In 1958, we were founded as Legal Aid Society of Orange County in direct response to the needs of the Orange County’s poor for equitable access to justice. Since then, our priorities, practice areas, and programs have constantly evolved in response to the most pressing needs of the community.

In 1976, we launched the Senior Citizens Legal Advocacy Program, our first large-scale effort to prescriptively respond to the needs of a uniquely vulnerable population.

In 1984, we expanded our service area to include 18 cities in southeast Los Angeles County, where we became known as Community Legal Services of Southeast Los Angeles County.

In 1995, our Complex Litigation Unit, now known as our Systemic Impact Unit, filed suit in state court against a local municipality for regulations targeting people experiencing homelessness, and successfully protected the constitutional rights of these individuals. Additionally, we established a toll-free hotline for clients to increase accessibility of our services to a greater number of people.

In 1998, we established the Health Consumer Action Center, assisting low-income and underrepresented consumers to access the health care system in Orange County and providing legal advocacy and expertise to help vulnerable families obtain coverage.

In 2000, we pioneered a web-based application that enabled individuals to prepare their own legal pleadings called I-CAN!

In 2004, we established the Compton Self-Help Center.

In 2017, our Systemic Impact Unit successfully led litigation to protect low-income residents from eviction in lieu of high-rise luxury housing.

In 2018, we celebrated 60 years by unifying our offices in Orange and Los Angeles Counties under one new organizational name, Community Legal Aid SoCal.

In 2019, we celebrated 35 years of service to the communities of Southeast Los Angeles County.

In 2020, we restructured the organization into substantive units based on legal practice areas to enable our legal advocates to be issue-area experts and provide greater depth of service to clients. We also launched our initiative to promote and embrace justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (JEDI) which has become fundamental to how we work with each other and our clients.

In 2022, we reimagined our mission, vision, and values to ensure they are reflective our commitment to our JEDI principles.