Our Vision
The Legal Aid Society - Employment Law Center promotes the stability of low income and disadvantaged workers and their families by addressing issues that affect their ability to achieve self-sufficiency. Using the law as a tool, the LAS-ELC helps workers attain financial security by preserving employment opportunities. We believe that stable working conditions and adequate income strengthen families and build communities. By protecting the legitimate employment status of wage earners, we provide families the means to pull through adverse times, avoid the downward spiral caused by job loss, and be fully contributing members of society.

History
In late 1915, the State Commission of Immigration and Housing initiated a movement to create a Legal Aid Society in San Francisco. Patterned after free legal clinics that had been in operation in New York and Germany since 1876, the San Francisco effort was spearheaded by E. J. Hanna, the Archbishop of the Diocese of San Francisco and Vice President of the Commission.

The Legal Aid Society of San Francisco opened its doors for business on May 1, 1916. Then, as now, the mission of the Society was to offer free legal services to members of the community who had few assets and limited resources. "The services of the Society are free to all persons, regardless of nationality, who are without means to employ attorneys to press their just claims or represent them in court." (Annual Report, 1916-1917)

Owing to the generosity of Phoebe A. Hearst, who donated the use of rooms in the Hearst building; to Archbishop Hanna, who donated the services of an office secretary; to members of the Bench and Bar who donated funds and expertise; and to the sharing of a phone with the Traveler's Aid Society, the Legal Aid Society was able to operate with minimal expenses. Two hundred and forty two cases were handled the first year, at a cost of $993.86.

Between the years 1916 and 1926, the Society handled 9,000 cases. Considered the organization's formative years, this period saw dramatic swings in funding. In 1924 the Legal Aid Society became a Community Chest Agency in order to stabilize its finances. By the late 1940's the Society's services and its finances were in disarray.

In 1951, the Barristers' Club, led by Herbert Clark of Morrison and Foerster, organized a movement to strengthen the Society. Prominent attorneys in San Francisco once again became members of the board of directors. Clark was installed as President of the Board, and in 1952 the Society was incorporated as a nonprofit. Large and small law firms and individual lawyers were recruited as new members. Their generosity, combined with Clark's tremendous energy and dedication, as well as grants from the Community Chest and the San Francisco Foundation, allowed the Legal Aid Society to increase the number of its staff attorneys and move to larger, more professional quarters on Market Street.

The period from 1952 to 1970 was one of excitement, vitality and growth. In 1970, in response to changes in political and social forces, the Society refocused its mission toward issues that had a more direct and immediate effect on the economic self-sufficiency of poor people. As a natural outgrowth of this step, the board of directors resolved to focus the Society's efforts on employment issues.

Today, nearly a century after its inception, and serving thousands of individuals a year, the organization calls itself the Legal Aid Society - Employment Law Center. The LAS-ELC is one of the country's foremost non-profit legal entities devoted exclusively to employment issues. The LAS-ELC operates nationally and on state and local levels with the belief that all people are entitled to work in an environment that is safe, respectful, free from discrimination, and in compliance with the law.

Methods
The Legal Aid Society - Employment Law Center works primarily in three areas to advance the workplace rights of low-income and minority workers.

Litigation: The LAS-ELC's experienced staff attorneys litigate cases nationwide that we believe will reform laws and policy for the benefit of minority and low-income workers and their families. Cases address diverse employment issues, including race-, gender- and disability-based discrimination.

Direct Services: We provide advice, counsel and advocacy to over 3,000 workers annually through our Bay Area Workers' Rights Clinics and numerous projects that include a direct services component. Through these projects, we conduct workshops, publish materials and provide technical assistance to disadvantaged workers and their advocates throughout the country.

Legislative Advocacy: We promote worker-friendly public policy by drafting legislation and testifying before legislative bodies.