The Resilient Communities Legal Cafe provides direct legal support to individuals and groups who are working to create new solutions for resilient local economies in Oakland, Berkeley, and beyond! The Legal Cafe will run every week at different locations in the East Bay between February and August 2013.
The Cafe series is a joint effort of SELC and the Green-Collar Communities Clinic (a project of the East Bay Community Law Center). Come, ask us your questions, and join others from your neighborhood who are taking their livelihoods, communities, and economies back!
No appointments necessary! The Resilient Communities Legal Cafe is a first-come, first-serve Legal Advice session. You might be asked to wait, but have no fear! There are always snacks, drinks, collaboration with others, and the Resilient Communities Legal Library available. Feel free to come anytime during the Cafe hours to receive your legal advice.
FREE LEGAL ADVICE! Well, sort of… We have partnered with two community currency organizations to strengthen complimentary currencies in the Bay Area. The Bay Area Community Exchange, or BACE, Timebank is like a local community bank, but they keep track of time. For every hour you spend doing something for someone in your community, you earn one hour of use to have someone do something for you. It is an alternative way to give and receive resources. It’s that simple. Participants of SELC’s Legal Cafe can “Pay-it-forward” by signing up to BACE and crediting SELC the time that we provided you at the Legal Cafe!
SCHEDULE AND LOCATIONS:
- 1st Thursday of Each Month (4:30-7:30 p.m.) @ Liberating Ourselves Locally Makerspace - 1234 23rd Ave, Oakland 94606
- 2nd Wednesday of Each Month @ Location and Time TBA
- 3rd Wednesday of Each Month (4:30-7:30 p.m.) @ the Crossroads Cafe - 942 Stanford Ave., Oakland 94608
- 4th Tuesday of Each Month (6:00-8:30 p.m.) @ the HUB in the David Brower Center – 2150 Allston Way, Suite 400, Berkeley 94704
Questions about the Resilient Communities Legal Cafe? Email ricardo@theselc.org.
If you’ve attended our Resilient Communities Legal Cafe after asking an attorney how much they would charge for the same legal advice, then you know how much you’re saving! Please help SELC continue the Resilient Communities Legal Cafe and give a few dollars here. Thanks!
Why The Resilient Communities Legal Cafe?
SELC believes that because our current economic systems prioritize corporate profits over community resilience, they destroy opportunities for satisfying and sustainable work, damage the environment that sustains us, and unravel our sense of connection to one another. That’s why SELC is committed to providing reliable, affordable, and accessible legal information and advice to the people who are creating alternative economic systems. Through this work, we can help form the enterprises and entrepreneurs that will ring in the new economy.
About the Program
Those who want to create alternative economic structures have difficulty finding affordable and competent legal assistance because there are so few attorneys specialized in the legal needs of the sharing economy. Communities with high rates of unemployment and poverty will find the hurdles to launching new enterprises especially insurmountable. The Resilient Communities Legal Cafe will give direct legal assistance to the residents of East Oakland, and at the same time create the reproducible model and resources to support similar programs around the country.
The Resilient Communities Legal Cafe will provide events, workshops, legal advice clinics, and legal services supporting the creation of, for example:
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Some of the Services
Weekly walk-in clinics. SELC is holding a weekly legal advice clinic at a soon to be announced cafe or community center.
One-time consultations. Resilient Communities Legal Cafe participants have the opportunity to receive one-time advice sessions with an attorney either at a low fee or without charge for low-income individuals.
Workshops. Between February and August, SELC will hold at least three community legal workshops on topics like “Legal Tools for the Sharing Economy,” “Legal Workshops for Community Food Enterprise,” and “How to Start a Worker-Owned Enterprise.” Stay tuned for event times and locations.
Community discussions. At least three guest lectures and discussions will help expand understanding of the sharing economy and cooperative enterprise.
Written resources. We’ve developed a series of legal handbooks and information sheets for clients to use and share with others.
Our Amazing Legal Cafe Attorneys!
Cameron Holland
Cameron Holland, Esq: A native of Oakland and a Berkeley grad, Cameron returned a few years back to her home turf after spending four years as an attorney at the U.S. State Department. She opened a law practice to do what she loves best, helping people and organizations committed to changing the world. Cameron has had a life-long passion for social and economic justice, working in the Peace Corps, at anti-trafficking and international development organizations, and in law school through legal clinics.
Cameron mainly works with nonprofits and social enterprises, both domestically and abroad. Her goal is to have honest, intelligent working relationships with her clients, and get them good legal advice at affordable rates. Find her private practice at www.cameronholland.com.
Cameron’s areas of legal services include:- choosing the best legal entity for the client
- formation of partnerships, LLCs, nonprofits, and corporations
- tax exemption if applicable
- contract review, drafting and negotiation
- liability issues- governance requirements
- financing
- IP agreements and licensing
Sushil Jacob
Sushil Jacob: Sushil Jacob is a Skadden Fellow and Staff Attorney at the East Bay Community Law Center, where he launched the Green-Collar Communities Clinic (GC3). Sushil received his J.D. in 2011 from Boalt Hall. Prior to attending law school, Sushil worked in India for two years on community economic development projects, including Just Change, a large farmer and indigenous cooperative in South India. Inspired by the power of cooperative business development, he focused his law school studies on the intersection of business law with the environmental justice/green jobs movements. He believes in the power of organized communities to win struggles for economic justice and build locally-owned, environmentally responsible businesses.
Sushil’s areas of legal expertise include:
- worker cooperative development
- legal entity formation
- employment law
Camille Pannu
Camille is an Equal Justice Works Fellow and SELC Staff Attorney (sponsored by Hewlett-Packard and Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP) based in California’s rural San Joaquin Valley. She partners with rural and farm worker communities to create community-owned projects that improve health, build residents’ capacity, and support sustainable local economic development. She is humbled and thrilled to work with local communities to restore the beauty and possibility of the Valley.
Raised in Richmond, California, Camille graduated with a B.A. and J.D. from UC Berkeley, where she developed programs and university-community partnerships to address persistent inequality in California’s rural and urban low-income communities of color. In addition to her work with Valley communities, Camille serves on the boards of, and advises, several local and statewide community organizations focused on economic, environmental, and food justice.
Janelle Orsi
Janelle Orsi is the Executive Director and co-founder of the Sustainable Economies Law Center. Outside of her work with SELC, Janelle is an attorney and mediator focused on helping individuals and organizations share resources and create more sustainable communities. Through the Law Office of Janelle Orsi, she works with cooperatives, community gardens, cohousing communities, ecovillages, and others doing innovative work to change the world. She attended UC Berkeley’s Boalt Hall School of Law. In 2010, Janelle was profiled by the American Bar Association as a Legal Rebel, an attorney who is “remaking the legal profession through the power of innovation.” In 2012, Janelle was one of 100 people listed on The (En)Rich List, which names individuals “whose contributions enrich paths to sustainable futures.”
Janelle is author of the book Practicing Law in the Sharing Economy (ABA Books 2012), and co-author of The Sharing Solution: How to Save Money, Simplify Your Life & Build Community (Nolo 2009), a practical and legal guide to cooperating and sharing resources of all kinds.