“Last year, I had a deposit dispute with my landlord. I decided to file a claim, thinking it would be a breeze. The case took 8 months to resolve and was surprisingly pricey. The difficulty of this process seemed to deter many people from filing claims at all. Dealing with this situation made me realize how complicated the court system is. I wanted to make it easier for people to protect their rights.

In response, I founded a company called LegalWin. Our goal was to simplify the filing process for small claims cases, so they could be done online and at a low cost.

Still, there was so much more that needed to be done to make the law accessible for San Francisco’s poorest residents. After spending hours researching volunteer opportunities, I found Open Door Legal.

I reached out to Adrian and offered to help ODL with programming and engineering. He was in, so I built a system that matches pro bono lawyers with cases in their areas of expertise. This system makes it easier for volunteers to get involved in our work.

I believe that everyone with a legal need deserves a lawyer no matter who they are or what situation they’re in. If you don’t have a way to enforce your rights, you don’t really have them. I hope that the work I’ve done for Open Door Legal brings San Francisco one step closer to creating true equal protection under the law.”

Photography © Dale Tan