Category: Legal Aid Organizations

Los Angeles Small Business Development Center offers free advising and webinars for business owners in LA County. To speak with a business counselor, contact: (866) 588-SBDC, or Spanish (800) 794-1402. For more information, see: https://smallbizla.org/.

Statewide disaster assistance resources. Includes a search tool to find a legal aid organization or self-help center near you for accurate information and support. See: https://www.laaconline.org/covid-19/.

ECHO’s Tenant/Landlord Counseling Program provides information to tenants and landlords on their housing rights and responsibilities. Additionally, ECHO has trained mediators to assist in resolving housing disputes through conciliation and mediation. The primary objective of the program is to build awareness of housing laws and prevent homelessness. ECHO serves Alameda, Contra Costa and Monterey counties. See: https://www.echofairhousing.org/.

Bay Area Legal Aid is a legal service organization serving clients through regional offices in Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, and Santa Clara counties. See: https://baylegal.org/.

Ventura County Legal Aid provides free legal services (currently by phone only) as well as lawyer referral services and resources to avoid Coronavirus scams. See: https://www.ventura.org/departments/hsa/community-events/basic-assistancecommunity-events/legal-services-volunteer-lawyers-and-resources-during-covid-19/ or call the Legal Aid Line at (805) 650-7592.

The Veterans Legal Institute (VLI) provides pro bono legal assistance to in-need current and former service members to eradicate barriers to housing, healthcare, education, and employment and foster self-sufficiency. VLI provides information on how to apply for assistance here: https://www.vetslegal.com/covid-19-notice/.

The Ventura County Law Library provides resources regarding legal issues relevant to COVID-19, and a resource center with access to self-help guides. See: https://www.vencolawlib.org/for-the-public/.

United Policyholders is a nonprofit organization that provides assistance to people/entities who have insurance questions. They have created a COVID-19 Loss Recovery library designed to help small businesses collect all available insurance benefits to offset their losses and get back on their feet. See: https://www.uphelp.org/tip/spread-word-about-our-covid-19- loss-recovery-library.

The UCLA School of Law has published an online guide, which provides current information on federal, state and local governmental responses to the coronavirus epidemic. See: https://libguides.law.ucla.edu/coronavirus.

1. Information on CARES Act for Small Businesses: https://www.law.berkeley.edu/cares.
   
2. Additional COVID-19/CARES Act Resources: https://www.law.berkeley.edu/research/business/cares-act-and-small-businesses/covid-19-cares-act-resource-pages/.

Helps match low-income entrepreneurs with pro bono attorneys and financial advisers. See: https://www.startsmallthinkbig.org/. To qualify, entrepreneur must identify with at least 1 of the following criteria: person of color; women; LGBTQ+; physical or mental disability; veteran; immigrant; low to moderate income (does not exceed 500% of the federal poverty guidelines), and have less than $1 million in revenue over the past 12 months.

The Entrepreneurs’ Legal Advising Clinics assist entrepreneurs and small business owners while at the same time helping Santa Clara Law students get real-world hands-on counseling experience.. See: https://law.scu.edu/elc/elac/.

The Orange County Bar Association maintains a COVID-19 page on its website, which includes various COVID-19 related legal resources. See: http://www.ocbar.org/covid-19. Additionally, the Pro Bono Committee released a webinar on the topic of “COVID-19 and Pro Bono”. See: OCBA Webinar: COVID-19 and Pro Bono.

1. Pro Bono Services:
   
   1. The Public Law Center is a pro bono law firm in Orange County, providing access to justice for low income and vulnerable residents. Its 30 staff members work with over 1,600 Orange County lawyers, paralegals, law students and other volunteers annually to provide free civil legal services, including: counseling, individual representation, community education, and strategic litigation and advocacy to challenge societal injustices. See: https://www.publiclawcenter.org/services/.
   2. Information on COVID-19-related Tenant Protections and Legal Assistance for Nonprofits and Small Businesses. See: https://www.publiclawcenter.org/covid19/.

1. Serving businesses located in Alameda, Amador, Butte, Calaveras, Contra Costa, Colusa, Del Norte, El Dorado, Humboldt, Glenn, Lake, Lassen, Marin, Mendocino, Modoc, Napa, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, Sacramento, San Mateo, San Joaquin, Shasta, Santa Cruz, Sierra, Siskiyou, Solano, Sonoma, Sutter, Tehama, Trinity, Yolo, Yuba, Counties and the City and County of San Francisco. Visit asksbdc.com or call 833-ASK-SBDC or email loan@asksbdc.com.
   
2. Town Hall Q&A:  Each Wednesday at 10:30 a.m., the NorCal SBDC Finance Center Team discusses EIDL and PPP updates and information specific to reopening businesses in Northern California. See: https://www.norcalsbdc.org/covid-19.

LSE matches low-income entrepreneurs with pro bono attorneys and its website lists various other resources for entrepreneurs in the Bay Area See: https://lccr.com/get-help/economic-justice-legal-services-for-entrepreneurs-lse/.

The Law Foundation of Silicon Valley provides free housing, children & youth, and health legal services to low-income people in Silicon Valley. In connection with COVID-19, the Law Foundation’s website includes specific COVID-19 resources. See: https://www.lawfoundation.org/coronavirus.

LA Represents pro bono attorneys provide assistance to small businesses least likely to have access to effective legal services as they confront new workplace regulations, renegotiate commercial leases, apply for government relief programs, and navigate compliance with emergency health and safety orders. See: https://corona-virus.la/LARepresents.

1. Disaster Legal Assistance Collaborative: A coalition of organizations and law firms in Northern California working together to offer free legal services to the communities in the aftermath of natural disasters. For Covid-19/CARES Act resources, see: https://disasterlegalservicesca.org/covid-19/.
2. Statewide disaster resources, including COVID-19: https://www.lawhelpca.org/index.php/disaster-relief-information.

Community Organization Representation Project provides free business law services to Northern California nonprofits serving low-income and underserved communities. CORP’s website includes materials and webinars concerning model policies and legal alerts. Notably, COPR features a webinar discussing strategies for encouraging employees’ compliance with COVID-19 safety plans. See: https://www.sfbar.org/jdc/jdc-legal-services-programs/corp/.

Community Legal Aid is a nonprofit organization that provides free legal advice to both individuals and businesses who have questions regarding housing, custody, employment or other issues due to the Coronavirus pandemic. Community Legal Aid can be reached via phone at: (800) 834-5001. See: https://www.communitylegalsocal.org/cla-socals-updated-response-to-covid-19/.

Nonprofit law firm that provides free civil legal assistance to both individuals and organizations located in certain counties of central California. CCLS can be reached via phone at: (800) 675-8001. See: https://www.centralcallegal.org/.

California Rural Legal Assistance is a nonprofit legal service program created to help California’s low-income individuals and communities. See: http://www.crla.org/ or call (800) 337-0690 to get help.