Kandice Jung graduated from UCLA School of Law in May 2017 and will serve as a Borchard Fellow at Neighborhood Legal Services of Los Angeles County in their Health Consumer Center. Kandice transferred from Georgetown University Law Center after her first year of law school when her mother was diagnosed with stage 4 brain cancer. The diagnosis solidified her decision to pursue a public interest career in health law, specifically focusing on the needs of aged and disabled members of the Asian American community, by creating a strong personal incentive to supplement her pre-existing professional interest in public interest law.
Kandice has wanted to be an attorney since the second grade. As a result, she was able to receive foundational legal training early on in her professional career. Prior to attending law school, Kandice gained practical and substantive knowledge as a volunteer law clerk for the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office and the Baltimore State’s Attorney’s Office. During law school, Kandice further developed her legal skills and knowledge by clerking for the Office of the Attorney General, Los Angeles Superior Court, and Neighborhood Legal Services of Los Angeles County. Kandice also volunteered for the Disability Rights Legal Center in their Cancer Legal Resource Center and Huntington Hospital, gaining invaluable personal and professional experience learning about the intersection of law and medicine, as well as the role of public interest attorneys in the medical field.
As a 2017-2018 Borchard Fellow at Neighborhood Legal Services of Los Angeles County, Kandice will address a critically underserved population—aged and disabled Asian Pacific Americans as well as their family caregivers. Aged and disabled Asian Pacific Americans and their family caregivers are less likely to receive sufficient attention and support from healthcare practitioners due to cultural and linguistic barriers, as well as general cultural practices and norms, which create a pressing need for more informed, supported, and protected family caregivers. The intended goal of Kandice’s project is to provide culturally competent legal advocacy, education, and community outreach to aged and disabled Asian Pacific Americans and their family caregivers by focusing on assisting these individuals with remaining in the community and avoiding institutionalization.
Specifically, Kandice will focus on programs like Medicaid Home and Community Based Services and other Medi-Cal waiver programs to help her intended population remain in their homes, avoiding institutionalization. Kandice will provide legal services to Asian Pacific American patients and their family caregivers, create culturally appropriate educational materials, conduct trainings and outreach, pursue policy advocacy at the federal, state, and local level, develop legal clinics, and recruit pro bono attorneys and other volunteers to assist with her project. Although the fellowship lasts for a one-year period, Kandice intends to oversee and ensure the enactment and completion of the project’s goals beyond the initial year of the project.
