Advocacy: Advocacy on behalf of the legal services community continues to be one of LAAC's highest priorities.

• The State Bar's Report on Frye v. Tenderloin Housing Clinic: LAAC took a lead role in the legal services community's response to the State Bar's initial draft Frye report to the California Supreme Court. LAAC submitted extensive comments opposing the initial draft report's recommendation that nonprofits providing legal services should be regulated by the State Bar. In November 2007, the Board of Governors directed its Regulation, Admissions and Discipline (RAD) Committee to revise the report to indicate that no additional regulation of legal services nonprofits was warranted. The revised report was approved by the Board in January 2008.

• Changes to Legal Services Program IOLTA Rules: LAAC has taken a lead role in advocating on behalf of IOLTA-funded programs regarding the Legal Services Trust Fund Program's IOLTA rules revision project. The LSTFP has already made many of the changes that LAAC suggested, and we are continuing to work with them to discuss other possible revisions and/or clarifications of the IOLTA rules.

• Legislative and Budget Advocacy:

• SB 1407: LAAC participated in successful advocacy regarding SB 1407 (Perata), which the Governor signed on September 26, 2008. This bill will provide $5 billion in lease-revenue bonds to finance new construction and renovation projects for court facilities throughout the state, helping to ensure that the court buildings in California do not constitute a fundamental barrier to access to justice.

• AB 3050 and SB 1113: LAAC also advocated in support of AB 3050 (Jones), which would have helped prevent fraudulent misuse of the term "legal aid" and created a pilot project to provide language interpreters to low-income parties in civil cases, and SB 1113 (Migden), which would have restored the discretion of courts to award expert-witness fees when a party prevails in an action enforcing an important right affecting the public interest. Although not successful this year, LAAC will continue its advocacy work on these important access-to-justice issues.

• The State Hearings Division: LAAC successfully opposed proposals in the Governor's 2008-2009 budget that would have eliminated the right of applicants for and recipients of public benefits to have an in-person hearing and would have severely altered other important functions of the State Hearing Division.

• Department of Fair Employment and Housing: LAAC also successfully opposed a proposal to cut almost $1.8 million from the budget of the Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH), which plays a crucial role in civil-rights enforcement in California.

• The State Bar's "Find a Lawyer" Project: LAAC is engaging in advocacy efforts with the State Bar regarding its proposed lawyer-referral website, originally known as the "Find a Lawyer" project and now called the "Consumer Information/Attorney Search" website. We are advocating on behalf of the numerous IOLTA programs that obtain significant funding from Lawyer Referral and Information Service programs. LAAC has met with State Bar staff to discuss the concerns of the legal services community, and we will continue to be involved as the State Bar Board of Governors considers whether and how to implement the project.

• Amicus Advocacy: LAAC participated in the Impact Fund's successful amicus brief in Vasquez v. State of California at the California Supreme Court. In a unanimous decision filed in November 2008, the Court affirmed the judgment of the Court of Appeal, as the amicus brief had asked the Court to do. This decision affirms the trial court's award of attorney fees to the plaintiff. The Court held that in order to receive attorney fees under the "private attorney general" statute, the plaintiff was not required to engage in pre-litigation settlement efforts.

Trainings: This year LAAC undertook its most ambitious training calendar to date, with multiple successful and comprehensive conferences around the state. LAAC also further expanded its series of trainings using online meeting technology.
• Bringing Support Center resources to more rural areas: LAAC offered a Traveling Training in November of 2008 in Riverside, marking our Tenth Traveling Training in just seven years! Trainers from 20 different Support Centers around the state shared their expertise and knowledge with local programs in the Inland Empire.
• Pathways to Justice: Pathways to Justice 2008 was held in Los Angeles, from June 5-8, 2008. With over 350 people in attendance, this conference was a huge success and many from the legal services community raved about the practical and inspirational workshops!
• Family Law Conference: LAAC has begun planning its 5th Family Law Conference in coordination with the Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC). It will be held in February 2009 in San Francisco. Over 150 legal services advocates, pro bono attorneys, and court staff will come together for two full days of panels and networking.
• Legal Supervision: LAAC has teamed up with Management Information Exchange (MIE) to bring legal services programs our first-ever Legal Supervision Training. This training will be held in January 2009 in San Francisco and will cover leadership in legal aid, legal work management systems, cultural competence and supervision, creating expectations and opportunities for supervision, and much more.
• Directors of Litigation & Advocacy (DoLA): LAAC also convened two DoLA meetings in 2008: Los Angeles in May and San Francisco in October. These meetings brought together over 70 legal services staff for substantive trainings as well as brainstorming sessions on issues of statewide concern.
• Expanded "Armchair Training" series on issues affecting low-income seniors: These trainings use online meeting and conference call technology to offer high-quality, relevant MCLE trainings over the lunch hour that advocates can access without requiring any travel time or expense. LAAC held 20 Armchair Trainings in 2008, and starting in Fall 2008, each session has been recorded and archived on our website for future viewing.
• Online Trainings for Law Students: LAAC collaborated with the Public Interest Clearinghouse to provide public interest law students throughout the state with free online trainings to support their summer internships. One hour trainings on a variety of topics were offered each week of June and July 2008.
PROGRAM SUPPORT: LAAC continues to build statewide structures to allow legal services programs to coordinate and collaborate.

• LAAC's Sections: LAAC provides vital coordination work for its four sections: (i) Directors of Litigation & Advocacy (DoLA); (ii) the LSC-funded Project Directors Association; (iii) the Support Center Section; and (iv) the Section for Senior Legal Services Providers (SLSP).
• Online Legal Services Directory: LAAC continues to maintain the online Legal Services Directory, www.LAACdirectory.org, a searchable database with direct contact information for over 1,800 legal services staff statewide (access available only to staff at LAAC member organizations).
• CALegalAdvocates.org: This year LAAC's online home for the legal services community grew to over 2,000 members. Its resources include a legal services news section, a rich statewide training calendar, and substantive resources. LAAC will continue to bring the benefits of technology to our community in 2009, including the use of webcasting and screencasting capabilities for trainings.
• Listservs: LAAC continues to collaborate with various advocacy groups within the legal services community to support their work by creating designated listservs!
• Awards and Fellowships: LAAC gave out seven Awards of Merit and three Dan Bradley Fellowships in 2008.