THE EAST BAY COMMUNITY LAW CENTER: AN IDEAL CHOICE FOR CY PRES As a nonprofit organization which provides civil

legal services to the indigent, the East Bay Community Law Center (EBCLC) is eligible for unpaid residuals in class action litigation through cy pres distributions. As a community-based legal clinic with 25 years of building many innovative and effective programs that promote justice through education and advocacy, EBCLC is also an ideal choice for directing cy pres awards. These awards have been an invaluable source of funding for EBCLC and have strengthened our ability to address, challenge, and overcome the root causes of injustice and discrimination. Diverse Programs and Services for Clients As the largest provider of free legal services in Alameda County, EBCLC serves thousands of clients each year on a wide range of legal issues that particularly impact people with limited resources and legal access. Through community legal education and outreach, self-help clinics, collaborative partnerships with legal and non-legal service providers, and direct representation on defense and affirmative cases, EBCLCs legal services are both broad and deep. It is because of this breadth and depth that EBCLCs client community is often as near as possible for the purposes of cy pres funds. Following are EBCLCs multiple law clinics housed within five broad program areas: 1. Fair & Affordable Housing The Housing Clinic is a civil litigation practice that protects and promotes secure, adequate, and affordable housing for low-income tenants. 2. Health & Welfare Rights EBCLC promotes better health access and outcomes by advocating for the retention and expansion of basic safety net programs in two clinics: a. The Health Clinic assists clients with a wide range of legal issues through three projects: (1) an HIV/AIDS law project, (2) a child and family medical-legal partnership, and (3) a public middle school health collaborative. b. The Welfare Clinic works on welfare law and policy to protect basic rights and increase opportunities for education and employment in order to support and sustain selfsufficiency.

3. Economic Security & Opportunity EBCLC works to ensure economic justice for marginalized segments of the population in three clinics: a. The Consumer Law Clinic (see attached description) b. The Clean Slate Clinic provides legal services to help people with criminal records overcome barriers to employment, education, and civic participation. c. The Green-Collar Communities Clinic is a transactional clinic that inspires, informs, and incubates environmentally-sustainable and worker-owned cooperative businesses to promote economically resilient East Bay communities. 4. Immigration The Immigration Clinic provides holistic legal services to (a) vulnerable low-income immigrants, including youth, sexual minorities, and the chronically ill, (b) people living with HIV/AIDS, and (c) the family members of these clients. 5. Youth Education & Justice EBCLCs youth justice advocates work to promote educational success and reduce overrepresentation of low-income young people of color in school discipline and juvenile delinquency proceedings by providing multidisciplinary legal services at the intersection of the juvenile justice system and the education system, through the following: a. As part of the Health Clinic, the Youth Education Advocacy Project represents public school students in special education and school discipline proceedings to support access and success. b. The Youth Defender Clinic represents young people in juvenile delinquency cases, in school discipline hearings, and on collateral legal issues. c. As part of the Clean Slate Clinic, the Starting Over Strong Project provides legal counseling, as well as court and administrative representation, to help clear pathways for young people with prior juvenile records to successfully access educational and employment opportunities. Meaningful Training for Law Students Since our founding in 1988 by students at Berkeley Law School (Boalt Hall), EBCLC has trained over 1,300 law students to be thoughtful, excellent, and ethical legal advocates, all while serving clients in real need. EBCLC alums work in every sector of the legal profession and take with them skills they developed at EBCLC, and often a deep commitment to the public interest of ensuring equal access to law.

EBCLC is grateful to the following law firms and attorneys who have helped to direct cy pres distributions to EBCLC since 2002:
Alexander Community Law Center Alexander Hawes LLP Anderson, Ogilvie & Brewer LLP Audet & Partners, LLP Bingham McCutchen LLP Blumenthal, Nordrehaug & Bhowmik Chavez & Gertler LLP Cohelan Khoury & Singer Cotchett Pitre & McCarthy Fine, Kaplan and Black, R.P.C. The Furth Firm LLP Gillin, Jacobson, Ellis & Larsen Girard Gibbs LLP Goldstein, Borgen, Dardarian & Ho Law Offices of Robert A. Goldstein Green Welling LLP Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP Jeffer, Mangels, Butler & Marmaro, LLP Kaplan Fox & Kilsheimer LLP Kellogg, Huber, Hansen, Todd, Evans & Figel, P.L.L.C. Kemnitzer, Barron & Krieg Law Offices of Paul Kranz Latham & Watkins LLP Law Office of Balm O. Letona, Inc. Lewis, Feinberg, Lee, Renaker & Jackson, P.C. Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP Law Office of Frank E. Mayo The Mogin Law Firm, P.C. Nixon Peabody LLP Parisi & Havens LLP Law Office of Joseph M. Patane Saveri & Saveri, Inc. The Law Offices of Sohnen & Kelly The Sturdevant Law Firm Talamantes Villegas Carrera, LLP Zelle Hofmann Voelbel & Mason, LLP

If you are involved in a class action case and are unable to distribute all the funds, we invite you to consider EBCLC as a cy pres recipient. When a cy pres award is channeled to the EBCLC, you can rest assured the funds will be used in a manner consistent with the intent of the award. We have an excellent track record of successfully receiving and expending foundation, corporate, government, law firm, individual donor, qui tam, and cy pres funds. You can also be certain that facilitating a cy pres distribution will make a significant difference in the lives of Californians who desperately need free civil legal assistance for safety, shelter, and peace of mind. For more information, please contact Jonathon Marley, Director of Development & Planning, 510.548.4040, ext. 321 or marley@ebclc.org

THE CONSUMER JUSTICE LAW CLINIC

ProtectingLowIncomeConsumers The Great Recession wreaked chaos in the financial sector and sent the stock market into a tailspin. Four years later, Wall Street has just about recovered. But ordinary consumers, particularlylowincomeconsumers,havenot. When EBCLC started its opendoor General Law Clinic four years ago, our attorneys were surprisedtofindthatthemostcommonunmetlegalneedamongtheclinicslowincomeclients was responding to debtcollection lawsuits. Partnering with the Alameda County courts and the Bar Associations Volunteer Legal Services Corporation, EBCLC has already assisted more than 2,000 consumers who have been sued over old credit card debts often debts that are not theirs,ornotintherightamount,ornotwithinthestatuteoflimitations. Consumers at EBCLC frequently face debt buyers who have purchased their accounts for a few cents on the dollar and who routinely seize wages or bank accounts if as is the norm consumers cannot find help and do not defend the debt buyers lawsuits against them. EBCLCs law students and supervising attorneys work to protects consumers against unfair debt collection practices, and to ensure that scarce judicial resources are devoted to legitimate andsubstantiateddebtcollectionclaims. Aspartofitsefforts,EBCLCsConsumerJusticeLawClinic: Enablesproperlitigantstobeeffectiveselfadvocates Stabilizesincomeforlowincomefamiliesandindividuals Facilitatesapartmentrentalbyremovingdefaultjudgments Protectslowincomehomeownersfromcreditorliens Trainsandsupervisesprobonoattorneysonconsumerprotectionlawandlitigation Files affirmative claims against creditors who have engaged in illegal debt collection practices Develops and advocates for policies to improve business practices for debtors and other consumers Litigates against flybynight operations victimizing nonEnglish speaking immigrant populations Educates consumers through materials and outreach about deceptive, unfair, illegal, and/orpredatoryconsumerprogramsandpractices Provides law students the opportunity to participate in EBCLCs consumer protection work: writing motions, propounding and responding to discovery, and preparing for andgoingtotrial. In order to support our consumer protection work, the East Bay Community Law Center relies on generous contributions from donors, including cy pres funding. All donations allow EBCLC to strengthen programs through increased staff support, pro bono attorney training, and expandedservicestoclients.

THE CONSUMER JUSTICE LAW CLINIC

ClientStories Following is a sample of stories from clients that the Consumer Justice Law Clinic has assisted duringthepast15months: Graciela paid $1,700 to become franchise owner in a janitorial company, which meant she paid for the privilege of getting work cleaning office buildings. However, even the promised work never materialized. She had signed a 30page contract in English, even though Graciela only speaks Spanish and only communicated with the company representatives in Spanish. The Consumer Justice Law Clinic got her money back. Almawassuedbyadebtcollectoronadebtsheneverhad.Itturnedoutshewasthe victim of extensive identity theft. The Consumer Justice Law Clinic was able to get the creditor to dismiss the lawsuit against Alma and to help Alma clean up her ruined credit.AlmathenbecameavolunteeratEBCLCsimmigrationclinic. HassanrespondedtoaCraigsListaddtoparticipateinasummertechnologytraining program that would place him in a job and secure him a work visa. The program was run out of a garage with outdated materials. The company fabricated Hassans resume to market him to potential employers. When Hassan left the program because he thoughtthecompanywasunethical,thecompanysuedhim.TheConsumerJusticeLaw Clinicfiledacrosscomplaint. Delphinewassuedthreetimesbyamanforbreachofanoralcontracttheyneverhad, in an attempt to use the court process to harass Delphine for personal favors. The Consumer Justice Law Clinic took the he said, she said case to trial and won a definitiveverdictforDelphine. Carolina is a monolingual Spanish speaker who bought a car at a dealership after negotiatingwiththesalespersoninSpanish.ShewasonlygivenanEnglishcontractthat she could not read. She found out that there were unexplained contract terms that she could not afford. The dealer refused to cancel the contract. The Consumer Justice Law Clinic made the dealer cancel the contract because they did not provide Carolina with a Spanishcontract.