Alexsis C. Beach
“I work collaboratively with my clients to ensure that their issues are addressed. I do this by maintaining close communication with my clients, and by working with them step by step to ensure that they understand the legal process and that their claims are efficiently advanced. My goal is for my clients to feel satisfied and that justice was served despite the often frustrating nature of the legal system.”
Alexsis C. Beach has been practicing law since 1987. She has successfully sued numerous slumlords over wrongful evictions and bad housing conditions. She is an experienced and aggressive advocate for persons injured in car, bicycle, and other types of accidents. She has affordable flat rate fees for personal bankruptcy, and general family law including divorce for LGBTQIA as well as opposite sex couples.
Alexsis is a long time member of the San Francisco Tenant Bar, the National Center for Lesbian Rights adoption and family law committee, and the National Lawyers Guild. She is on the Steering Committee of the San Francisco Tenants Union, and Board President of the The Sperm Bank of California. She is a panel attorney on the Exemplar Legal Services plan for members of the UNITE HERE! Local 2 hotel and restaurant workers’ union.
Rachel Lederman
Rachel Lederman represents victims of police or government misconduct; workers who have been discriminated against, sexually harassed, or retaliated against; people who have been in car, bike or pedestrian accidents; tenants who have been subjected to bad living conditions, discrimination, or wrongful eviction; prisoners and persons seeking post-conviction relief. She has defended hundreds of progressive demonstrators in court, and has obtained significant victories in impact litigation to stop police and government repression and civil rights violations.
Rachel is a founder and current board member of the Water Protector Legal Collective, the legal support team for the Dakota Access Pipeline resistance at Standing Rock, Rachel is a founder and current board member of the Water Protector Legal Collective, the legal team for Standing Rock which now provides Indigenous-centered legal support for Earth protectors across North America. She is lead counsel on Dundon v. Kirchmeier, a civil rights class action lawsuit over police use of water cannons and dangerous munitions against the water protectors. Rachel was the President of the National Lawyers Guild, S.F. Bay Area Chapter, from 2014 through 2015. She is a member of the San Francisco Tenant Bar, the NLG national mass defense steering committee, the NLG National Police Accountability Project, California Attorneys for Criminal Justice, and California Appellate Defense Counsel. She has received the NLG, S.F. Bay Area’s Unsung Hero award, and awards for pro bono work.
In 2014, Rachel Lederman and Jim Chanin settled Scott Olsen’s lawsuit against the City of Oakland for $4.5 million. Mr. Olsen, an Iraq war veteran, was shot in the head with a lead-filled “beanbag” round during an Occupy Oakland demonstration on October 25, 2011, shattering his skull. The shooting violated Oakland Police crowd control policies that Rachel helped overhaul in 2004 litigation on behalf of antiwar demonstrators who OPD had shot with “less lethal” munitions. In related litigation Rachel obtained enforcement of these policies and changed OPD and Alameda County’s mass arrest procedures to prevent protesters from being unlawfully jailed for extended periods without charges.
Rachel is a graduate of Cornell University and New College Law School, and has been a practicing attorney since 1987.