5/19 | Civil Right to Counsel

At some point, almost everyone has heard something like this on TV: "You have a right to a lawyer. If you cannot afford one, one will be provided to you." In 1963, in the celebrated case of Gideon v. Wainwright, the Supreme Court said that individuals charged with serious crimes have a right to counsel. The Court later expanded the right to juveniles charged with delinquency offenses and people charged with misdemeanors. Yet, many people do not realize that this broad right only applies to criminal cases, not civil cases. As a result, the right to counsel in civil cases depends on what state you're in and what type of civil cases it is.

In 2018 San Francisco voters passed the No Eviction Without Representation Act (“Prop F”), which established a policy that all residential tenants facing eviction have the right to full-scope legal defense. This ordinance went into effect…