Find free or low-cost legal help in Alameda County. Browse by topic to find an organization that may meet your needs.
BIPOC-Centered Services
Asian Americans Advancing Justice - Asian Law Caucus
- What they do: Promotes, advances, and represents the legal and civil rights of the Asian and Pacific Islander communities. In some cases, provides free legal representation.
- Who they serve: Low- to moderate-income Alameda County residents. Services are available in Vietnamese, Tagalog, Mandarin, and Cantonese.
- Contact:
API (Asian Pacific Islander) Legal Outreach
- What they do: Provides culturally competent and linguistically appropriate legal representation, social services, and advocacy for the most marginalized segments of the community. Services are available in multiple languages.
- Who they serve: Low-income women, seniors, recent immigrants, and youth.
- Contact:
Centro Legal de la Raza
- What they do: Bilingual legal representation, education, and advocacy. Focusing on tenant, worker, and immigration rights.
- Who they serve: Low-income, immigrant, Black, and Latinx communities.
- Contact:
California Indian Legal Services
- What they do: Provides free or low-cost legal help for civil legal problems.
- Who they serve: Low-income Native Americans, tribes, and tribal entities.
- Contact:
Disability
ALRP (AIDS Legal Referral Panel)
- What they do: Provides legal counsel and representation on often-complex legal matters for a community of individuals often least able to afford it.
- Who they serve: Bay Area residents with HIV/AIDS.
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Contact:
- Phone: 415-701-1100
- More about ALRP
Disability Rights California
- What they do: Free legal representation for disability rights.
- Who they serve: People with all types of disabilities, including physical, developmental, and mental disabilities.
- Contact:
Employment
Legal Aid at Work
- What they do: Workers’ Rights Clinic provides free, confidential information about legal rights related to work in California.
- Who they serve: Low-income and unemployed people.
- Contact:
Families
Child Care Law
- What they do: Educates, advocates, and litigates to make child care a civil right. Answers California child care law questions (right to run a child care from your home, right to affordable child care, and rights of children with disabilities in child care).
- Who they serve: Open to all.
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Contact:
- Phone: 415-558-8005, Extension 1
- More about Child Care Law
Family Violence Law Center
- What they do: Provides free survivor-centered legal and crisis intervention services.
- Who they serve: Survivors in Alameda County who need assistance with domestic violence restraining orders, civil harassment restraining orders, limited family law issues, limited housing and landlord/tenant issues, and Title IX administrative proceedings at UC Berkeley.
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Contact:
- Phone: 510-208-0220 or 800-947-8301 (direct legal services line)
- Email: info@fvlc.org
- More about Family Violence Law Center
Tri-Valley Haven
- What they do: Free Restraining Order Clinic to apply for Temporary Restraining Orders.
- Who they serve: Survivors of domestic abuse.
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Contact:
- Phone: 925-449-5847, Extension 2606
- Email: kimberley@trivalleyhaven.org
- More about Tri-Valley Haven
General Low-Income Assistance
Bay Area Legal Aid
- What they do: Provides free civil legal help, including legal advice, referrals, and representation.
- Who they serve: Low-income clients in the seven Bay Area counties.
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Contact:
- Phone: 510-663-4744
- Tenants' Rights Line: 888-382-3405
- Legal Advice Line: 800-551-5554
- Health Consumer Center: 855-693-7285
- More about Bay Area Legal Aid
East Bay Community Law Center
- What they do: Free legal services. Available legal services and clinics for small business and nonprofits, criminal records, health and welfare, housing, homelessness services, immigration, and youth justice.
- Who they serve: Low-income clients in the East Bay.
- Contact:
Legal Access Alameda
- What they do: Limited virtual pro bono legal services.
- Who they serve: Low-income Alameda County residents.
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Contact:
- Phone: 510-302-2222, Option 4 / Para español, Opcion 1
- More about Legal Access Alameda
Housing and People Experiencing Homelessness
Eviction Defense Center
- What they do: Free and low-cost eviction related legal services. Services in Spanish.
- Who they serve: Alameda County residents facing eviction.
- Contact:
HERA (Housing & Economic Rights Advocates)
- What they do: Helps Californians build a safe and stable financial future and address discrimination and economic abuse. Offers free legal services and consumer workshops.
- Who they serve: Low- and moderate-income residents.
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Contact:
- Phone: 510-271-8443
- Email: inquiries@heraca.org
- More about HERA
Homeless Action Center
- What they do: Provides free legal assistance with a range of public benefits programs, including Supplemental Security Income (SSI), Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI), Medi-Cal, CalWorks, General Assistance (GA), Food Stamps, and Cash Assistance Programs for Immigrants (CAPI).
- Who they serve: People experiencing homelessness and low-income disabled people.
- Contact:
Immigration
Catholic Charities of the East Bay
- What they do: Low-cost immigration legal services.
- Who they serve: Alameda County residents seeking immigration assistance. No one will be turned away for inability to pay.
- Contact:
East Bay Spanish Speaking Citizens' Foundation
- What they do: Immigration and citizenship services.
- Who they serve: Low-income Latinos and other Spanish-speaking people in the Bay Area.
- Contact:
Korean Community Center of the East Bay
- What they do: Immigration services for legal consultation: naturalization, re-entry permit, and green card renewal.
- Who they serve: Bay Area Korean residents. Fee waivers and fee reductions available for low-income individuals and families.
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Contact:
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Phone:
- English: 510-547-2662
- Korean: 844-828-2254
- Chinese: 844-828-5388
- Email: general@kcceb.org
- More about Korean Community Center of the East Bay
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Phone:
Social Justice Collaborative
- What they do: Provides legal representation in immigration and criminal court as well as community advocacy.
- Who they serve: Non-citizen immigrants and their families. Some services are free and others are below market rate.
- Contact:
Justice System Involved
UnCommon Law
- What they do: Provides trauma-informed, healing-centered mental health and legal counseling pro bono.
- Who they serve: People navigating the parole process.
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Contact:
- Phone: 510-271-0310 on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays
- More about UnCommon Law
Mediation
SEEDS Community Resolution Center
- What they do: Provides mediation services on a sliding scale.
- Who they serve: Anyone.
- Contact:
Seniors
California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform (CANHR)
- What they do: Lawyer referral service specifically designed to refer people to attorneys who specialize in estate planning for long term care, elder abuse, and elder financial abuse issues.
- Who they serve: Long-term care residents and their family members.
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Contact:
- Phone: 415-974-5171
- More about CANHR
Legal Assistance for Seniors
- What they do: Free legal advice and information, representation in court and administrative hearings, referrals to other community resources, and community education and training on legal issues.
- Who they serve: Seniors in Alameda County.
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Contact:
- Phone: 510-832-3040
- HICAP Appointments: 510-839-0393 (help for Medicare beneficiaries of any age)
- Email: las@lashicap.org
- More about Legal Assistance for Seniors
Veterans
Swords to Plowshares
- What they do: Helps veterans with discharge upgrades, VA benefits eligibility, service-connection claims, pension applications, and VA overpayment issues.
- Who they serve: Bay Area veterans.
- Contact: