The Asian Law Alliance is a California-based Asian-American-oriented public interest law firm that supports left-of-center immigration, voting, and welfare policy objectives.

Background

In 1975, a group of individuals who would later cofound the Asian Law Alliance considered the possibility of founding a community law office in Santa Clara County, California similar to the existing Asian Law Caucus in Oakland. According to the alliance’s website, the “main challenge” for these individuals was “convincing people” that there was a need for an organization to provide legal services to the local Asian-American community, given the prevailing notion of that community as consisting of “model minorities.” ¹

These individuals worked with the recently-formed Information and Referral Project of the San Jose Japanese American Citizens League (JACL), eventually “encountering” various legal needs. They started a community law office in office space donated by the San Jose JACL, and started taking cases in January 1977. Later in January 1978, the law office was registered under the name Santa Clara County Asian Law Alliance as a nonprofit organization. ^{2 1}

Though the organization remains registered under its original name, on its public-facing materials, it goes by the shortened name Asian Law Alliance. ³

Activities

The Asian Law Alliance has engaged in advocacy campaigns supporting government redress for the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II; supporting the adoption of bilingual assistance and ballot programs in Santa Clara County, California; opposing Proposition 187, a California ballot initiative restricting illegal immigrants’ access to state public service programs; opposing the use of tasers by the San Jose Police department; and supporting policy initiatives that would make it easier for illegal immigrants to attain legal permanent resident status. ^{4 5}

In 1982, the Asian Law Alliance filed a joint lawsuit with the Mexican American Legal Education Defense Fund (MALDEF) to force the continuation of multilingual services in the Santa Clara County Department of Social Services. ⁴

In 1988, the alliance, along with MALDEF and the American Civil Liberties Union, filed a federal lawsuit contesting a California law limiting voters to ten minutes in the voting booth. Notably, though the judge issued a temporary restraining order banning California counties from enforcing the rule, a panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held an extraordinary telephone conference and shortly after invalidated Judge Aguilar’s order. ^{6 4}

Funding

The Asian Law Alliance receives funding from the City of San Jose and County of Santa Clara, particularly through Community Development Block Grants; the State Bar of California through its Community Stabilization and Reinvestment Grant, Equal Access Fund, and Legal Services Trust Fund Program; the State of California’s Department of Social Services, Immigration Services; the U.S. Department of Justice’s Department of Legal Assistance for Victims; and the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California’s San Jose Self Help Center. ⁷

The alliance also receives funding from a variety of nonprofits and foundations, including the Asian Pacific American Bar Association of Silicon Valley, Wallace H. Coulter Foundation, Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, New Americans Collaborative, John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Evelyn and Walter Haas Jr. Fund, Packard Foundation, Sidney Stern Memorial Trust, Silicon Valley Community Foundation, Sobrato Family Foundation, and Sunlight Giving. ⁷

In addition to receiving funding from government agencies and nonprofits, the alliance also receives funding through merchant partners, which give customers the option to donate a part of their payment to the Alliance, including Target, Microsoft, Sesame Street, Starbucks, Expedia, Groupon, and Gamestop. ⁸

Leadership

Richard Konda is the executive director of the Asian Law Alliance and a board member of the Services, Immigrant Rights, and Education Network (SIREN), a California-based left-of-center immigration-issues advocacy nonprofit, for which he was board president from 1998 to 2013. ^{9 10 11}

1. “About Us.” Asian Law Alliance. Accessed May 8, 2023. https://asianlawalliance.org/about-us/
2. “Santa Clara County Asian Law Alliance, Inc.” ProPublica. Accessed May 8, 2023. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/942439581
3. Homepage. Asian Law Alliance. Accessed May 8, 2023. https://asianlawalliance.org/
4. “Impact Work.” Asian Law Alliance. Accessed May 8, 2023. https://asianlawalliance.org/impact-work/
5. “A Latinx Resource Guide: Civil Rights Cases and Events in the United States: 1994: California’s Proposition 187.” United States Library of Congress. Accessed May 8, 2023. https://guides.loc.gov/latinx-civil-rights/california-proposition-187#:~:text=On%20November%209%2C%201994%2C%20California’s,to%20public%20education%20and%20healthcare.
6. “Long California Ballot Creates Timely Debate.” New York Times. November 9, 1988. Accessed May 8, 2023. https://www.nytimes.com/1988/11/09/us/long-california-ballot-creates-timely-debate.html
7. “Foundations and Government Grants.” Asian Law Alliance. Accessed May 8, 2023. https://asianlawalliance.org/foundations-and-government-grants/
8. Homepage: “Merchant Partners.” Asian Law Alliance. Accessed May 8, 2023. https://asianlawalliance.org/
9. “Honoring Richard Konda.” SIREN. August 30, 2014. Accessed May 8, 2023. https://www.sirenimmigrantrights.org/honoring-richard-konda
10. “Staff.” Asian Law Alliance. Accessed May 8, 2023. https://asianlawalliance.org/staff/
11. “About SIREN.” SIREN. Accessed May 8, 2023. https://www.sirenimmigrantrights.org/about