BayLegal's Executive Director

Ramon Arias, Executive Director of Bay Area Legal Aid, is a respected leader in the national civil justice community. In 2001 and 2002, the Los Angeles Daily Journal, the State's primary legal newspaper, selected him as one of the "Top 100 Most Influential Lawyers" in California.

Mr. Arias graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles, School of Law in 1978. For the next ten years he worked for California Rural Legal Assistance, the primary provider of legal assistance to California's rural poor, as a Staff Attorney, Managing Attorney, Director of CRLA's Migrant Farm Worker Project, and Regional Counsel.

In 1988, Mr. Arias joined the San Francisco Neighborhood Legal Assistance Foundation as Executive Director, a position he held for the next twelve years. Working together with the Board, staff and community leaders, Mr. Arias helped the Foundation reclaim its dedication to excellence and connection to the client community.

In 2000, Mr. Arias was a leader in forming Bay Area Legal Aid and was selected as its first Executive Director. With offices in San Francisco, Marin, Richmond, Oakland, San Jose, and San Mateo, and a staff of over eighty dedicated legal services workers, BayLegal is the Bay Area's largest provider of free civil legal services.

Mr. Arias is respected and admired by his colleagues for the strength and vision he brings to his work and the legal services community. Through his gentle and persuasive manner he provides a broad perspective and deep understanding of the history, challenges, and potential future of the civil justice movement. 

Mr. Arias has served as the Chairman of the National Legal Aid and Defender Association, as a member of the ABA's Standing Committee on Legal Aid and Indigent Defendants and as a member of the American Bar Association's Commission on Loan Repayment. Presently, Mr. Arias serves as a member of the Board of Directors of the California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation and Equal Justice Works.