Community Lawyers

Volunteer: Bernardo Lopez

Community Lawyers, Inc.'s (CLI) mission is to increase legal service delivery in underserved communities. 

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Bernardo Lopez is a volunteer attorney in CLI’s immigration law clinics, where he has been providing free legal consultation to immigrants for more than 13 years. He began volunteering with CLI shortly after he passed the State Bar exam in 2011 while also building a private practice that is now a highly successful immigration, criminal defense, and family law practice with two offices in Los Angeles. As someone whose lived experience mirrors many of the clients Bernie supports at CLI, he believes in continuing to give back by providing free legal services to individuals and families that would otherwise not have access to quality legal assistance. He volunteers monthly at immigration law clinics and has also led dozens of citizenship clinics. As an immigration law expert, Bernie was instrumental to CLI securing accreditation from the United States Department of Justice. This accreditation program, offered by the Executive Office for Immigration Review, increases the availability of legal representation for low-income members of the community during federal immigration proceedings. Bernie walked CLI through the cumbersome application process for both organizational and staff member accreditation applications, which were granted this year. This has enabled CLI to both serve additional members of the community and seek new, and ongoing, direct service funding opportunities from funders which require accreditation for application. Bernie’s expertise in immigration law is an asset to CLI and the community the organization serves and he regularly goes above and beyond by using his expertise to both advance CLI’s mission and increase organizational capacity.