Stories

The heart of poverty is injustice. The way that we choose to treat one another contributes to high poverty rates across America. And the easiest way to see that is through stories.

Portraits

Sumaya

Sumaya

“Since they had an Arabic-speaking person, they felt connected and confident in wanting to actually tell their story.”

Brandon

Brandon

“I strongly believe in the organization’s mission of providing civil justice to individuals who otherwise can’t afford legal services, and that the ability to pay should not be what decides whether the law can work for you or not.”

Tara

Tara

“I saw just how the criminal justice system and the whole court system kept my family down. I realized that I wanted to give a voice to those who don’t have anyone or have a voice for themselves.”

Pasa

Pasa

“When I moved my family across the globe, I thought that was the end of my problems. Then came the mold.

Mary

Mary

“I’ve always advocated for the well being of families in my classroom, so my next challenge seemed obvious: fighting for them in court.”

Dele

Dele

“The only thing that stood in my way was 50 hours of pro bono work. A friend suggested that I volunteer at Open Door Legal– I decided to give it a shot.”

Jona

Jona

“My mother’s family was upper middle class until the government seized their land and property. They were left with practically nothing; my mother had to start from scratch.”

Harold

Harold

“That’s when a debt collector showed up at my work saying I owed over $23,000– I had no idea what he was talking about. Still, my wages were being garnished; I wasn’t sure if I could make rent.”

Ange

Ange

“For example, one Friday, around a quarter till five, everyone was about to head out for the weekend. In walks a client in tears; her husband had abused her. She tried to get help from multiple other legal aid organizations but they all turned her away. We were her only option left.”

Monique

Monique

“After we won, the client pulled us aside. ‘Never forget,’ she told us, ‘that you saved a little girl’s life.'”

Heidi

Heidi

“Open Door Legal has taught me the power of passion. Passionate people can catalyze change and transform communities. I see that fire within everyone who works here. It is not enough to recognize injustice– to make a difference, you must be dedicated to fighting it.”

Pauline

Pauline

“Suddenly, my rent increased by $2,000. That was more than my income. I felt filled to the brim with stress. This is where my family celebrated Christmas – getting evicted meant losing my family’s home base.”

Virginia

Virginia

“My client never thought that she could get help for living in mold and mildew; that was everyday life for her. And we didn’t stop there. ‘Do you have any custody issues? Do you need to speak with a social worker? We can help you with that too.’”

Spencer

Spencer

“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.”

Reginald

Reginald

“Because of the accident, I was taking 7 meds a day and needed to use a cane to walk. I had to leave my job. The other driver admitted to causing the accident – yet I never got compensated. I tried to reach out to my employer about this but he wouldn’t answer my calls.”

Anna

Anna

“Fighting for people matters. We have to claw, sweat, and bleed for the people around us. We need to put ourselves out there and protect each other, because if not, who else will?”

Anca

Anca

“In every elderly client, I see my own parents and grandparents. I get to learn about their lives and their families. In many ways, Bayview is similar to my home in Romania: access to legal aid is limited, and if we don’t help, no one else will.”

Charlene

Charlene

One time, he said he was going to pick her up from school but he never came. I had to stop what I doing and rush to get her. It was terrifying, learning that my young daughter had been left all alone. I worried for her safety.

Thea

Thea

“I saw how access to legal help can change someone’s life and lift them out of poverty. It was then that I realized I wanted to go into public interest law.”

Belinda

Belinda

“Since childhood, I’ve seen the barriers that keep people from what’s rightfully theirs. Now I get to help these people fight back.”

Zoe

Zoe

“We went outside our roles as attorneys and just interacted with our clients as human beings.”

Omar

Omar

I saw a lot of poverty and economic depression growing up in Ohio. Now that I am a lawyer, I’m able to see how much this experience has influenced me. I want to use my law degree to help low-income communities and to ensure that people, like my clients, get the treatment they deserve.

Hilary

Hilary

To me, it’s all about using my education and experiences to make the law work for everyone. That San Francisco was and remains very segregated has always bothered me. I want to fight this and protect underserved communities. I’ve always wanted to go into social justice work, and that’s where I want to stay.

Zulaika

Zulaika

“One day my landlord told me that she was selling the building. When the new owners came, they said my kids and I had to leave. They wanted to kick me out of my own home. I was lost on what to do: I didn’t want to move, but I didn’t want an eviction on my record, especially when I had done nothing wrong.”

Anne

Anne

Open Door Legal doesn’t help the community as outsiders; they’re integrated into the community. They have shown me what it means to be empathetic and understanding. I’m able to see what it looks like to treat people as humans and to serve, respect, and represent people even though they may not have a ton of money or power.

Cassaundra

Cassaundra

My landlord gave me a 30-day notice, saying he was going to move in. He harassed me and made my life miserable. He left me without heating for months. He let me live with dead rodents and refused to patch a hole in the roof. I went to the Mayor’s office for help, and they referred me to an org who said they couldn’t help me. But walking down Third Street, I saw the sign for Open Door Legal and decided to come in.

Becky

Becky

One of my first cases was against a major insurance company who was accusing our clients of fraud. I’ve never seen someone treated as bad as our clients were. The way the adverse counsel acted … I thought it was reserved for documentaries from 50 years ago. This is supposed to be San Francisco in 2017!

Tasha

Tasha

Tasha An Employment Law Client I wouldn’t be here today without Open Door Legal. They listened, validated how I felt. They were honest with me. They helped me get therapy and put on the road to get better. Nobody else I talked to would listen to me, or even validate...

Kimberly

Kimberly

Kimberly Litigation Fellow I learned more in those three months than I did in the rest of law school combined. The hands-on experience made me realize how much I enjoyed legal aid. I wanted to keep doing it. It just felt right. I like how we do all the things. "I grew...

Philip

Philip

Philip Consumer Attorney I found Open Door Legal’s website and was stunned. When I got hired, I couldn’t believe it. It’s like my first great chance to follow my dreams. At first, it was so challenging, like being back in law school, every day a new issue to explore....

LaChelle

LaChelle

LaChelle A Housing Law Client I found Open Door Legal and we were able to get additional evidence and a new hearing. Even then, they tried to dispute. They became focused on proving me wrong, not on fixing the problem. It was insulting. You know, sometimes...

Alex

Alex

Alex A Housing Law Fellow The people [at Open Door Legal] are wonderful and committed. It feels like it’s becoming an integrated part of the community in a way that’s only been previously dreamed of. The accomplishments are remarkable. "I’ve had a lot of...

Chelena

Chelena

Chelena A Family Law Client It was tough always having to find childcare to go to court. All the hearings forced me to constantly change my work schedule and ask for time off: that lost me a few jobs. I tried paying for an attorney but it was pointless,...

Cynthia

Cynthia

Cynthia A Staff Paralegal One case I worked on involved an elderly woman being defrauded from her home. I knew there were bad actors in the real estate space, but I didn’t realize how sophisticated the scams were. It’s an issue that will affect the seniors...

Joe

Joe

Joe A Housing Law Client There’s no way I could have paid the new rent. It’s more than my disability check. There’s nowhere else I could have gone. I’ve lived in San Francisco since I was 3 years old. You look for places and they aren’t there no more ... I'd be...

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Open Door Legal
PO Box #369
San Francisco, CA 94112

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Ever since childhood, our co-founder Adrian has been dedicated to reducing poverty.

He studied systemic poverty in college and went to work in the field for a few years. Eventually, he had a thesis that legal aid was the most cost-effective way to address poverty in America. He wrote up a business plan and used it to apply to law school. 

The idea was to create the country’s first system of universal access to civil legal representation that ensures everyone can obtain timely, competent legal help for any legal issue, regardless of ability to pay. That had never been done before in the history of the United States.

In law school, he met Virginia, our Programs Director. Together, they co-founded the organization, two weeks after Adrian passed the bar.

When we opened we put a sign in the window, and with just that marketing and almost no other outreach we were overwhelmed with requests for help from people with good cases who had been turned away everywhere else.

Our first year we had revenue of $35,000. We would hand shred documents because a shredder was too expensive. Despite the financial challenges, we were able to work on over 280 cases in everything from housing law to family law to consumer law in the first year alone.

The hours were extreme, the pay was low, and the learning curve was steep. Still, we persisted. We knew that almost everyone we helped was not able to receive services anywhere else. Eventually, we attracted the interest of funders. We tripled our revenue for several years in a row. In 2015, we won the Bay Area Google Impact Challenge, which enabled us to expand even more. In 2019, we secured additional funding from the city that allowed us to open two new centers in the Excelsior and Western Addition.

As of 2020, our staff has grown to 27 full-time employees. We’ve shown that universal access is possible. Now, we plan to scale city-wide, make San Francisco the first city in the country’s history to have universal access to legal help, and become a model for national replication.

CITATIONS

1. American University, Key Studies and Data About How Legal Aid Improves Housing Outcomes https://www.american.edu/spa/jpo/toolkit/upload/housing-7-30-19.pdf

2. George Washington Law School, In Pursuit of Justice? Case Outcomes and the Delivery of Unbundled Legal Services https://scholarship.law.gwu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi