SAN FRANCISCO—Last Friday, the California State Bar responded to a letter from the Institute for Justice (IJ) demanding that the agency retract its investigation into Sonja Trauss and the nonprofit organization YIMBY Law. YIMBY Law, which stands for “Yes In My Back Yard,” is an organization dedicated to ending the housing shortage and achieving affordable, sustainable, and equitable housing in California. As part of that mission, Sonja, as the executive director, sends letters to cities offering views on housing-related policies. This is a routine practice carried out by individuals and groups across the political spectrum every single day. Last year, YIMBY Law sent one such letter, signed by Sonja, to the city of Rancho Palos Verdes, and someone complained about it to the California State Bar, the state agency that licenses and regulates attorneys. After receiving the complaint, the bar decided to open an investigation into her for engaging in the unauthorized practice of law (UPL).
In California, the unauthorized practice of law is a crime, carrying potential punishment of a $1,000 fine and up to one year in prison. It’s a big deal. Also a big deal: the First Amendment. Two weeks ago, IJ wrote back to the bar on behalf of Sonja and YIMBY Law demanding the bar back down and explaining that it violates the First Amendment for the state of California to require people to get a law license before they can write letters to public bodies. This past Friday, the bar closed its investigation. As the agency explained, Sonja’s “letter [to the city of Rancho Palos Verdes] offering her view on state housing laws as an affected California resident and as the organization’s director and the mere use of the word ‘Law’ in the organization’s name does not constitute the unauthorized practice of law in California.”
“We’re thrilled the bar corrected course, but sending a letter to a city council shouldn’t have triggered a state investigation in the first place,” said IJ Senior Attorney Sam Gedge. “The only thing you should need before writing to government officials is an opinion—not a license from the state.”
In December—the day after Christmas, to be exact—Sonja received an email from an investigator with the bar. The investigator advised that an attorney had filed a complaint against Sonja, asserting that Sonja and YIMBY Law had engaged in UPL by sending a public letter to the Rancho Palos Verdes City Council in which they first explained why the policy the council was considering went against state law and then urged the council not to adopt it. As the bar summarized, the complaint asserts that Sonja and YIMBY Law acted unlawfully by “writ[ing] letters to CA cities threatening legal action,” and, in the complainant’s opinion, “stating incorrect housing laws and city ordinance laws.”
Instead of dismissing the complaint immediately (as it does for a good fraction of complaints it receives), the bar opened an investigation and requested responses to a string of questions about Sonja’s and YIMBY Law’s activities. That prompted IJ to respond to the bar two weeks ago, pointing out how a UPL statute that applies to letters like the one Sonja sent is a UPL statute that violates the First Amendment.
Like everyone in America, Sonja and YIMBY Law have the right to send letters to local governments, telling officials to change their ways or to vote one way or another on contentious issues. They don’t need a law license to do so. Indeed, one of the most fundamental rights as Americans is to speak up when we believe that those in power are misusing that power at the expense of the powerless.
“Political advocacy is as American as apple pie,” said Sonja. “This is an important win for the right to express political opinions, the right to talk about what we think the law requires, and is something all Californians will benefit from.”
Founded in 1991, IJ litigates nationwide to defend property rights, economic liberty, educational choice, and free speech. IJ is also the nation’s leading legal advocate defending occupational speech. Notable cases IJ has worked on include Upsolve, a nonprofit dedicated to helping Americans access their civil legal rights for free as well as a wide array of occupational speech clients, including a veterinarian who was fined for answering questions about animals that he hadn’t physically examined, and a woman who was prohibited from giving end-of-life guidance because she was not a licensed funeral director. To find out more about IJ’s work defending the First Amendment, go here: https://ij.org/issues/first-amendment/.
# # #
To arrange interviews on this subject, journalists may contact Phillip Suderman, IJ’s Communications Project Manager, at [email protected] or (850) 376-4110.