Free Legal Aid in the Bay Area: How it Works, Where to Find it

The results of Tuesday’s presidential election have left a deep impact in the Bay Area. And now, former president Donald Trump’s victory over Vice President Kamala Harris opens the door to massive changes in immigration, health care, national security and economic policy as Trump has vowed to take the country in a radically different direction from the last four years.

California’s leaders have vowed to push back against the incoming administration in court, but many residents nonetheless remain anxious that they could be directly affected by the sweeping changes Trump has promised.

• Jump straight to: Where can I find free legal aid in the Bay Area?

“Many folks are feeling vulnerable and insecure about how they might fit into this country at this moment,” said Cynthia Chagolla, chief program officer at Law Foundation of Silicon Valley, which provides free legal services to low- and moderate-income families in Santa Clara County. She says her team is preparing for what they expect is a higher demand for their services during the new administration, as folks respond to changes in the law.

“Irrespective of the outcome of the presidential election, individuals are still going to be entitled to due process,” Chagolla said. “We want to make sure that folks know, should they receive any kind of adverse court papers … who to contact locally if they need help.”

The Law Foundation of Silicon Valley is one of the several organizations in the Bay Area that offer free legal aid: legal advice and representation, provided at no cost, to people who cannot afford hiring a private attorney. And there are dozens of different situations when someone may need legal assistance, not just in a criminal proceeding. For example: if you received an eviction notice from their landlord and need to know what your rights are; if you are applying for a change in your immigration status; or even if you qualify for certain public benefits but aren’t receiving what you’re entitled to.

Keep reading to find out more about what legal aid services are available in the Bay Area, who qualifies for free legal aid and how to best prepare for a meeting with a legal aid office.

How is legal aid different from using a private law firm?

A legal aid organization is not the same thing as a private law firm.

While private law firms charge clients fees in exchange for legal counsel and representation, a legal aid organization provides legal representation at no charge — but only to individuals and families who meet the eligibility requirements, which are usually based on income.

“We are licensed attorneys with years of experience but we do not charge a dime for our services,” said Carolina Martín Ramos, executive director of La Raza Centro Legal, a legal aid and advocacy organization that has worked for decades in San Francisco’s Mission District. Martín Ramos adds that from what she has seen, private attorneys can charge a few hundred dollars an hour. But if someone qualifies to receive services from La Raza Centro Legal, they wouldn’t have to worry about paying any attorney fees.

“Where folks might have to pay something, it would be a government fee,” Martín Ramos said, “So, for instance, in the context of immigration law, if you’re applying for your legal permanent residency or citizenship, the federal government will have a filing fee that has to be paid.”

What can a legal aid group help me with?

The legal world is vast and complex, which is why many attorneys focus on a specific type of law. Legal aid organizations also specialize in specific areas, and one group may not be able to support your needs if it falls out of their scope — so check their website or give them a call first to make sure they are able to respond to your particular situation. Below are examples of different services offered by legal aid groups that KQED spoke with in the Bay Area:

Housing

This is legal assistance for tenants facing eviction proceedings. Some groups, like the Law Foundation of Silicon Valley, also focus on supporting clients if they are experiencing poor housing conditions, like infestations or electrical issues.

“The services that we provide in the housing team vary from just offering advice and counsel or general information,” Chagolla said, “and then can extend up all the way through our full scope of representation, where we’re ultimately walking with tenants in court and representing tenants in court as their attorneys.”

Immigration

Martín Ramos of La Raza Centro Legal says the immigration services her organization offers can be placed into two categories: affirmative legal aid and defensive legal aid.

“The affirmative immigration program,” she explained, “offers services that are outside of the immigration court, outside the adversarial context, where people can apply for legal permanent residency or they can apply for citizenship and other types of immigration benefits, like a U or T visa.”

Defensive immigration, on the other hand, deals with deportation proceedings. If deportations are scaled up during the next administration, Martín Ramos says that there is a network of legal aid groups already in place ready to respond to the needs of the region’s undocumented community.

“Those rapid response networks have not gone away, and will pick up and do what we did before, if we have to,” she said.

Consumer rights

The East Bay Community Law Center (EBCLC), based in Berkeley, is one of the few legal aid groups in California that provides consumer protection services.

Ramon Becerra Alcantar, EBCLC’s director of operations, said their consumer justice program provides “hands-on assistance and representation” on a variety of consumer issues, “including debt collection defense, student loans, car fraud, predatory lending and consumer scams.”

Youth services

Both the Law Foundation of Silicon Valley and EBCLC have teams that focus on serving kids and teenagers. “Issues range from some limited immigration matters, some school discipline or special education matters,” said the Law Foundation of Silicon Valley’s Chagolla. “We also represent children who are in dependency proceedings in the county.”

“The vast majority of those cases come to us by either direct referral from external partners, stakeholders or come to us through the court,” said Chagolla.

Workers’ rights

This type of legal aid usually covers issues of wage theft, retaliation, and workplace discrimination. In many instances, you can also reach out with questions if there is something happening at work that you aren’t sure if it goes against the law but want to talk to an expert about.

KQED also has a series of guides that cover many of the rights and protections California workers have available now, regardless of immigration status, which include:

• What to do if your employer is paying you less than the minimum wage.
• During a heat wave, what protections are available for you if you work indoors or outdoors.
• If you are a farmworker, what do you do if your employer fires you or cuts your hours after you speak out against unsafe working conditions.

Health and public benefits

This area involves making sure patients receive the treatment they need, which could involve negotiating with healthcare providers or insurance companies.

Chagolla said that the Law Foundation of Silicon Valley also represents individuals who are on federal or state public benefits, but who are “not getting the full amount or they have an overpayment notice from the state or federal agency saying they owe money”.

How can I best prepare for a meeting with a legal aid office?

Even just thinking about courts and lawyers can be pretty overwhelming, especially if you are already in a high-pressure situation.

But there are things you can do to help you feel more prepared — and, crucially, to make the most of the time you have talking to a legal aid organization.

First off, try to have all the documents related to your situation in one place so you can easily share them when talking to an attorney.

“This may include court documents, letters, eviction notices, applications, case numbers,” said Becerra Alcantar of EBCLC. “Stuff like that will allow our team to better help them, especially if it’s an emergency.”

But even if you don’t have all your documents on hand, that’s okay, said Chagolla. “For example, if your landlord served you a notice to pay rent or quit, but you no longer have a copy of the document,” she said. “You can still call us.”

“I don’t want anyone walking away thinking if they don’t have paperwork that they can’t call us,” said Chagolla.

Something else to start thinking about: a timeline of key events relating to your situation. For example, if you are seeking immigration help, knowing the dates of when you came into the U.S., and if there were any changes to your immigration status since then and when, can make things a lot easier, says Martín Ramos.

One more logistical tip: make sure you have access to an email account so that an attorney can quickly share important updates about your situation. If you don’t have an email account, or you only have access to a shared email, you can make a new one for free using tools like Gmail.

Once you’re able to talk to an attorney, Martín Ramos strongly recommends that you are 100% honest with your attorney, to give them the full picture without holding anything back. “You are protected by attorney-client privilege,” she said. “An attorney could lose their license if they don’t respect your privacy or confidentiality.”

And, she stressed, let your attorney know when you don’t understand something they’ve said, or about any aspect of the process.

“You can ask the attorney or legal staff to slow down, to repeat things, to tell them you don’t understand and to explain things better,” Martín Ramos said. “Even with your own attorney, you have to be your own advocate.”

Where to find free legal aid in the Bay Area

The organizations KQED spoke to for this story confirmed that the best way to get in contact with them is over the phone, but some also offer walk-in services. When talking to representatives from these organizations, make sure to check in about the income eligibility requirements for the services you are looking for, as each organization has different guidelines.

La Raza Centro Legal (San Francisco): Besides immigration legal aid, La Raza Centro Legal also has teams that serve the specific needs of youth and elders. You can make an appointment by calling (415) 575-3500 or emailing pilar@lrcl.org.

Centro Legal de la Raza (Oakland): You can call (510) 437-1554 or email the team at info@centrolegal.org. The center also offers several remote legal clinics covering workers’, immigrants’ and tenants’ rights each month. To register, call ahead.

Asian Law Caucus (ALC): The ALC offers legal aid services on immigration, tenant and workers’ rights issues, with interpretation services available in over 200 languages, including Arabic, Cantonese, Farsi, Korean, Mandarin, Tagalog, Spanish, Urdu, and Vietnamese. You can complete a form on their website to request help or call the ALC offices directly at (415) 896-1701.

Law Foundation of Silicon Valley: The foundation’s housing team offers walk-in hours on Thursdays from 1 p.m. till appointments are booked and the health team’s walk-in hours are on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 1 p,m. to 3 p.m. You can also call the organization’s general phone line to figure out which service works best for your needs at (408) 293-4790.

East Bay Community Law Center (EBCLC): Besides the services listed in this guide, EBCLC offers services to small business owners, people living with HIV seeking treatment, unhoused individuals, people with a criminal record re-entering society and much more. Walk-in hours for the different legal teams are available on EBCLC’s website and you can also call their offices directly at (510) 548-4040.

Bay Area Legal Aid (BALA): BALA has offices in seven of the Bay Area’s nine counties, each with their own contact information, but you can also use the organization’s general legal advice line at 800-551-5554.