Cleary Gottlieb represented Network on Women in Prison (d/b/a Legal Services for Prisoners with Children; LSPC) in its nonprofit merger with East Bay Family Defenders (EBFD).
The two nonprofits share a mission around ending family separation, restoring human and civil rights, and undoing the harm of the war on drugs. EBFD brings to LSPC a degree of expertise in juvenile dependency law and a proven model of holistic, interdisciplinary defense for parents while LSPC holds skills and experience in building community power and policy change, with over 40 years of dedication to preserving family ties.
The merger signed on August 15, 2023, and was put into effect on September 11, 2023.
Founded in 1978, LSPC organizes communities impacted by the criminal justice system and advocates to release incarcerated people, to restore human and civil rights, and to reunify families and communities. LSPC focuses on the specific legal and social policy issues affecting incarcerated parents and their children, family members caring for children of incarcerated parents, and formerly incarcerated people. LSPC has been a leader in exposing how the expansion of the prison system damages low-income communities and communities of color and how women and their children have been specifically affected by mass incarceration.
Between 2018 and 2021, EBFD piloted an interdisciplinary family defense model that has been shown to make a dramatic difference in the length of time children spend in foster care when compared to other models of representation and saw impactful results. EBFD’s services kept hundreds of children out of foster care in Alameda County. In 2022, EBFD reorganized as a small, community-based legal clinic offering preventive interdisciplinary legal defense to families at risk of separation; training and legal education for family and community members, community-based organizations, and students; and support for coalition-based policy advocacy.
For more information, please see the press release here.