JOIN.
FIGHT.
WIN.
Our very being emphasizes that when grievances pile high and there are no political remedies, the exercise of sovereign powers reverts to the people.
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— U.S. Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas
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As an all-volunteer organization, CCLP welcomes new volunteers. No professional skills or special training is needed, just a willingness to learn and work.
CCLP combines the advice and direction from volunteer attorneys with organizing to win on behalf working people.
CCLP is fighting for the complete cleanup of toxic and radioactive waste in the San Francisco Bay Area, which has one of the worst Superfund sites in the nation.
Volunteer attorneys and lay advocates work together to deliver life changing, free-of-charge legal assistance to low-income workers.
CCLP Board member Allen Jordan (left) with the Reverend Arthur Trotter, CCLP supporter (right).
WHO WE ARE
We Fight for a Legal System that Puts People Over Profit
Bay Area Coalition of Concerned Legal Professionals is an all-volunteer association of attorneys, paralegals, students, businesspeople and others fighting to build a legal system accessible for everyone, not just the wealthy few.
We accept no government funding nor any other funding that would threaten the association’s ability to fight for legal recourse, including challenging government policies targeting portions of our population due to their economic and/or minority status. We promote ways and means of greater accessibility and availability to legal advice, education and advocacy.
THE LAW MUST PROVIDE RECOURSE FOR ALL…
ACCESS
More than 100 million Americans cannot afford the legal services they need and about 80% of the civil legal needs of the poor, and up to 60% of the needs of middle-income individuals, remain unmet.
THE LAW
There are hundreds of thousands of laws on the books at the state and federal levels that are supposed to protect the population, but...
RECOURSE
...without competent legal counsel or adequate enforcement of the law, there are no remedies to the problems faced by working people.
…BUT IT DOES NOT
WAGE THEFT
When an employer steals a low-income worker’s wages — by not paying for the hours worked — the worker’s whole family suffers.
NO RECOURSE
The state agency responsible for enforcing wage laws has too few investigators to do its job, leaving victims of wage theft on their own, while an attorney is unaffordable.
NO JUSTICE
The worker is left with no recourse to recover his/her stolen wages and the unscrupulous employer can continue the illegal practices.
100+
Legal Advice and Know Your Law Sessions in the last five years.
40k+
hours of volunteer time in the last five years.
1000+
hours of attorneys volunteering their legal expertise each year.
Some Victories and Accomplishments
BEAT the State of California who had doubled the rents on migrant farm workers and recovered every dollar stolen from the workers.
WON student loan debt dischargement for a student when the college shut down.
ORGANIZED an attorney who forced a city to withdraw a proposed ordinance banning shape-ups, checkpoints and other harassing tactics against day laborers.
GOT RELEASED on the spot at a Legal Advice Session over $180,000 of funds held by a digital payment company who refused to release it to the volunteer organization assisting unhoused people and people with dependency problems.
STOPPED over 350 eviction notices at public housing that were in retaliation for CCLP assisting residents fighting health and safety violations in the buildings and thwarting gentrification plans.
TRIUMPHED by securing political asylum for a South African freedom fighter.
SUCCEEDED in stopping a woman from being ripped off; she bought a lemon car and the company refused to return her money; the attorney at the Legal Advice Session with the assistance of the volunteer advocate wrote a forceful demand letter and she got her money back.
OVERCAME refusal by an airline to settle a claim by a local resident enroute out of the country on business who was stopped at the gate from getting on the plane when others weren’t; the CCLP attorney prevailed and won a settlement for the airline’s discrimination.
PREVAILED in assisting a small business owner in getting a judgment when the firm who constructed his food truck did shoddy, unsafe work. Through the Legal Advice Session he learned what to do and with the assistance of his advocate won a judgment for the maximum amount from Small Claims Court.
PERSISTED and held over 100 free-of-charge Know Your Law and Legal Advice Sessions since the year 2020, putting hundreds of thousands of dollars back into the community, which is where recovery has to start — from the ground up.
ACTION, PERSISTENCE, DETERMINATION & COMMITMENT.