Disability Rights California

Potential clients seeking legal help from Disability Rights California - please call our intake unit at 800-776-5746, submit a request online with the DRC Intake form, or review self-help materials on our website: https://www.disabilityrightsca.org/publications.
Potential volunteers are always welcome! Volunteers assist staff by interviewing clients and providing them with information, working on individual and class action litigation, legal research, networking with community groups, conducting outreach and know-your rights trainings to community groups, etc. 

 

Disability Rights California (DRC) is the agency designated under federal law to protect and advocate for the rights of Californians with disabilities. Our California Office of Patients' Rights (COPR) advocates for the rights of people in the State Hospitals who have a psychiatric disability or emotional impairment. Our Office of Clients' Rights Advocacy (OCRA) assists individuals with developmental disabilities who are clients of California's Regional Centers.

 

DRC's Legal Advocacy Unit provides free legal advice to Californians with disabilities in several civil legal areas of law: Civil rights; Education; Employment; Healthcare/Home & Community-Based Services; Housing; Voting; and regional center services. DRC's work includes: Information and Referral, Investigation of Abuse and Neglect, Legal Representation & Rights Protection, Education & Outreach, and Public Policy Advocacy. Our priorities include enforcing and advancing the rights of Californians with intellectual and developmental disabilities, and ensuring that people with disabilities have access to mental health services and housing. We also provide short-term assistance to people with disabilities throughout California who are: (1) representing themselves in eviction cases or who have received eviction notices, (2) at risk of homelessness, or (3) in need of reasonable accommodations/modifications in their housing. We also work with clients in locked facilities, including mental hospitals, developmental centers, nursing facilities, juvenile halls, jails and immigration detention.

  • County(s) of Volunteer Opportunity: Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Diego
  • Area of law: Civil Rights, Disability, Education, Health, Housing, Prisoners, Civil Rights, Disability, Education, Health, Mental Health, Housing, Prisoners, Public Benefits, Employment
  • Populations Served: Individuals with physical/mental disabilities, Low Income people with disabilities
  • Opportunities For: Law school clinic, Law Students, Lawyers, Paralegals, Senior Lawyers
  • Need for non-English services: Spanish
  • Hours for Pro Bono Opportunities: Monday-Friday 9am-5pm, Weekends, Monday-Friday 9am-5pm, weekends as needed
  • Malpractice insurance is provided for volunteers: No
  • Training Provided: No
  • Training Required: No
  • CLE credit for trainings: No
  • CLE credit for pro bono: No
  • Mentoring or supervision offered: No
  • Volunteer lawyers need to meet a caseload or hours requirement: Yes
  • Types of projects in need of Pro Bono help: Client counseling (e.g., brief advice), Client intake and screening, Draft legal documents (e.g., briefs), Hotline staffing, Legal Research, Litigation: Appellate, Litigation: Class actions, Litigation: Impact
  • Other Project Types: Client counseling (e.g., brief advice), Client intake and screening, Draft legal documents (e.g., briefs), Hotline staffing, Legal Research, Litigation: Appellate, Litigation: Class actions, Litigation: Impact
  • Volunteers may participate long-distance: Yes
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