Open Door Legal
written BY Kelly Costello / Images provided by Open Door Legal
Welcome back to another SHACK15 Partner Spotlight, where we highlight our partners who are changing the game in their fields.
Open Door Legal is an award-winning, SF-based non profit that is pioneering the country's first system of universal access to civil legal representation. Their goal is to show that when everyone has access to the law, poverty will be dramatically reduced.
CEO and founder Adrian Tirtanadi, set out with the ambitious mission to reduce poverty in the US, applying to law school with the thesis that legal aid was the most cost-effective way to address poverty in America. Since then, he has been building a model of universal access to legal aid that is scalable, sustainable, and rooted in innovation.
Eight years later, thanks to a unique technology platform, a focus on data and analytics, hundreds of dedicated volunteers, and talented staff, Open Door Legal has been able to represent low-income residents in over 35 areas of law, with 3 offices in SF's low income neighborhoods.
We sat down with CEO and founder Adrian Tirtanadi to learn more about Open Door’s mission and vital work to serve our community.
What was the inspiration behind founding Open Door Legal?
Ever since middle school, I’ve been obsessed with the idea of solving poverty. It just didn’t seem right to me that so much of the world, especially in a developed nation, should live in poverty. Over time, I came to the realization that legal aid was the most efficient and cost-effective way to reduce poverty in America. I wrote up that business plan you mentioned, used it to get into law school, and met Virginia, my co-founder, in a class called Rebellious Lawyering at USF.
We opened in an old beauty parlor in Bayview in 2013, focusing on that neighborhood because it was so under-resourced. Now, we have an actual office there—goodbye, hair salon—and two more, in Excelsior and the Western Addition.
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Tell us more about your innovative model, and how you are able to demonstrate your social return on investment (SROI)?
The core distinction that allows us to innovate is actually our neighborhood universal access model. We don’t turn anyone away who lives in our service area and has a viable legal case, which means we need to continuously iterate and grow. One of the ways we do this is by making use of best-in-class technology, including our internally built CMS on top of Salesforce, which we’re actually in the process of beta testing with other legal aid nonprofits. Our hope is to standardize case management in the field in a way that allows these different agencies to work together.
Another big piece of our model is rigorously tracking data so that we can transparently share our social return on investment. For example, using metrics developed by the Robin Hood Foundation, we analyzed our costs and case results and were able to see that for every $1 we spend, we were able to generate $6.63 in direct benefits to our clients and deter up to $14.75 in future illegal activity. Another example of this is that all of our clients fill out surveys when their cases are closed, and from these surveys we know that our Net Promoter Score—a measurement of how likely a client is to recommend us to their network—is 88, which is considered world-class!
“I wouldn’t be here today without Open Door Legal. They listened, validated how I felt. They were honest with me.”
Tasha, Employment Law Client
Most legal businesses still operate within a paper-to-pen system. How have you been able to leverage technology during the pandemic in order to create a successful remote work environment?
Since we were already operating with our own CMS when the pandemic hit, our employees transitioned to working from home very smoothly. We heard from many of our peer orgs that they were having to go through old texts and emails to piece together case information, since their records were all on paper back in the office. Our investment in good technology has really paid dividends in this time.
Fortunately, we were able to safely re-open our offices in mid-June, which was very important since many of our clients don’t have regular access to a smartphone or computer, so now they can come in and use our conference room to speak with an attorney via video. Even so, our in-office staff is still bare bones in order to protect everyone.
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The ramifications of COVID-19 go well beyond the virus itself. What are some examples of challenges that your clients have faced through this pandemic?
Most of our clients are very vulnerable to getting this virus. Anecdotally, one of my colleagues said roughly a quarter of all clients she spoke to had contracted or been exposed to COVID-19. It’s clear that our clients are much more likely to be sick themselves rather than middle or upper-class San Franciscans.
Our clients have been taken advantage of in some really staggering ways during the pandemic. Many of them have lost their jobs in retail, hospitality, or other service industries. Some of their employers are illegally withholding the back pay they are owed. One of the biggest crises we’re seeing right now is the number of people whose landlords are trying to illegally evict them. Most residential evictions are banned by an order from the Mayor’s office, but landlords are trying to work around that. When low-income folks get an eviction notice from a threatening landlord, they often feel like they have no choice but to leave. If you have an attorney, though, you are five times more likely to be able to stay in your home than if you don’t.
Our team also came up with this Coronavirus Legal Resource Guide, designed to help people navigate any legal issues that may have arisen due to COVID-19.
“Open Door Legal helped me get a court-ordered child care schedule. Now I can ensure that my daughter will feel stable and secure. You never know what life will bring you.”
Charlene, Family Law Client
Are there other rights or protections that people have that many are unaware of?
So many! One of the things we often talk about is that when you don’t know your rights, you cannot even begin to enforce them. Similarly, it doesn’t matter to many folks that we live in a country with a great legal code—if you can’t afford to get a just outcome because you have to bribe a judge or because you can’t afford to pay an attorney, it doesn’t really matter. The result is the same.
Many of our clients come to us with habitability issues in their homes. One of our first clients was a woman named Michelle, a Bayview native and construction foreperson who lived in public housing. She went years without heating, submitting work orders that were rarely addressed until they were deemed too expensive to do anything about. She and her grandchildren noticed black mold growing on the walls and ceilings of their unit, but were told to “open the windows” when showering. She diligently submitted work orders again, only to have them ignored. Worst of all, her bathtub and toilet began to back up with sewage, forcing her to “shower” with water from her kitchen sink and to relieve herself in a bucket. In her own home, in the richest city in the richest country in the world.
This is absolutely unacceptable. Everyone has the right to a safe home, to a heater that works, and to a home that doesn’t make them sick or force them to relieve themselves in a bucket. People have the right not to be defrauded and to be paid their back wages from employers and to be believed when they tell the police they have been abused. Until the day that happens, we’ll be here.
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What’s next for Open Door Legal?
Our vision is to triple our budget in the next 2-3 years, expand citywide, and create a model for national replication.
Easy, right?
Thank you Adrian for sharing your incredible story and mission with us!
To support Open Door Legal’s work, you can donate here, and check out their available volunteer opportunities here; they are always looking for new skilled volunteers!
Keep up with the conversation by reading ODL’s recent feature in the Salesforce newsletter that highlights how they leverage technology, and tune in to Adrian’s next virtual event at Manny’s SF on January 14th!