Lawyer Referral Service
Attorneys: Become a Panel Member of the Disability Rights Legal Center Options Counseling Lawyer Referral Service!
The Disability Rights Legal Center also operates a California State Bar-certified Lawyer Referral Service. Due to our limited resources, the DRLC cannot always directly provide the legal remedies warranted by many of our clients’ needs. The Lawyer Referral Service allows us to do more to help individuals living with disabilities by referring eligible clients to qualified attorneys in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Diego, Ventura, and Kern counties.
How It Works
Attorneys may apply to any of five subject panels:
- Labor and Employment
- Access to Public Accommodations and Commercial Facilities
- Administrative Law
- Education Law
- Estate Planning
Cases are referred to panel members on a rotating basis; once an attorney receives a referral for a specific panel, he or she will be moved to the bottom of the list for that panel, ensuring that all panel members are given an equal number of referrals.
The referral procedure begins with a telephone intake, where we obtain information regarding a caller’s case. If we determine that referral to a panel attorney is appropriate, we will send the caller the contact information for one of the attorneys on our Lawyer Referral Service list. It is up to the caller to contact the panel attorney directly. As a courtesy, we also send a letter to the attorney informing him or her of the referral.
The first thirty minutes of consultation with a client referred through the Lawyer Referral Service must be free of charge. Fees and costs for services beyond the first thirty minutes should be discussed and arranged directly with the client. We do not remain involved with a matter once it is referred to a panel attorney, although we are available to address any problem that the attorney may have regarding a referral.
In lieu of charging a fee for each referral, we require that panel attorneys contribute ten hours of pro bono service each year. Time spent during free thirty-minute consultations with low-income clients may be counted towards this requirement. Panel attorneys must also pay an annual membership fee of $100 to remain on the panel. If a panel attorney receives attorney fees from any Lawyer Referral Service referral, the attorney must pay ten percent of all attorney fees above $100 to the Disability Rights Legal Center.
Join Today
Attorneys wishing to apply to join the DRLC’s Lawyer Referral Service should review our Application and Agreement, Rules of Operation, and Panel Attorney Qualification requirements. The Application and Agreement must be signed and returned along with a profile or current resume, a copy of the face page of your errors and omissions policy, and the $25 application fee. The non-refundable application fee helps to defray administrative costs and supports this nonprofit public service program.
We will notify attorneys whether they have been accepted as a panel attorney once we have evaluated their application.
Questions?
Please contact us at (213)736-1474 or via email at drlc@lls.edu.