented for one personnel complaint interview in that year, you have saved money. If you are reimbursed for one suspension day, you have made money. According to an IG report, one out of three patrol officers has an open personnel complaint hanging. Undoubtedly, more than one personnel complaint interview is going to hit you.
For the 3 percent who are not enrolled, you may think you are safe because you are not on the street dealing with citizens on a day-to-day basis, but many inside units have been hit with workplace investigations, discrimination investigations, improper comment investigations and the like. In short, no one is safe from an Internal Affairs interview. Join today.
There is a rule that is sometimes misunderstood in the relationship between Boards of Rights and suspension days. The Plan dictates that whenever the League hires an attorney for a Board of Rights, there is no reimbursement for suspension days. You either get an attorney, or you get reimbursement. The Plan does not pay for both. In an ordered Board, there is no decision to be made. You must go to a Board and an attorney must be hired. However, where the situation is an opted Board (take the days or appeal to a Board), there is a decision to be made. If you accept the suspension days, you will be reimbursed. If you choose to challenge the suspension days, an attorney must be hired and there will be no reimbursement for the suspension days if the Board finds you guilty and recommends them.
Choose carefully. You should only go to a Board if you believe that you are not guilty. If you just believe that the penalty is too harsh, you should opt for an Administrative Appeal. ORS handles these, and the object is to convince the chief that a lesser penalty should be imposed. In an Administrative Appeal, unlike a Board of Rights, the original penalty cannot be increased.
There is a reason that there is a 97 percent participation in the Legal Plan, and very few complaints regarding Plan participation. That reason is the professionalism and dedication of our panel attorneys. Many have decades of experience handling LAPD cases, and some are retired LAPD officers. You can see who they are and the extent of their experience at the LAPPL website, members only section. Go to lapd.com/members/disciplinepanelattorneys.
Speaking of panel attorneys, Randy Quan, a popular request of many officers, is retiring to spend more time with his new granddaughter. We wish you well, Randy.
On the other hand, we have Hank Hernandez coming out of retirement to join the panel attorneys to handle personnel complaint interviews and Boards of Rights. Hank brings the membership a load of experience. He is retired LAPD where he functioned as an advocate putting on Boards of Rights and later as a defense representative, defending officers. He followed that with 25 years as the League’s General Counsel. Welcome aboard, Hank.
Legal Committee
If you believe that you have a legal case that the League should finance, you may make an appointment to appear in front of the Legal Committee. The committee is made up of League delegates who have volunteered and been appointed to sit on the committee. It meets the first Tuesday of every month. The committee will listen to your request and make a recommendation to the League Board of Directors. The Board retains the final decision as to whether to fund the case or not.
One of the most typical requests is for a writ to challenge a Board of Rights or Administrative Appeal decision to the superior court, or later, to appeal the decision of the Superior Court to the Court of Appeals.
The committee has guidelines that it follows. In evaluating their recommendation, the committee considers whether the case is in the course and scope of the officer’s duties; does the case affect the League membership as a whole; is this the kind of case that the League wants to use to set legal precedence; and is this a prudent expenditure of membership funds? The committee then sends a recommendation to the
Board of Directors.
The Board uses the same criteria and makes the final decision to fund or not.
Conclusion
Providing personal legal services is not the primary service of the Protective League. That would be negotiating salary, benefits and working conditions for its members. But providing legal services is a valuable supplement. Accessing all three of the above plans starts with a phone call to the League Legal Unit at 866-LAPPL4U. Be a League member and join the Legal Plan. The career you save may be your own.
Be legally careful out there.
