Legal Organization Directory

Balance (formerly Consumer Credit Counseling Service of San Francisco), is a free consumer credit counseling service based in San Francisco, but available to people nationwide.

Balance helps with: budgeting, debt management, reviewing and understanding credit reports, identity theft, bankruptcy, student loans, home ownership, and foreclosure prevention.

Conflict Intervention Service (CIS) helps low-income SF tenants and their landlords mediate disputesthat jeopardize housing stability. CIS can help the parties with issues such as late rent, neighbor conflicts, hoarding issues, and others.

CIS offers guidance and assistance through its helpline, plus mediation to the parties when appropriate. CIS cannot assist when an eviction proceeding is pending.

JDC’s Family Law Project assists low-income individuals and families with family law and related probate matters including divorce, legal separation, nullity, parentage, domestic abuse, guardianship, conservatorship, and domestic violence restraining orders.

The Tenant Advocacy Project (TAP) assists low-income tenants in San Francisco to avoid eviction by negotiating with landlords, rent boards, master tenants and property managers. TAP does NOT assist with eviction lawsuits.

TAP is able to support with: rent disputes, rental assistance (ERAP) advice and help, housing conditions/ repairs, income re-certifications, subsidy terminations, disability accommodations, other disputes with landlords/property managers.

California Human Development (CHD) is a non-profit organization that provides legal immigration services to low-income Californians.

Legal assistance is offered to low-income individuals and Tribes on a wide variety of issues involving Federal Indian law including Indian Child Welfare, land, student rights, cultural resource protection, public benefits, Indian Wills and probates, unsealing birth records and more.

The Sacramento Office prioritizes the following cases: drafting Indian wills, expungement services (CA convictions only), unsealing birth records to establish tribal connection, Fair Chance Act issues, veterans eligible for the Military Discharge Upgrade Project (change of status for veterans with less than honorable discharge status to become eligible for benefits).

California Lawyers for the Arts (CLA) provides alternative dispute resoluution/mediation services for creative artists, arts organizations, inventors — or anyone with an arts or innovation-related legal question.

California Lawyers for the Arts (CLA) provides referrals to attorneys.

California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation (CRLAF) helps low-income people in rural communities with legal issues including immigration, housing, and work issues.

CRLA provides a range of legal services (work, housing, education, health, immigration, environmental justice) to rural Californians.

Programs include: Tenant Justice, Agriculture & Farmworkers, and Immigration (limited in San Joaquin County to serving Afghan refugees and limited in Stanislaus County to serving immigrants seeking asylum based on LGBT+ grounds, VAWA, T-visas and U-visas).

CRLA also provides help with public benefits, education issues, and offers a LGBT+ program (name and gender change, etc.) for Stanislaus County residents.

Capital Pro Bono helps low-income people with legal advice and assistance when there is no non-profit help available.