Legal Professionals, Worker Co-op Members, Students, and Aspiring and Current Business Owners!

The team at the EBCLC Community Economic Justice clinic is preparing a workshop on commercial leases. Do you have questions or particular areas of interest regarding commercial evictions? You can let us know prior to the event through this form in English or this form in Spanish; your answers are anonymous unless you choose to identify yourself.

About the Presenters: Sara Ramsey, Sarah Lucey, Jer'Ron Dinwiddie, Jay Cumberland, and Paola Eisner, law students and legal clerks at the EBCLC's CEJ clinic, will be facilitating this teach-in. You can get in touch with them at peisner@ebclc.org.

This teach-in is a part of the Law Center's Resilient Communities Legal Cafe. The Sustainable Economies Law Center provides direct legal support to individuals and groups who are working to create new solutions for resilient local economies. The Resilient Communities Legal Cafe is a first-come, first-serve, donation-based legal advice clinic, providing a collaborative space for community building and connecting.

This Legal Cafe is hosted by Alchemy Collective Cafe, a worker-owned cooperative business that serves delicious coffee and pastries! And, they host our Legal Cafes at NO CHARGE to the Law Center! Thanks, Alchemy!!!

Everyone is welcome to attend this cafe. 

Interested in legal advice only? Please RSVP here. 

El equipo de justicia económico comunitario en EBCLC está preparando un taller sobre desalojo de los arrendamientos comerciales que se llevará a cabo el 13 de noviembre, 2018, 5-5:45pm, en Alchemy Collective Cafe (1741 Alcatraz Ave, Berkeley, CA 94703). Si Ud. tiene preguntas or areas de interés sobre el desalojo de los arrendamientos comerciales, Ud. puede compartirlos en nuestro cuestionario anónimo o en el cuestionario en ingles.

By Sustainable Economies Law Center Staff Attorney, Cameron Rhudy

It’s Here, it’s Here, it’s Finally Here! Our Guide to Starting a Legal Cafe

Over the years we have received many inquiries from attorneys who want to start legal clinics  in their community that resemble our Resilient Communities Legal Cafe. In response, we have created our Practical Guide to Starting a Legal Cafe, a comprehensive guide for how to do just that. In the guide you will learn how to get the basics of your Legal Cafe in place and how to create that unique Legal Cafe experience. The guide also includes sample intake documents and a breakdown of tasks for scheduling and planning your Legal Cafe. 

Start a Legal Cafe in Your Community!

Thank you for your interest in starting a Legal Cafe in your community. Below you will find a working draft of our "Practical Guide to Starting a Legal Cafe."

View and Download the Practical Guide to Starting a Legal Cafe here

NOTE: This guide is a work-in-progress and will be updated as we continue to improve upon our Legal Cafe and receive feedback from those interested in starting a Legal Cafe in their community. So please help us continue to improve this guide by sending your questions, feedback, or comments about the guide to cameron@theselc.org. 

DISCLAIMER

THE CONTENTS OF THIS GUIDE SHOULD NOT BE RELIED ON AS LEGAL ADVICE.

ALSO, SOME OF THIS INFORMATION COULD BECOME OUTDATED, AND LAWS AND REGULATION OF THE PRACTICE OF LAW VARIES FROM PLACE-TO-PLACE. FURTHERMORE, ALTHOUGH WE TRIED TO COLLECT ACCURATE INFORMATION, SOME INFORMATION IN THIS GUIDE COULD EVEN TURN OUT TO BE INCORRECT OR SUBJECT TO OTHER INTERPRETATIONS BY COURTS OR REGULATORS! WE SURE HOPE THAT’S NOT THE CASE, BUT, WHAT CAN WE SAY? LAW AND REGULATION OF THE PRACTICE OF LAW IS COMPLICATED STUFF! THAT IS WHY WE STRONGLY RECOMMEND THAT YOU REFER TO ANY APPLICABLE LAWS, RULES, AND REGULATIONS THAT APPLY TO THE LOCATION OF YOUR LEGAL CAFE.

About the Guide

In February of 2013, the Sustainable Economies Law Center (SELC) created an unusual “legal clinic” that we call the Resilient Communities Legal Cafe (Legal Cafe). Three years later, after providing legal support to more than 500 enterprises and organizations, and offering workshops for more than 2000 attendees, we have come to believe that the Legal Cafe is one of the most important and impactful projects our organization has ever created. The Legal Cafe has been instrumental in the launch of countless new micro-enterprises and organizations because of its community-oriented approach and unique strategy for providing accessible grassroots legal advice to community-focused entrepreneurs and change-makers. Part of that strategy was transforming the experience of receiving legal advice into a welcoming, lively, and empowering one for clients. In 2014, we received meritorious recognition from the American Bar Association Standing Committee on the Delivery of Legal Services for our innovations in legal service delivery.

We have heard from groups around the world who are interested in replicating the model. This Guide represents our best attempt to document lessons learned and share resources we have created. Our Legal Cafe has evolved in many ways and we are constantly improving it. We hope to update this Guide regularly by incorporating new ideas not only from SELC’s Legal Cafe, but also from groups that start their own Legal Cafes based on this model.

Find out what others say about their experience at the Legal Cafe!

We want to live in a society where reliable and affordable legal support is available to all those creating the transition to localized, resilient economies.

The primary way that the Sustainable Economies Law Center provides legal advice is through our Resilient Communities Legal Cafe.

The Resilient Communities Legal Cafe provides direct legal advice, workshops, teach-ins, discussions, and legal services to businesses and organizations that are trying to make their communities a better place to live. Legal advice is provided on a first-come, first-serve basis, so no appointment is necessary. Find our where the next Legal Cafe is and sign up here!

At the Legal Cafes, our staff and volunteers specialize in serving cooperatives, nonprofits, cottage food businesses, social enterprises, urban farms, complimentary currencies, time banks, and small businesses. We provide advice and legal consultations around the following legal areas: 

• Legal formation for small businesses 

• Legal entity choice 

• Employment law 

• Securities law 

• Tax law 

• Contracts 

• Liability issues 

• IP agreements and licensing  

• Environmental Law 

• Food Safety Laws 

Seeking ongoing legal representation?

Due to limited staff capacity, the Sustainable Economies Law Center very rarely provides ongoing legal representation. Nearly all of our past clients have come through the Resilient Communities Legal Cafe first, so why not start there?!  

We are only able to provide low- or no-cost legal advice because of the generous support of people like you! Support our capacity to provide legal services for a people powered economy here and see why others support our work here!