San Mateo County Bar Association

The private defender program (pdp) was established in 1968. The County of San Mateo (the County) does not have a traditional public defender's office and so the County has contracted with the Association to provide indigent criminal defense. The pdp delivers high quality legal services to clients otherwise unable to hire counsel and it does so at substantial savings to the taxpayers of San Mateo County. Provided legal representation to over 20,000 individuals who could not afford their own attorney in adult criminal, mental health, child dependency,and juvenile criminal matters.

Mcle program: the San Mateo County Bar Association is a licensed provider of minimum continuing legal education required for all attorneys with active licenses in the state of California. The smba operates under the rules for mcle provided by the state Bar of California. The approved jurisdiction is San Mateo County. The program tracts "paticipatory and self-study activity" mcle for all the members including the judiciary. Licensees are assigned to compliance groups set by the state Bar and designed to accomodate members based upon their last names. There are 3 compliance groups a-g, h-m, and n-z. Smcba holds over 100 hours of mcle each year to help members meet their needs.

The San Mateo County Bar Association, is a non-profit organization that provides prospective clients a referral to an attorney in the area of law needed for a nominal fee of $35. The client gets to consult with the attorney for 30 minutes regarding their legal matter. The attorneys are private practitioners. The lrs program assist those in need of legal services to find a qualified, insured attorney or other appropriate legal services, including dispute resolution; and provides the public with general information about appropriate legal services. The lrs program also has attorneys who have agreed to lower their fees charged to clients called modest means. Once the individual has been referred to an attorney we send out a client satisfaction survey to track results. (continued on schedule o)the lrs program provides free workers' compensation referrals, free referrals for wills for senior citizens, and referral fee waivers for low-income individuals who qualify.