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The
San Francisco Bay Area
Volunteer Legal Services Program
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| The Volunteer Legal Services Program ("VSLP")
provides free legal aid for traditionally underserved members
of the San Francisco Bay Area, primarily through the use
of volunteer resources, to help create positive and lasting
change in clients' lives. VLSP pioneered a holistic
approach for legal aid that combines the provision of legal
services with supporting social services to fully address
the complex array of interrelated issues these clients
must
resolve in order to improve their quality of life. |
| In 1977, attorney James Brosnahan, then president of
the
Bar Association of San Francisco, led a group that mobilized
the City's legal community to respond to a growing,
unmet need. They had come to realize that government-funded,
staff-based program did not have the resources, nor the
capacity, to meet all of the legal needs of the City's
poor -- more was needed. Determined to help its members
provide legal services for those who were being left behind,
the Bar launched VLSP in April 1977, hoping it would serve
as a catalyst to involve more Bar members in pro bono work
for the poor. |
| "The problem of representing the poor
is so pressing and of such a dimension,"
wrote Mr. Brosnahan that year, "That
its resolution will require 50 hours a year
by each lawyer in the city
a culture
that promises 'equal justice under
the
law' creates an expectation of full
legal
representation. Not to fulfill those expectations
creates structural cracks in the very foundation
of our society. On each individual lawyer
rests the responsibility to represent the
poor." |
| VLSP operated as a small project of the
Bar
Association until it came under the direction
of Tanya Neiman in 1982. As described in
the
program celebrating the VSLP's 25th
Anniversary,
"Neiman's dedication to addressing
poverty and creating real change in people's
lives fostered the growth of VLSP and led
to a paradigm shift for legal services programs
across the country. She invented the phrase
'holistic advocacy' as it applies
to legal aid and is the founder of the approach
to advocacy that places helping the client
move forward, rather than simply overcoming
a crisis." |
| Today, VLSP is the largest and the only
fully
comprehensive legal services program in San
Francisco. Through its poverty programs,
more
than 20,000 clients annually receive advice,
information and representation in virtually
every area of civil law. In 2001, volunteers
donated over 56,000 hours of services worth
more than $10.2 million to help San Francisco's
neediest. |
| VLSP is able to help a large number of
people
in need by relying upon a core staff to recruit,
train, and support a pool of more than 1,400
active legal volunteers. By providing high
quality one-on-one assistance, volunteers
are able to make a tremendous difference
in
the lives of a poor family facing an illegal
eviction, an abused woman wanting to create
a safe home for herself and her children,
a senior who finds himself the victim of
fraud,
a child with a disability who needs disability
benefits to pay for specialized care, or
a
nonprofit agency that needs business assistance
to help it fulfill its mission. |
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The
VLSP's 25th Anniversary Dinner

James Brosnahan, founder of the VLSP.
Elizabeth J. Cabraser, accepting her 2002
VLSP Champion of Justice award.

San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown, Jr., presents
a commendation to VLSP Director Tanya Neiman.

VLSP Director Tanya Neiman. |
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| Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP, is proud to
support VLSP in its efforts to bring about permanent change
in the lives of the San Francisco Bay Areass most
vulnerable residents. On October 9, 2002, the VSLP marked
its 25th Anniversary. At the event, Teveia Barnes, the Executive
Director of the San Francisco Bar Association, presented
Elizabeth J. Cabraser the Bars first Champion of Justice
Award for her financial contributions to the VSLP. To learn
more about the VLSP and how to contribute to and support
the program, please visit
the VLSP website. |
| Lieff
Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP is a fifty-plus
attorney law firm that has represented plaintiffs nationwide
since 1972. We have offices in San Francisco, New York
and Nashville. We represent plaintiffs in class and
group actions and in individual lawsuits in cases involving
substantial losses. For the last five years, the National
Law Journal has selected Lieff
Cabraser as one of the top plaintiffs' law firms in
the nation. |
| This website is sponsored by Lieff Cabraser
Heimann & Bernstein,
LLP, a national plaintiffs' law firm. |
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LIEFF CABRASER HEIMANN & BERNSTEIN, LLP |
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| Notice: Lieff
Cabraser attorneys provide legal advice and practice law for clients in
federal district courts throughout the United States and in state courts
where we are licensed to practice. In states in which our lawyers are not
licensed to practice, we have affiliations with local attorneys who serve
as co-counsel with our firm. Please read our disclaimer. |
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Copyright © 2008 Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein,
LLP |
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