Welcome to our first EBCLC Alumni Newsletter! 

 As the newly elected Chair of the Board, I am excited to launch this exclusive content for our valued alumni. I hope you'll spend some time reconnecting with our staff, students, and their critical work. I'm sure you'll find that the contributions you made during your time at EBCLC have had a lasting impact. As an alum of the Welfare Clinic, I am incredibly proud of the clinic's ongoing work to provide financial security to low-income mothers and their families.

We look forward to bringing this communication to you quarterly and would love to hear from you about features you'd like to see, classmates you think we should highlight, and professional development resources we can provide. Thank you for your ongoing support of EBCLC. I am looking forward to being in conversation with you. 

In Community, 

Tiffany R. Thomas
Chair 
EBCLC Board of Directors 
Unit Spotlight
Consumer Justice Clinic
The last few years have been impactful for the Consumer Justice Clinic. We started 2021 excited to focus on our Women of Color-Centered Platform. Our unit and our clinical students have continued to provide robust direct legal services through virtual clinics and ongoing casework, throughout the pandemic. We have also been particularly active in policy advocacy. In 2022, we are working on 5 key policy changes stemming from legal issues encountered in the cases of many of our women of color clients: 1) eliminating renewals of judgment and reducing the statutory interest rate for judgment 2) increasing protections against wage garnishment and eliminating bench warrants for debtor’s exams 3) limiting the use of credit reports in tenant screening 4) assisting tenants with rent debt and 5) advocating for the elimination of Federal student loan debt. We are looking forward to working alongside our students to continue to achieve critical victories for our clients.

- Kara Acevedo, Staff Attorney, Consumer Justice Unit
Berkeley Law, Class of 2014
Events & Opportunities
EBCLC Events
Check out some of our upcoming events, or take time to revisit past webinars!

  • Make it Make Cents: Understanding Public Service Loan Forgiveness February 10, 2022 1 pm Register here

  • Impact Implementation: Best Practices for Embedding D.E.I Practices at Legal Institutions Recorded on 10/15/21 Watch here

Visit EBCLC's Official Youtube channel to view more of our virtual events.
EBCLC Jobs
Have you thought about working at EBCLC? We strongly encourage alumni to apply!

  • Housing Staff Attorney/ Clinical Advisor

  • Housing Intake/Program Coordinator

  • Immigration Staff Attorney

  • Clinical Program Coordinator

Visit EBCLC.org for more information.
Alumni Spotlight
“I worked with Ed Barnes in the Public Benefits group in 1995. Ed taught me the struggles people have accessing basic income, health care, etc. Now that I work for a pharmaceutical company we see so many patients struggle to access healthcare for any number of reasons, including systemic barriers to care. My time at EBLC inspired me to reconnect with EBLC to work on addressing these issues in our community." 

-Brett Pletcher, Berkeley Law, Class of 1995
The Clinical Experience
"Getting the opportunity to represent clients in court this year has been a privilege and an essential learning experience. While representing a young person facing felony charges, I argued for his release from juvenile hall in a detention hearing, negotiated reduced charges with the DA, facilitated a plea colloquy, argued for the least restrictive probation sentence, and continue to represent him in regular status updates. Because of this experience, I feel more prepared to advocate for my clients in court as a public defender after graduation.”

-Madison Ordway, Education Defense and Justice for Youth Services, Spring 2021
We Want to Hear From You!
Please take a moment to share your feedback
Email your questions and comments to nthiebert@ebclc.org