Public Law Center

Public Law Center, Orange County's non-profit pro bono law firm, is committed to providing access to justice for low-income residents. Through volunteers and staff, the Public Law Center provides free civil legal services, including counseling, individual representation, community education, and strategic litigation and advocacy to challenge societal injustices.

Public Law Center (PLC) is a nonprofit, pro bono law firm that bridges the access to justice gap for low-income and vulnerable residents across Orange County, California. Since 1981, PLC’s staff have worked with thousands of volunteers annually to provide free civil legal services in the areas of highest need, including consumer law, family law, health, housing, immigration, veterans' benefits, federal tax disputes, and assistance for emerging small businesses and nonprofits. Our range of services includes counseling, individual representation, community education, and strategic litigation and advocacy to challenge societal injustices. PLC operates seven legal units and 13 clinics to serve a wide range of low-income clients, including immigrants, minorities, veterans, older adults, domestic violence survivors, victims of crime, and children.

In 2023, PLC provided direct services to over 3,800 low-income residents of Orange County. Our advocacy and impact litigation programs benefited tens of thousands of additional individuals by addressing inequitable policies and procedures at the city, county, state, and federal levels. PLC’s client population is almost entirely low-income and 49% are provided services in a language other than English. The demographics of our clients are 60% Latino/a/x, 20% White, 7% Asian, and 4% Black/African American. Most PLC clients fall within the 19-59 age range, and about 19% of our clients are over the age of 60. Just over two-thirds of our clients identify as female. About 25% of our clients receive/earn less than $1,000 per month, and approx. 70% of our clients earn/receive less than $3000/month for their families. Approximately 10% of our clients have no income at all.
In 2023, PLC staff and volunteers provide nearly 80,000 hours of free legal services, worth over $11 million, to Orange County residents. PLC operates the premier pro bono program in Orange County, with a volunteer pool of over 1,500 individuals. In 2023 PLC worked with 722 volunteers which included 471 attorneys, 166 law students, and 85 paralegals/administrative staff.

1. Volunteer lawyers and law students to volunteer their time to pro bono cases and legal clinics.
2. Bilingual volunteers (including in Spanish, Vietnamese, Korean, Mandarin, and Farsi) to provide translation support.
3. Additional financial support to maintain vital programs that were started or expanded during the pandemic and that continue to have high community demand, especially in our housing, immigration, and family law units.
4. Additional financial support to develop and sustain leadership from within, including support for educational loans and leadership training.
5. Major gifts and planned giving to bolster our long-term financial viability.

Public Law Center serves low-income Orange County residents and the non-profit organizations that serve low-income residents.

You might ask what drives us to do what we do at PLC. To answer that, I’d like to tell a story about someone who was very special to me - my grandmother. She lived in the countryside in Cambodia, without running water or electricity. She never went to a day of school in her life. When my father was only three, she suddenly lost my grandfather, leaving her alone with five kids to raise with a sixth on the way, and a family store to run. There were a lot of people around her who didn’t believe in her. She had male relatives who were trying to take the business away from her. But somehow – I have no idea how – she persevered. She held onto the store. She raised her kids. She gave my father the education she never had, as he graduated from college in Cambodia, then eventually earned a Ph.D. as a Fulbright Fellow in the U.S.

As you can see, my grandmother was a fighter. I like to think that I got a part of that from her too, just as all of us at PLC got our fight from those who came before us. And I see my grandmother in so many of the clients we help – people who have endured hardships and trauma, but who remain strong and resilient. People who are so much more than the worst things they have lived through, or even the mistakes they have made.

It brings me joy as a lawyer to be able to use the power of the law to help people like this. At PLC, we know we are privileged to play a part in their journey, helping them navigate through difficult, confusing terrain. We know our clients don’t need someone to save them; they just need someone in their corner, someone to believe in them.

However, we cannot do this without all of you – our partners and champions. The reality is that the economy is changing, and we are facing cuts in crucial grants that we must overcome. We must ask you to be fighters like my grandmother, like our clients - fighters for justice, fighting alongside us.

Being involved with the PLC has been the pride and joy of my legal career. I was fortunate to be introduced to the PLC as a summer associate 18 years ago, when I attended PLC’s Volunteers For Justice Event and represented a PLC client in a domestic violence restraining order case. I was hooked from that moment. I knew that the PLC was the organization that does what lawyers are called to do - help people in need and give a voice to those who cannot fight for themselves. I have given time and money to this organization because I truly believe in its mission.
Without the PLC, its volunteers and supporters, someone might continue to live with domestic violence, be evicted from the only home they know, or get deported back to a country where they are likely to be killed. There are so many examples of how the work at PLC quite literally changes or saves people’s lives.

PLC has grown immensely over the last 5 years – expanding from a team of 36 to 65 staff, and increasing the number of donated legal services hours from 57,000 to nearly 80,000. The PLC is facing funding cuts to key areas of work, including homelessness prevention, immigration, and victims of crime services. This means the most vulnerable members of our community may be turned away from receiving services due to a lack of funding. Sustainable, diversified funding is key for the organization to continue this growth and expand its reach to more members of our community in need.
I have made a lifelong commitment to this organization because I was inspired so early in my career - I was hooked. I am committed to maintaining my support for the PLC and I challenge you to commit to it too. If you are inspired by their mission, find a way to support the PLC this year by donating or volunteering your time. Thank you in advance for rising to this challenge.