Legal Organization Directory

The Public Defender represents clients with active criminal cases or warrants in their county, assuming the client cannot afford a private attorney. While your client may not know the name of their public defender, and the public defenders can be hard to reach, they are the best suited to assist the client unless the client wants to pay for private counsel.

If the client has questions related to criminal actions, or potential criminal actions, in another County, they must contact the public defenders office in that county and/or the federal public defenders for that region.

Self-Help at the Law Library (SH@LL) provides free general legal info and basic legal help to people representing themselves. They can help you understand your options and—in certain cases—help you fill out forms and provide instructions for filing and next steps. They do not give legal advice or do legal research.

Attorneys assist with domestic violence and elder abuse restraining order petitions. Note, this is a collaboration with the Sacramento County District Attorney’s office.

This is the Bar Association’s intake line that connects callers to private lawyers. Private attorney referrals are usually most applicable for low-income populations when there is no non-profit help available, or for cases where there might be funds recovered to pay an attorney (personal injury, a lawsuit against someone to recover funds for some kind of damage, SSI/SSDI, insurance cases, etc.).

Community mediation and court-connected mediation services for various non-criminal disputes, like business or neighbor disagreements. There is a sliding-fee schedule and no one is turned away for an inability to pay.

Small Claims Advisors will help you with the small claims process but cannot give legal advice.

The Reentry Success Center partners with the Pro Bono Project to provide legal support in the areas of record clearance, family law, and housing.

Senior Advocacy Network provides free or low-cost legal services to senior citizens in Stanislaus County on a range of legal issues (eviction and pre-eviction, wills, consumer, elder abuse, guardianships, public benefits).