July  2018
LAAC in Action
Affordable Housing Advocates help those with nowhere to  turn

Throughout California, but perhaps especially in San Diego, undocumented tenants are in need of legal help when faced with notices and evictions. Thankfully, residents in San Diego can turn to Affordable Housing Advocates (AHA). Founded in 1991 as San Diego Friends of Legal Aid, AHA initially raised money and support for the Legal Aid Society of San Diego's (LASSD) special programs such as "Adopt-a-Building." Adopt-a-Building worked with tenants of subsidized housing at risk of converting to market rate, to keep it affordable. 

In 1996, AHA changed its mission to provide legal services in impact and individual cases to fill a void where LASSD faced restrictions due to their LSC funding. Because AHA does not accept LSC funds, they are able to offer representation to undocumented tenants and pursue impact litigation and advocacy.  Read more about AHA here!
Welcome to LAAC's new Research Attorney, Zach Newman!

Zach joined LAAC in May 2018 as a Research Attorney. He graduated UC Hastings in 2016 with a concentration in Social Justice Lawyering. During law school,  Zach interned with the ACLU of Northern California, Bay Area Legal Aid, and the Habeas Corpus Resource Center. 

After law school,  Zach was a Bridge Fellow with Root & Rebound and, continuing a project with a mentor that began in a CRT course at Hastings,  Zach started writing about police violence and constitutional law as a Visiting Scholar at UC Berkeley's Haas Institute for a Fair and Inclusive Society, which he continues to do. He ran the San Francisco marathon last weekend, loves to cook new veggie-based recipes, and is always trying to find his next favorite fantasy book!

You can reach Zach at [email protected].
LAAC Advocacy Update

Don't forget to check out LAAC's legislation tracker to see where bills are at this point in the session! 

Many of the bills we support are still active, and you can see that some, like SB 785 on immigration status in court, have been chaptered!


State Bar Developments

Following the recommendations of the Governance in the Public Interest Task Force, the State Bar Board of Trustees (BOT) is working to streamline its sub-entities to increase BOT oversight and understanding of Bar work. The State Bar sections broke off from the State Bar this year into the new California Lawyers Association, and LAAC is already working with leadership at the CLA on access to justice issues. 

The BOT is also considering proposals impacting the work of the Access to Justice Commission and the Legal Services Trust Fund Commission. We know that many programs are worried about the timing of their grants with these development and staffing changes, but we've heard from State Bar staff that they are working hard to keep all trains running on time. If you have any questions about how these changes at the Bar could impact your work, feel free to reach out to LAAC. We are working with leaders in the access to justice community to ensure that services to clients and the impact of your work in your community are not adversely impacted by these new developments. 

Registration now open for the 2018 Self-Help & Family Law Conference!

We are excited to invite you to our annual Self-Help & Family Law Conference from Wednesday, August 22 to Friday, August 24, 2018 @ the Judicial Council of California in SF! You can view the schedule here. 

Hotel room block instructions are available here. Please note that the hotel room block will be closing by TUESDAY, AUGUST 3.

COST
Early Bird Pricing for LAAC members and court staff: 
Pre-day registration: $75
Two-day registration (Aug 23 + 24): $150

Regular registration: 
Pre-day registration: $125
Two-day (August 23 and 24): $225
*Ask about law student pricing for your summer law clerks!

July Self-Care Corner

This month's self-care corner is brought to you by LAAC's high school intern, Kaden!

Did you know there are levels to the type of care we give ourselves? This article lays out five levels of self-care: (1) physical, (2) intellectual, (3) social, (4) spiritual, and (5) mental/ emotional. We know that the newscycle is taking a toll on you and your clients. It's important for ALL OF US to focus on self-care. 
Here are 5 self-care tips for each 'level' of care: 

1) Dance! Even if it's just for a few minutes each day. It will get your heart rate up and put a smile on your face.
2) Keep your mind active by doing crosswords or solving puzzles. Everyone has a Rubix Cube hidden somewhere in their garage, pull yours out and have a go!

3) Laugh. It's such a cliché, but laughter truly is the best medicine. You don't need to have a massive group of friends in order to be social; just being around one person you absolutely adore is enough to make you feel good.
4) Identify what's important to you. What changes do you wish to see in the world? What actions do you think you could do as an individual to help with that? - Oh wait, you're a legal aid advocate. You're already doing this! Good job!
5) Notice when you use the word 'should.' Using it frequently invites feelings of pressure around perfectionism and disappointment in ourselves in others. Be aware of opportunities to frame conversations differently such as "it might be helpful to ..." "it could be fun to ..." 

Don't wait until next year to fulfill your required CLE:
Check out our FREE upcoming webinars! 

Dog Days of August: Legal Rights to Animals That Help People with Disabilities
Friday, August 10  from noon to 1 p.m.
Presenters:
Linda Kilb,  Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund
Pamela Cohen,  Disability Rights California
1 hour of general CLE credit.  Register here!

We regularly update our website with more trainings, so  please be sure to check out our " Upcoming Trainings " page, or find a past webinar under " Archived Trainings ." If you are interested in putting on a webinar training through LAAC or have any trainings questions, please contact Jasmine at [email protected].
STAY CONNECTED: