San Francisco enacts ordinance declaring intent to become first "right to civil counsel city"
01/01/2012, Legislation, All Basic Human Needs
The San Francisco Council passed an ordinance declaring its intention to become the first "right to civil counsel city." The ordinance has received extensive media and state bar coverage:
- Ari Burack, Making Justice Free to All in San Francisco, San Francisco Examiner (Feb. 13, 2012), available at http://www.sfexaminer.com/local/2012/02/making-justice-free-all-san-francisco.
- Andrew Chow, SF is 1st to Give Right to Counsel in Civil Cases, Law & Daily Life (FindLaw blog) (June 6, 2012), available at http://blogs.findlaw.com/law_and_life/2012/06/sf-is-1st-to-give-right-to-counsel-in-civil-case.html.
- Maria Hibbard, San Francisco's 'Right to Civil Counsel' Pilot Program: The Civil Gideon Movement Gets Serious, PSJD Blog (June 14, 2012), available at http://blog.psjd.org/2012/06/14/san-franciscos-right-to-civil-counsel-pilot-program-the-civil-gideon-movement-gets-serious/.
- Robyn Hagan, Can Pro Bono Lawyers Satisfy San Fran Right to Civil Counsel?, Findlaw: California Case Law (June 8, 2012),available at http://blogs.findlaw.com/california_case_law/2012/06/can-pro-bono-lawyers-satisfy-san-fran-right-to-civil-counsel.html.
- Mike Rosen, Testing Civil Gideon, California Lawyer (June 2012), available at http://www.callawyer.com/Clstory.cfm?eid=922767.
- Joshua Sabatini, Supervisors Create Program to Provide Counsel in Civil Cases, San Francisco Examiner (Feb. 28, 2012), available at http://www.sfexaminer.com/local/2012/02/supervisors-create-program-provide-counsel-civil-cases.
Recently, the San Francisco Chronicle ran an opinion piece supporting a right to counsel in eviction cases and urging greater city funding for tenant defense.