Seeking Legal Help From The ACLU

Please read this information carefully to find out the kinds of legal work we do and how to contact the ACLU SoCal about your legal problem.

Our office handles civil liberties and civil rights matters arising in the Southern California region — meaning San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Ventura, Los Angeles, Kern, San Bernardino, Riverside, and Orange counties.

If your issue arises elsewhere, find your local affiliate here.

The ACLU SoCal focuses on securing civil rights and civil liberties for whole communities, through litigation and other advocacy aimed at making systemic or structural change. We are not a “legal aid” or direct services provider and we are not a government agency.. We unfortunately are NOT able to offer legal assistance to the vast majority of people who contact us for help.

In particular, the ACLU SoCal is NOT able to take on:

  • Immigration applications
  • Eviction proceedings or other landlord/tenant issues
  • Defamation cases or cease-and-desist letters
  • Criminal cases
  • Medical malpractice by a doctor, clinic, hospital, jail, or prison
  • Legal malpractice by an attorney or law firm
  • Family law cases, including restraining order proceedings
  • Dependency cases
  • Proceedings to establish, modify, or end a guardianship or conservatorship
  • Wrongful termination cases and other individual employee disputes with employers
  • Estate or probate matters

We have compiled a list of resources for people in Southern California who need help with these and other legal issues. We try to keep the list up to date, but you should confirm with the agencies and organizations listed in that document what services they provide and whether you are eligible for their services.

We will contact you if we need more information to understand your request or if our staff would like to discuss representing you to try to solve your problem. If we are able, we may also contact you with suggestions about steps you could take or resources you might find helpful. Due to the high volume of requests we receive, we are not able to respond to most requests.

 

Securely submit your legal issue to the ACLU.

 

Please note that due to limited resources, we are not able to respond to most submissions.

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