California Economic Justice Initiative

In partnership with Housing and Economic Rights Advocates, a statewide, legal nonprofit based in Oakland and supported by California state court cy pres awards, NCLC’s California Economic Justice Initiative allows us to work specifically in California when low-income consumers face difficulties in the marketplace. We offer our consumer law expertise, recognized in California and throughout the country, to California legal service attorneys, private attorneys, and advocacy organizations who share our goals of consumer justice.

Our approaches include:

Case Consultations

NCLC offers consultations to practitioners representing low-income California clients on consumer issues. Technical assistance is also provided in the form of NCLC’s expert testimony, and by NCLC co-counseling or referring cases to other California consumer lawyers.

Training

NCLC provides consumer law training for legal services programs, private lawyers, pro bono programs, and government agencies in our state. A number of eligible California attorneys will be awarded partial scholarships to attend NCLC’s annual four-day Consumer Rights Litigation Conference and additional trainings.

Listserv 

NCLC runs a listserv for California-based legal services attorneys and other nonprofit advocates to share information and collaborate on legal issues facing low-income consumers.

Policy Advocacy

NCLC engages in legislative advocacy on behalf of low income clients and responds to requests for information within our expertise from the media and policymakers.

Public Education

NCLC develops educational brochures, analyses, and other special reports on issues important to California consumers. 

Special Projects 

NCLC can undertake special projects targeting specific abuses and issues or special populations, including absent class members, designed to bring greater fairness and justice to the consumer marketplace.

We know that, as we build and support the practices of a growing body of California consumer attorneys, we are expanding low-income consumers’ access to the protections of consumer law.

Lauren Saunders, Managing Attorney of NCLC’s Washington, DC office, is the Director of the California Economic Justice Initiative.  LSaunders@nclcdc.org.

Heidi Li, Esq. and Maeve Elise Brown, Esq., Co-Directors of Housing and Equal Rights Advocates (HERA) in Oakland, California, are the Initiative’s California Coordinators.  Email: inquiries@heraca.org.  HERA’s website is www.heraca.org.  

For information on directing a cy pres to NCLC, contact Will Ogburn wogburn@nclc.org or Rich DuBois rdubois@nclc.org in NCLC’s Boston office.