Legal Empowerment Fund
A new fund to harness the power of lawyers for social good.
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The Legal Empowerment Fund is a grant opportunity launched by California ChangeLawyers in 2021.
The fund was created as a response to the deepening public consciousness about the importance of law on social justice issues and the need for lawyers of all backgrounds to rise to the challenges posed by the ongoing racial reckoning and the lack of equal justice under the law.
The fund adopts a broad-based approach to harnessing the power of lawyers for good. Specifically, we seek to: foster movement lawyering; build the capacity of smaller and newer legal organizations; and support new, diverse leaders in the legal profession.
For 2023, in our second year of funding, the anticipated total grant amount is $250,000. Funding will be considered for the Capacity Building and Movement Lawyering priority areas.
2022 Current Grantees

- American Bar Association Judicial Intern Opportunity Program
- California Collaborative for Immigrant Justice (Fellowship)
- California Indian Law Association
- Center for Youth Development through Law
- For the People (Fellowship)
- Legal Education Access Pipeline
- Loyola Marymount University - Young Lawyers Program
- San Jose State University Record Clearing Project
- Transgender Law Center (Fellowship)
- UCLA Law Fellows-Central Valley Program

- East Bay Community Law Center
- Youth Law Center

- Community Justice Alliance
- Orange County Justice Fund
2022 Current Grantees
Leadership Pathways ($317.5K)

- American Bar Association Judicial Intern Opportunity Program
- California Collaborative for Immigrant Justice (Fellowship)
- California Indian Law Association
- Center for Youth Development through Law
- For the People (Fellowship)
- Legal Education Access Pipeline
- Loyola Marymount University - Young Lawyers Program
- San Jose State University Record Clearing Project
- Transgender Law Center (Fellowship)
- UCLA Law Fellows-Central Valley Program
Movement Lawyering ($100K)

- East Bay Community Law Center
- Youth Law Center
Capacity Building ($100K)

- Community Justice Alliance
- Orange County Justice Fund