Pepperdine Caruso Law Students Provide Pro Bono Legal Services to Recent Wildfire Victims as 2025 Summer Disaster Relief Clinic Interns

After the recent local wildfires, Pepperdine Caruso School of Law re-established the Disaster Relief Clinic to provide legal aid to those impacted by the fires. Over the summer seven law students helped provide pro bono aid.

With thousands of homes and businesses destroyed and damaged, and with families uprooted and traumatized, the need to serve our community has never been greater.  Under the supervision of attorneys, law students aided clients with issues ranging from obtaining FEMA relief to invalidating price gouging, resolving landlord/tenant disputes and maximizing the recovery of insurance proceeds for typically under-insured homes and businesses.

Adjunct professor David A. DeJute directs the Disaster Relief Clinic, which also hosted pop-up clinics in the community to directly serve those in need.  Attorneys Jackie Adams and Tony DeBartolo joined the clinic for the summer, assisting clients and providing additional student supervision. The Disaster Relief Clinic will continue into the fall and spring semesters, as the need to help those impacted by the wildfires continues.

The 2025 summer interns were comprised of Jake Haplea, Caroline Kedeshian, Connor Cowman, Marissa Allen, Samuel Suard, Hansy Zhang and Brandon Rubsamen.  Some of the interns were from Texas, and they intend to bring what they learned at the Disaster Relief Clinic to those who have been damaged by the recent flooding in their home state.