SSA Anti-Alienation and Court Debt: Reform Across State Lines and Funding Restrictions

You must log in to register
- Non-member - Free!
- Sstudent - Free!
- Member - Free!
Continue

A panel of LSC and non-LSC legal aid attorneys from three states will present on SSA Anti-Alienation violations in state criminal court debt practices. Specifically, the panel will focus on how these practices violate federal anti-alienation rules and the litigation and advocacy strategies that have been used to address these violations in their states. Panelists will be from Arkansas, Iowa, and Virginia legal aids.

Upon completion, participant will be able to describe what SSA anti-alienation is and how it applies to court debt.
Upon completion participant will be able to identify court debt practices that violate SSA Anti-Alienation protections.
Upon completion, participant will be able to determine advocacy strategies available to them to address anti-alienation in their state regardless of their organization's LSC status.
Upon completion participant will be able to implement litigation or other advocacy strategies on behalf of SSA individuals affected by court debt.

Emily Hardy, JD

Deputy Director Healthy Communities

Virginia Poverty Law Center

EMILY HARDY is the Deputy Director of the Center for Healthy Communities with the Virginia Poverty Law Center where she oversees administrative and legislative policy work in the areas of health, public benefits, and elder law. Some of her recent Virginia legislative work includes creating discharge protections for Assisted Living Facility residents, implementing systemic reforms in guardianship proceedings, and enforcing SSA anti-alienation protections in state criminal court debt proceedings. Previously, she worked as a legal aid attorney at an LSC organization in Illinois specializing in administrative and civil law. She serves on Virginia’s Supreme Court Working Interdisciplinary Networks of Guardianship Stakeholders and runs the Virginia Elder Rights Coalition. Ms. Hardy received her B.A. and B.S. from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and her J.D. from Loyola University of Chicago School of Law.

Ed Wunch

Pat Levy-Lavelle, JD

Senior Intake Attorney

Legal Aid Justice Center

Pat Levy-Lavelle is Senior Intake Attorney at Legal Aid Justice Center in Richmond. Since coming to Legal Aid Justice Center in 2005, Pat has done individual representation and impact advocacy on a wide range of topics, including workers’ rights, tenants’ rights and public housing policy issues, and the disproportionate impact of court debt (fines and fees) on low-income people in Virginia. Pat graduated from Carleton College in 1999, and received his law degree from the University of Virginia in 2005.

Alex Kornya, JD

Litigation Director & General Counsel

Iowa Legal Aid

Alex indicated he planned to be part of this panel and reviewed our original draft proposal but I was unable to get his finalized bio information for the submission and to re-confirm that he was available. I did not want to put any incorrect information in his speaker profile so I did not fill out the bio on his behalf. If he is unavailable I will let you know as soon as possible. If he is available, we will send an updated bio when available. - Emily