University of San Francisco Racial Justice Clinic

Legal Empowerment

Movement Lawyering

California-wide

2023

The Racial Justice Clinic was founded in 2016 to address systemic racism within the criminal legal system with a focus on high-impact discrete projects. The USF Racial Justice Clinic’s (RJC) movement lawyering work is twofold. Their work is centered around the newly enacted California Racial Justice Act (RJA) and its implementation. The RJC’s work to implement the Racial Justice Act is geared toward undoing the racialized impacts of the criminal legal system on people of color in California by allowing individuals to challenge different forms of racial bias in their criminal cases. Along with the RJC’s work on RJA, they are also a law school clinic that shapes and encourages the growth of new legal advocates dedicated to fight for social justice improvements of the currently flawed system. The RJC’s students are the future of criminal justice reform. The RJC trains them to be fierce, creative, collaborative, and bold in their aspirations for changing a broken system. University of San Francisco Racial Justice Clinic received $40,000 in funding for 2023.