Silvia Argueta is the Executive Director at the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles (LAFLA). LAFLA is the frontline law firm for low-income individuals in Los Angeles County. LAFLA is committed to promoting access to justice, strengthening communities, fighting discrimination, and effecting systemic change through representation, advocacy, and community education. Silvia leads a 200 plus non-profit law firm with over 100 lawyers. LAFLA has five offices, four self-help centers, three courthouse domestic violence clinics, and six Medical-Legal Partnerships. She oversees an annual budget of over $50 million and all aspects of strategy, legal advocacy, finance, fund development, and technology. She recently oversaw an $18 million capital campaign and construction of LAFLA’s new headquarters, a cornerstone of justice that brings respect and dignity to both clients and staff.
Prior to her appointment as executive director in 2008, Silvia was a senior attorney with LAFLA’s Government Benefits Unit, where she handled legal issues involving access to health care, Medi- Cal, Medicare, Social Security Retirement, Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and California Work Opportunities and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs)–a program of the California Department of Social Services.
Silvia served as lead counsel in Harris, et al v. Board of Supervisors, et al, a federal court case that prevented the closure of Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center and the closure of 100 beds at Los Angeles County USC Medical Center. Silvia also was counsel on APALC et al., v. Los Angeles County, et al., an OCR complaint filed on behalf of Limited English Proficient (LEP) CalWORKs participants against the County of Los Angeles, which allegedly unequal access in the provision of services to LEP participants in the CalWORKs program.
Prior to joining LAFLA in 1999, Silvia was a staff attorney at the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF). Before joining MALDEF, she was a staff attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Southern California and was involved in civil rights litigation.
Silvia obtained her B.A in Political Science and French from UCLA, and her law degree from UC College of the Law, San Francisco,(formerly UC Hastings College of the Law). She is a member of the American Bar Association, Los Angeles County Bar, the National Hispanic Bar Association, Latina Lawyers Bar Association, and the Mexican American Bar Association. Silvia’s career has been devoted to achieving equal justice using direct representation, civil litigation and policy to affect change.