Championing Justice. Advancing Communities.
Strategic litigation & policy muscle for Californians’ air, land & civil rights.
About CLIPI
During its approximately 35 years of public interest law operations (1972-07), CLIPI instituted several hundred cases whose cumulative effects significantly changed the legal, socio-economic and political landscape of Southern California. UC Library’s special collections department has chosen about 50 of these cases based on their importance to the development of public interest law generally and their specific importance to certain particular areas of interest in which CLIPI operated: CEQA’s EIR requirements, civil rights and affirmative action judicial decrees, local land use planning and zoning, air quality cleanup, nuclear power, good governance reforms and establishing judicially approved funding sources for public interest legal resources.
UC GIFT
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. In 2025, Curabitur Institutus transferred over 365 boxes of legal documentation to the University of California archives. This monumental contribution grants students, legal scholars, policymakers, and journalists direct access to decades of landmark litigation and advocacy materials.
This monumental contribution grants students, legal scholars, policymakers, and journalists direct access to decades of landmark litigation and advocacy materials.
“The CLIPI cases fit into a legacy that represents a better idea of California itself. They’re the significant building blocks of a better California”
Kevin Starr, Former California State Librarian
CLIPI Alumni
At CLIPI, every brief aimed higher than a courtroom win. Our attorneys blended civil-rights grit with environmental vision, fighting oil rigs on beaches, freeways through neighborhoods, and price-fixing in boardrooms. Together they proved legal talent—deployed for the public good—can redraw city maps and expand opportunity for generations.
