Organization Website
Facebook: Facebook
Primary geographic focus: Bay Area, Northern California
Organization Type: Provider
LAAC Membership Type: Members
Lists: IOLTA-Funded, IOLTA Field Programs
Tags: Benefits, Domestic Violence, Education, Health Care, Housing: Homelessness
In 1959, a group of lawyers and community leaders recognized a need to help the less fortunate in San Mateo County access legal services. Thanks to these visionaries, the Legal Aid Society of San Mateo County was born. One of the first cases involved a Spanish-speaking maid who was not allowed to retrieve her belongings when she resigned. The Legal Aid Society of San Mateo County successfully represented her, and the client was able to recover her possessions.
Since then, the Legal Aid Society of San Mateo County has grown to become one of the most respected public interest law firms in California. The organization works in partnership with over 30 law firms and corporate counsel in Silicon Valley, with four hundred volunteers providing thousands of pro bono hours annually. A vital voice to marginalized populations of San Mateo County, the organization and individual staff attorneys have received numerous awards for excellence in providing legal services.
Today, the Legal Aid Society of San Mateo County’s work covers five main areas of urgent client need: accessing income support programs, bridging the education gap, fighting for freedom from domestic violence, obtaining health care, and preventing homelessness.
PRESS/RESEARCH MENTIONING/INVOLVING THIS SOURCE
News StoryIn California, Landlords Threaten Immigrant Tenants with Deportations
Kriston CappsAtlantic, The
April 5, 2017
Housing lawyers are reporting a troubling trend: Landlords exploiting the growing fear of immigration authorities to evict tenants, raise rents, and clear residents from gentrifying neighborhoods.
News Story
Legal aid report: No-cause tenant eviction rate rises sharply
Dave BoyceThe Almanac
December 15, 2016
After collecting years of data, Community Legal Services in East Palo Alto and Legal Aid Society of San Mateo County have released the "first centralized, publicly available source of information to reveal the full scale of the eviction problem in the heart of Silicon Valley."
News Story
Pacific Skies Estates tenants allege management’s eviction threats
Jane NorthropSan Jose Mercury News
October 6, 2015
Residents at Pacific Skies Estates say that the property management threatened to take away relocation packages and quickly evict tenants that publicly go against plans to renovate the park.
Evicted tenants find relief: Landlord agrees to pay relocation costs for tenants at 910 Clinton St. in Redwood City
Bill SilverfarbSan Mateo Daily Journal
August 14, 2015
The new owner agreed to provide relocation assistance to tenants awaiting eviction at 910 Clinton St. They were supposed to leave by June 30 but will now have until October 12, rent-free.
Video
Only on 4: Residents at Pacifica mobile home park threatened with mass evictions
Kate CagleKRON4 (Bay Area)
August 13, 2015
Pacific Skies Estates tenants were given notices threatening eviction and told that they had two months to find somewhere else to go.
Press Release
Before the courts
Susan CohnSan Mateo Daily Journal
July 12, 2015
Legal Aid Society of San Mateo County, member of LIBRE, honored with the Cross-Sector Collaboration And Partnership Award at the Thrive Alliance Star Power Nonprofit Awards Breakfast.
This page last modified: Wed, April 25, 2018 -- 1:25 pm ET