Hi friends! As you probably know I've been working for a small environmental law firm for the past few years. As you may not know I am not paid a salary or hourly wage for this work but I work entirely on contingency as an independent contractor. I have been able to do amazing work with this firm and being an independent contractor has been vital to being able to stay in the legal field after having a big ass mental break down working for a corporate Manhattan firm. 

Because I am bipolar and transgender and the vast majority of the field I had busted my ass to get into is ableist and trans-exclusionary.

I have been doing extremely well at this little firm in LA that I summered at! I lead the drafting on a Petition for a Review on a major environmental issue that WAS ACTUALLY GRANTED by the California Supreme court. I have been involved in several published appellate opinions and took on a huge amount of responsibility for a case in which got the firm known as LA's preeminent tree lawyers. I get to fight over development and gentrification and the destruction of open space in Los Angeles and make a difference in every case that we take.

I have put thousands of unpaid hours into fighting highway expansions in historic neighborhoods; stopping the desolation of LAs forests and neighborhoods at the hands of ultra-luxury developers; overturning bad general plan elements and ordinances that don't consider the needs of the disabled; and holding Wells Fargo accountable for a multi-million dollar fraud fraud back in the crisis.

BUT unfortunately my landlord served me with a 3-day notice to pay rent or quit. Things have been tough financially for a while now but I finally have nothing in my account and an eviction notice on the door. I need to raise $2400 by June 6th or else I will be evicted and no longer be able to live in Los Angeles. I will lose this apartment where I am walking distance to the law firm and my brother and only a short bus ride away from West Hollywood. I set the goal to $2600 for gas and electric which will be shut off soon.

Thank you for anything you are able to give!

<3 Mimi