Crossing a Cultural gulf: Helping Vietnamese American Fishermen Navigate Legal Waters
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Pro Bono
Tankers battle the BP Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion, April 2010.
Crossing a Cultural Gulf:
Helping Vietnamese American
Fishermen Navigate Legal Waters
Erik Cummins and Heidi Machen
M
ai Phan’s call to fellow That uniquely personal mission sent them to the
lawyer Ann N. Nguyen, bayou country of Louisiana, Alabama, and Missis-
urging her to enlist in yet sippi in June, where they staffed three free legal edu-
another volunteer project, cation clinics for Vietnamese fishermen and took to
was nothing new. Over the airwaves to spread the word that help could be
the years, the two had vol- found. The region has a large population of Vietnam-
unteered in various capac- ese Americans, as many immigrants who came to the
ities with The Bar Association of San Francisco’s diver- United States following the Vietnam War settled along
sity programs and Volunteer Legal Services Program the Gulf Coast to ply their trades.
and with the Vietnamese American Bar Association of
Northern California (VABANC). This time, however, Phan’s trip to the Gulf Coast this year was a homecom-
their efforts would extend beyond the Bay Area. Their ing of sorts. Although she has spent the past six years
shared mission: to help Vietnamese fishermen access in the Bay Area, her roots are in New Orleans, where
legal resources in the aftermath of BP’s devastating oil she attended Tulane University and Loyola University
spill in the Gulf of Mexico. New Orleans College of Law. When Hurricane Katrina
36 FALL 2010
hit in 2005, it affected her en- the dock in Vietnam for fear she
tire family—many of whom still would cry and alert authorities.
live along the Gulf Coast. Her After months living in a crowded
parents and brother were forced shack in Hong Kong, Nguyen’s
to evacuate, and they, like many family was fortunate enough
other residents, lost everything. to be sponsored by a church in
bucolic Hillsdale, Michigan,
Phan went back to the Gulf dur- where they began their American
ing Katrina’s aftermath, tapping adventure and where Nguyen
her lawyerly skills to set up a pro was born.
bono legal clinic and working
closely with Mississippi Center Ann Nguyen Speaking no English and hav-
for Justice and Southeast Loui- ing no directly transferable job-
siana Legal Services. Five years seeking skills, the family made
later and after another devastat- do. Nguyen’s father found work
ing disaster, Phan realized the as a landscaper, a handyman,
lessons she had learned from and any number of odd jobs that
Katrina were directly transfer- put food on the table. And
able to the problems stemming the family finally reunited with
from the Deepwater Horizon oil Nguyen’s sister when she was able
spill. For one, it affected many to join them in the United States
of the same Vietnamese fisher- at age sixteen.
men—this time by making huge
swaths of the Gulf off limits to Over the years, a continuous
fishing and potentially destroy- search for jobs led them to Pen-
ing their livelihoods. Once sacola, Florida, and Salinas and
again, she and her fellow volun- Oakland in California. She later
teers needed to remove barriers earned her undergraduate de-
to legal resources and provide gree at University of California
information in the disaster vic- at Santa Barbara and went on to
tims’ own language. Mai Phan obtain a law degree at University
of La Verne College in Ontario,
Although she readily admits she California.
gets sick on boats and is allergic
to seafood, Nguyen’s family ties to the people whom “I wanted to help my community and
she helped in the Gulf in June stretch back to a long give back,” said Nguyen, the first in her
heritage of “peasant stock.” Her father, a Vietnamese family to earn a college degree, much
fisherman hailing from generations of fishermen, had less a J.D. “Plus, it would be great to
been born on a boat. Like many Vietnamese Americans, have an attorney in the family.”
her family fled their native country after the fall of Sai-
gon at the bitter end of the Vietnam War. In the early Nguyen’s father now works on U.S.
1980s, they furtively departed Vietnam bound for a Coast Guard boats in the East Bay.
Hong Kong refugee camp. Family lore provides a bleak There, Nguyen hung up her shingle as a
picture of that oceanic voyage for twenty, all of whom sole practitioner, representing debtors and
had little to eat and were forced to drink urine to sur- creditors in bankruptcy. Although Nguyen
vive. In a last-minute decision by a relative that pained had worked for law firms during school and
the family, Nguyen’s six-month-old sister was left on did a stint for Coca-Cola in Australia, she
THE BAR ASSOCIATION OF SAN FRANCISCO SAN FRANCISCO ATTORNEY 37
wanted a more personal connection with clients. To- tributed to the problems that the Vietnamese Ameri-
day, many of her clients are bilingual. can residents there now face. How could residents
have been well-served or trust the authorities, Nguyen
She also embarked on the time-honored path of vol- asked, when former New Orleans’ nine-term represen-
unteer service, building skills while putting in hours tative in congress, William Jefferson, had recently been
for indigent law clients at BASF’s Volunteer Legal Ser- convicted of multiple counts of corruption? Add that
vices Program, the San Francisco Public Defender’s Of- to the fact that both the laws and BP’s claims guide-
fice, and other legal organizations. Like many earnest lines were changing daily.
young lawyers, she expanded her knowledge base with
continuing legal education classes, collected several In 2008, Vietnamese American Congressman Anh
mentors including a Santa Clara judge, and began at- “Joseph” Quang Cao was elected to represent Loui-
tracting clients through referral panels. She is currently siana’s Second District. Narrowly elected in his race
one of four cochairs for the against Congressman Jeffer-
Minority Bar Coalition. son, he is the first Republican
to serve the district since the
Nguyen follows her personal 1800s. An attorney by trade,
credo: “Just do good work— his background is similar to
everything else follows.” that of other Vietnamese im-
migrants who fled their homes
Although her father, rely- during the Vietnam War. He
ing on TV reports, suggested and his family immigrated to
that everyone was just fine in the United States when he was
the Gulf, Nguyen decided to just eight years old. After the
go see for herself. Her friend BP oil spill, he encouraged
Phan removed all linger- other Vietnamese-speaking at-
ing doubt by asserting that torneys to come to the Gulf
VABANC was the most to lend a hand. Among those
qualified to respond to the he reached out to was fellow
crisis by being “one of the Loyola Law School graduate
most cohesive and organized Mai Phan. She continued the
groups around.” Vietnamese American Bar Association of Northern California phone tree by calling Nguyen.
volunteer consulting with a client during a legal clinic
Soon after the crisis hit, VA- Nguyen observed that the
BANC deployed a small troop of Vietnamese-speak- problems of the region’s fishermen boiled down to
ing attorneys to staff various clinics in the Gulf, and two issues: financial and psychological—for those sur-
Nguyen joined them. Between a Wednesday and rounded by poverty, desperation, and crime, the first
a Sunday in June, she put in long days in oppres- challenge was daily survival. She added that the stifling
sive heat, starting at 6:00 a.m. and working late into heat and the prevalence of drugs and gambling didn’t
the night. The volunteer corps conducted three legal help matters.
education clinics in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Ala-
bama and helped more than a hundred Vietnamese When she arrived in the Gulf, Nguyen anticipated that
American residents find the services and resources the local residents would welcome the volunteers with
they needed. open arms, particularly given that they spoke
the same language. They were
Nguyen saw firsthand how the Gulf ’s there to inform, to trans-
corrupt political system and late, and to pave the way
lack of oversight had con- through the tricky pro-
38 FALL 2010
Members of the Vietnamese American Bar Association of Northern California
cess of ensuring that BP paid out what was owed. Yet, Along the way, BP’s requirements for reimbursement
at the first town hall she attended, despite active out- proved daunting. For instance, Nguyen said, BP re-
reach enlisting media and the local pastor, only about quires certain documents to prove loss, such as W-2
twenty people showed up, Nguyen recalled. Much to forms or tax filings. Nguyen likened it to dealing
the volunteers’ dismay, many were angry residents with with insurance companies that impose stringent re-
their arms crossed across their chests. quirements of proof that some insureds are unable to
meet—and give up in frustration.
As Nguyen and her team quickly learned, the first le-
gal responders to the crisis were more concerned about For many victims of the Deepwater Horizon spill,
helping themselves—predatory operators out to take Nguyen predicted that the region’s endemic corrup-
advantage of their new clients’ legal naïveté to make a tion, coupled with the challenging process of qualify-
profit. For the volunteers, the immediate challenge was ing for payments could all too easily result in a “no-
this: how to differentiate themselves from those earlier win situation.” Still, legal aid volunteers continue to
arrivals, some of whom even spoke fluent Vietnamese toil away in the Gulf and back at home on behalf of
like they did. The volunteers first established them- the fishermen. In the process, they have multiplied
selves as a reliable source of information and aggres- the resources for victims of the disaster by producing
sively refused to take anything from residents, includ- informational packets, in both English and Vietnam-
ing personal information. The attorneys then decided ese, that promote awareness and caution. As phase two
to forgo the usual intake sheets to instill trust. of their work, Nguyen said, they have approached fed-
eral representatives to advance the long-term interests
The Gulf clinics addressed a variety of issues, includ- of residents.
ing the BP claims process and constantly changing laws
regarding the oil disaster. In addition, they counseled The Vietnamese American Volunteer Law Corps pro-
victims on how to hire and fire an attorney, and laid duced a white paper on the oil spill that was recently
out their rights and obligations, as well as the complex- presented to political leaders in Washington, D.C., and
ities of contracts and waivers, lawsuits, and class action has been subsequently cited by Congresswoman Zoe
suits. Most of all, they directed residents to other com- Lofgren during a hearing that aired on C-SPAN. The
munity resources and remedies. white paper recommended the following: ensuring fair
THE BAR ASSOCIATION OF SAN FRANCISCO SAN FRANCISCO ATTORNEY 39
representation, allowing victims to provide alternative a dent, given the vast amount of problems. But with
documentation of their losses, ensuring equal oppor- news reports that congressmen and congresswomen
tunity to participate in BP’s “Vessels of Opportunity” are actually utilizing our efforts in their decisions to
program, which was a key feature of BP’s response that make new law, it is extremely rewarding that all of our
involved a contingent of fishermen and boats from hard work is actually going towards a positive change.”
communities along the Gulf, and addressing preda-
tory lawyers. A writer and journalist for twenty-two years, Erik Cum-
mins spent eighteen of those years as a legal affairs reporter
The media has picked up the story, as well. The volun- for the Daily Journal in San Francisco. He can be reached
teer attorneys attracted wide-ranging coverage of the at cummins.erik@gmail.com.
fishermen’s plight, ranging from CBS News in the Bay
Area to Vietnam Public Radio. Print media has also Heidi Machen is a San Francisco sole practitioner han-
helped to spread the word with articles appearing in dling administrative, contract, and employment law and
publications such as the Los Angeles Times and the San a professional writer and editor who has worked with nu-
Jose Mercury News, along with the Daily Journal and merous law firms and public agencies.
American Lawyer.
As for Nguyen and Phan, they worked so well to-
gether in responding to the crisis, they’ve decided to
join their law practices. The two first met about four
years ago—and, over the years, have bonded by shar-
ing similar ideas and ethics. And Nguyen has been so
effective at convincing her father that the reality for
Gulf residents differs so sharply from TV reports that
implied that everything was just fine, he now wants to
volunteer, too.
“Though I was on the ground for a limited amount of
time, that was only the start of what we as volunteer at-
torneys are doing to make a difference,” Nguyen said.
“We are continuously working on the oil spill issues
on a daily basis. At times, I have wondered whether
this problem was just too big for me to even make
40 FALL 2010You can also read
