Types of Cases and Services Provided
Legal Aid of Marin: 30 N. San Pedro Rd., Suite 220, San Rafael, CA 94903
PHONE: (415) 492-0230 | FAX: (415) 492-0947
Established in 1958
Mission: Our mission is to improve social justice, economic equity, and opportunity and to assure due process and equal protection of the law by providing low-income Marin residents (children, seniors, immigrants, people with disabilities, and the homeless) with access to high-quality, effective legal services, including direct representation, pro per support services, and through affirmative litigation.
Need: LAM has served clients in Marin County for 50 years (since 1958) by providing high quality legal representation and advocacy, information, referral, advice and community education. Acting in a leadership role, LAM works with a variety of community organizations, to improve conditions for those in greatest need. Contrary to its image as a bastion of wealth, Marin County is home to an estimated 16,000 people living in poverty. At 6.25 % of the county’s total, Marin’s poverty population is growing faster than the rest of the County’s population. The other rapidly growing populations are senior and Latino residents.
Our three core programs, outlined below, come together to form a continuum of legal services. These services fit together well, sharing resources and complementing one another in the larger effort to accomplish Legal Aid’s mission.
Pro per support services: These services are delivered primarily through group and individual clinics staffed by pro bono attorneys. Service assumes client can handle the majority of the legal process as a “pro per” with some strategic assistance. Because these services can be provided in a group setting, clinics are extremely cost effective. These services include advice, document preparation and letter-writing. This component is staffed by our Pro Bono Manager, who recruits and coordinates pro bono resources.
Direct Client Representation: Our staff attorneys provide direct legal representation in litigation and administrative matters, including in-court representation and negotiation, to clients that are not able to go forward in the legal process as a “pro per.” Each staff attorney is able to provide assistance in a range of core legal issues.
Impact Litigation: Impact litigation and advocacy achieves benefits for many clients simultaneously. It both secures a remedy for clients in the immediate action, and discourages client abuse in similar situations that might arise in the future. Impact advocacy can also empower clients by involving them as participants in a group advocacy effort. The impact of our advocacy also often makes it easier for non-profits and public agencies to serve our clients more effectively. In a number of instances, our impact advocacy has resulted in the creation of a broad-based coalition of clients and/or agencies that shared a concern over a particular injustice, leveraging the impact of our legal work. This program is staffed by our Executive Director and staff attorneys.
Intake: LAM conducts new client intakes Monday through Thursday at our San Rafael offices, once a week at Novato Human Needs and at the Canal Alliance in San Rafael and the Marin Community Clinics. LAM has cooperative relationships with the Whistlestop Senior Center in San Rafael and the Mill Valley Recreation Center for its senior clinics. These programs have been running successfully for many years.
Outreach: continues to make presentations on tenant and worker rights. Outcomes may include organizing the building or habitability lawsuits. New in 2007/2008 is foreclosure outreach. Due to increasing demand for advice and assistance, LAM has begun to offer foreclosure clinics. Most recently, on May 12th, ED Paul Cohen, both moderated and presented at the Novato Chamber of Commerce’s “Preventing Foreclosure Forum.” Over 60 people attended and the crowd was largely Latino.
Medical Legal Partnership: In early 2007, the Marin Medical-Legal Partnership made its debut. In collaboration with the Marin Community Clinics (MCC), LAM began scheduling intakes in MCC’s Greenbrae and Novato clinics. The purpose of this partnership is to improve the health and well being of vulnerable low-income children and adults. Despite access to health care, problems often persist such as access to adequate nutrition and public benefits, habitability issues, domestic violence, special education or disability needs are outside the purview of a traditional doctor-patient relationship but can impact a patient’s health. LAM can provide the advocacy and linkage to services that do not currently exist in the clinical setting.
Seniors: LAM remains a driving force for bringing public awareness to financial elder abuse. Over 800 people heard the SAIF (Seniors Against Investment Fraud) message in 2007 delivered by LAM staff. Pro Bono attorneys, provided by LAM , offer advice to seniors every Thursday at Whistlestop in San Rafael and every other ____at the Mill Valley Community Center.
Employment: The trend toward large numbers of young Latino clients with employment problems (wage and hour claims), consumer problems (contracts, loan or creditdebt) and family law problems continues. During 2007 36% of clients were Latino. We are vigorously responding to these cases.
Landlord Tenant/Habitability: Legal Aid of Marin continues to do outstanding work in the housing area—both representing tenants and problem solving with all parties concerned. LAM filed a suit against Gateway Apartments in Marin City for defective conditions and habitability concerns. Along with our co-counsels, LAM is pursuing a class action concerning damages from water damage due to a design defect.
Affordable Housing & Housing Element Law: Legal Aid is advocating whenever possible for the development of affordable housing in Marin County. We have spoken at hearings before Planning Commissions and we speak before the decision makers when projects are facing critical hurdles for the inclusion of multiple affordable units. We are also the fiscal agent for a new advocacy group called the Housing Leadership Alliance. Our Executive Director serves as a Board Member.
Homeless: LAM participated in the 2008 Marin Homeless Connect by counting the homeless and offering legal services and referrals as appropriate. Intake at Ritter House in San Rafael began in March 2008 and is held every other Monday. Operations may move to the dining room at St. Vincent de Paul, where they are very eager for our services.
Interns: LAM has two student intern programs. One is a unique social work program that supplements our dependency representation. LAM typically has 2-4 MSW interns on staff during the school year who, under the supervision of a licensed social worker, provide support to our clients. They often face problems that are not legal in nature but play a significant role in whether they can reunite with their families. The other is a summer law student intern program which utilizes law students with an interest in poverty-law. Law students have the opportunity to work on major cases as well as pursue independent projects.
