Please note: The Justice & Diversity Center of the Bar Association of San Francisco (JDC) is an affiliate of the Bar Association of San Francisco, and, as such, JDC’s expenses are listed in BASF’s audited Consolidated Statement of Functional Expenses.

Click here to view BASF's Consolidated Statement of Functional Expenses

Organizational Programs Narrative Descriptions

JDC Program Services: PBLS/HAP Legal Services
The Justice & Diversity Center of the Bar Association of San Francisco (JDC) has operated its Pro Bono Legal Services (PBLS) and Homeless Advocacy Project (HAP) for more than three decades as the core of its Legal Service offerings. These programs offer free comprehensive civil legal services for low-income residents of San Francisco, the greater Bay Area, and, rarely, other California counties. PBLS addresses legal needs related to family law, domestic violence, tax issues, custody and visitation, conservatorship, pre-eviction housing advocacy, nonprofit community-based organization formation and advocacy, and other general civil legal issues.

HAP, meanwhile, is based in the Tenderloin neighborhood of San Francisco and serves individuals who are homeless or at imminent risk of homelessness, specifically targeting those with mental health and substance use disorders. These individuals can receive legal advocacy related to eviction prevention, benefits access, and affirmative immigration remedies. Individuals can access these services via weekly open intake clinics at the HAP facility – please check website for current clinic schedule.

JDC Program Services: Immigration Program
JDC’s Immigrant Legal Defense Project (ILDP) includes two projects that overlap to serve vulnerable immigrants and strive for their universal representation. JDC is the legal lead member of the San Francisco Immigrant Legal Defense Collaborative (SFILDC), which is the local rapid response and legal representation network for San Francisco. JDC also directly operates the Attorney of the Day (AOD) program, which provides legal consultations to thousands of immigrants who lack representation before the San Francisco Immigration Court and connects as many of them as possible to free legal counsel. The AOD program also operates pro se clinics at least twice annually, at which immigrants and refugees meet one-on-one with pro bono attorneys to complete and submit pro se applications, greatly improving the likelihood that they will be allowed to remain in the United States.

JDC Program Services: Diversity Educational Programs
JDC’s Diversity Pipeline Programs promote legal education for low-income and disadvantaged students who aspire to legal careers. The programs transform student’s lives through mentoring by our volunteers and generous donations from the legal community to make their legal careers possible. The programs include college and state legislative field trips, college readiness counseling, SAT and LSAT prep courses, and law school scholarships. Diversity Pipeline Programs provide services and resources to more than 600 underserved youth annually in areas that include: college readiness counseling, SAT prep courses, and financial planning for students and their families through our School-to-College program; critical thinking and analytical skills coaching through our Mock Trial program; and workplace and job training/mentoring through our Law Academy job placement program.

JDC Program Services: Cooperative Restraining Order Clinic
The Cooperative Restraining Order Clinic (CROC) assists domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking victims obtain restraining orders and child custody orders to protect themselves and their children from their abusers.  JDC is CROC’s fiscal sponsor, having sat on the Advisory Board that formed CROC in 1984 and remaining in close collaboration ever since. JDC and CROC have partnered on many projects, with our staff members closely coordinating services, fundraising, and operations.

BASF Program Services: Membership
BASF is a professional membership organization that connects attorneys, law students, law firms, government agencies, law enforcement, court personnel, and other legal professionals. Membership in BASF gives these professionals access to training and technical assistance offerings, referral and networking opportunities, and other professional development programs and services. To promote BASF membership and its benefits to legal professionals, BASF operates this Membership program, through which BASF staff promote membership, enroll new members, and connect members to each other.

BASF Program Services: Publications
BASF produces several publications, including the annual online SF Attorney Magazine and a monthly BASF Bulletin. Producing and publishing these publications requires BASF spend funding on technology, events, fees and subscriptions, and other necessary costs.

BASF Program Services: Alternative Dispute Resolution
As a service to the public and its Courts, BASF operates an Alternative Dispute Resolution Service, which seeks to resolve legal conflicts before they rise to the level of filing a law suit. These disputes may be between landlords and tenants, businesses, or almost any kinds of parties to a conflict. We employ and contract with professional arbitrators and mediators to provide neutral conflict intervention and mediation services. These services help the public resolve conflicts, while preventing those conflicts from entering the formal legal system, where they would require much greater public resources to adjudicate.

BASF Program Services: Continuing Legal Education
Providing Continuing Legal Education (CLE) services to BASF members requires staff time and other agency costs to secure trainers, set up the space, operate registration, provide refreshments, produce CLE certificates, and other costs necessary to conducting training events. We provide more than 400 CLE events annually, with many of them available remotely as recordings. This service ensures that San Francisco’s legal professionals remain up to date on best practices and changes to the legal field.

BASF Program Services: Lawyer Referral Service
The SF-Marin Lawyer Information and Referral Service (LRIS) operates as a hotline open during regular business hours at (415) 989-1616, enabling anyone in San Francisco or Marin Counties to seek and receive a referral to legal counsel. LRIS conducts a brief intake process to determine if each caller may be eligible for free legal services via one of JDC’s legal service projects. Individuals who represent eligibility for JDC services receive a referral to the appropriate JDC project; individuals without eligibility are referred to appropriate attorneys in the private sector.

JDC Management and General
JDC’s Management and General costs enable the agency to operate as a corporation, including Human Resources, Finance, Information Technology, and Executive Leadership. These cost centers are necessary for all organizations to operate effectively, as they enable the agency to maintain its structure; comply with contractual requirements; adhere to local, state, and federal laws and regulations; and remain centered on its mission of service to the community.

BASF Management and General
BASF’s Management and General costs enable the agency to operate as a corporation, including Human Resources, Finance, Information Technology, and Executive Leadership. These cost centers are necessary for all organizations to operate effectively, as they enable the agency to maintain its structure; comply with contractual requirements; adhere to local, state, and federal laws and regulations; and remain centered on its mission.

JDC Fundraising
JDC’s Fundraising operations are necessary for it to operate as a nonprofit organization, given that JDC does not charge its clients for any of its services. Fundraising functions include solicitation of individual donors, corporate sponsors, and contributions by law firms. However, JDC raises most of its funding via grants and contracts, which are also secured and managed by its Fundraising department.