Spring and Fall 2019 Consumer Justice Clinical Student, Ryan Sun, shares three lesson’s he learned while earning his J.D. and Berkeley Law and participating in our clinic.

As my fellow Berkeley Law graduates and I close this chapter of our lives, we are reminded to appreciate the pillars of support that helped us make it to the end. For me, the Consumer Justice Clinic and the wider East Bay Community Law Center (“EBCLC”) community were some of those pillars. Because I am presumably supposed to have come out of these three years somewhat wiser as well, I would like to share three lessons that clinic has taught me.

It is with great joy that we share with you all today that our Clean Slate Program Coordinator Juan M. Cabrales will be joining Berkeley Law’s Class of 2023 and was awarded the Berkeley Law Opportunity Scholarship covering all tuition expenses!

Juan, a San Diego native, brought his immigration expertise to EBCLC in 2018 as the first Clean Slate Program Coordinator dedicated to “Crimmigration” work. EBCLC is currently one of the only legal service providers in Alameda County that offers crimmigration services at no cost to predominantly low-income people of color. Juan is the son of Mexican immigrants and a first-generation college – and now law school – student. He knows first-hand the impacts over-policing has had on immigrant communities and the vital need to remedy both the broken immigration and criminal justice systems. We interviewed Juan to get an insight into the important work he has done at EBCLC, his journey to Berkeley Law, and the crucial need for reentry advocacy for immigrants during COVID-19.

For more than 30 years, the East Bay Community Law Center has been a lifeline for Alameda County residents who need critical legal services. As the COVID-19 crisis grips the region, the center’s staffers are finding new angles for advocacy—and seizing the chance to shape the post-coronavirus landscape.

The past month has created unprecedented openings to center the values that EBCLC has always held: that housing, economic justice, and community health are all inextricably linked. With your support, we have created and taken all opportunities not just to disrupt business as usual, but also to bring along new allies, lay the groundwork for better systems, and bring new vision to 2020.

We are committed to helping borrowers navigate the complexities of student loan debt because we know how it contributes to the racial wealth gap. And as the country reckons with the devastating consequences of Stop and Frisk, EBCLC is working to address the direct impact of racial profiling in today’s California by fighting fines and fees. I’m especially proud to do this work alongside our newest class of 49 law and social work students, who are here to learn how to take on oppressive systems with courage and creativity. Every day, these new advocates inspire me with the innovative ways they address historical injustices.

We’re proud to share that EBCLC was selected as one of seven community organizations across the Bay to receive funding to work with our local jurisdiction in creating and implementing equitable, innovative housing policy. We’ll channel this investment to build on our five years of legal and policy research, regional coalition-building, and partnerships with community organizations and with the City of Berkeley that’s helped us shape a Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act.

“I am honored to lead EBCLC as we work in partnership with our clients to navigate and disrupt the legal system, and to reimagine justice.”

Long before I joined EBCLC’s Community Economic Justice Clinic as a law student advocate, my great-uncle Alexander Hoffman, who we called “Sascha”, was showing the East Bay what true community lawyering looks like.  Sascha was an activist attorney in Berkeley during the 1960s, representing the demonstrators who opposed the House Un-American Activities Committee and the […]

As Sarah Bauer navigated her undergraduate career at UC Berkeley and then followed her passion to Berkeley Law, she noticed an unfortunate, common issue plaguing her peers – food insecurity, or a lack of access to healthy food.

This month, Ramon Becerra-Alcantar returned to his alma mater to bring free legal services to undocumented students on the campus that helped launch his career as an advocate.