Philadelphia Lawyers for Social Equity

Philadelphia Lawyers for Social Equity provides free legal advice and representation to low-income Philadelphia residents whose criminal records are holding them back from achieving their social and career potentials.  They seek a more equitable social environment for those with criminal records through individual representation, strategic litigation, community education, research, and advocacy. This is achieved by seeking expungements in criminal court and pardons from the Governor; educating elected, business, and community leaders; empowering and organizing under-resourced communities; and leading legislative, administrative and systemic reform. Philadelphia Lawyers for Social Equity also emphasizes the fact that many formerly incarcerated individuals are barred from employment due to their criminal history. In order to reduce the effect of this, Philadelphia Lawyers for Social Equity holds educational seminars including “know your rights” training and information on how to clean up a criminal record, attorney training in Philadelphia to perform pardons and expungements, direct service work to prepare and file expungement petitions for Philadelphians, and Political advocacy work to reduce the impact of criminal records through an expansion of the expungement statutes. The Philadelphia Lawyers for Social Equity are available to contact via the links provided.