Community Legal Services

I went to a clinic CLS was hosting at a library a few years ago to get an idea of how they might be ablet to help me. I know that Arizona is a little tricky when it comes to what you can and can not do to clear your record. Before this I had met with a lawyer for a consultation although I left knowing I probably could not afford the fees associated with being represented. The lawyer did explain pretty much everything there is to know about how Arizona works and what options I had. I went in with the understanding that only MJ cases can be expunged and everything else could either qualify to be set aside or sealed (as of DEC 22) of course depending on other factors as well. I did determine I wanted to go the route of sealing my record and my cases did qualify. I had the lady from CLS try to tell me for about 15 min that there was no such thing as sealing in Arizona and that cases could only be set aside. I tried to explain that I had just met with a lawyer and had also done extensive research and that I was pretty sure that was incorrect and she insisted on arguing with me and tried to make me feel like I was stupid. I tried to be understanding and told her that I would still like to meet with someone about my cases and if I had received incorrect information and sealing was not an option I would like to educate myself and of course find out that information. I did also clarify if this was something she was saying that her agency just didn't help with and she confirmed that she was stating that you could not get a case sealed in Arizona. So I was given a card and they took down all my information, my case numbers etc... and told me that I would be contacted for an intake. Well 3 years later I was never contacted. I'm still going through this process and was looking into agencies again and remembered this and wanted to leave my experience to hopefully prevent anyone else from being made to feel small, uneducated, or not important. The information she did give me was in fact not correct. I never did work directly with anyone else at CLS since I was never contacted (she probably didn't even pass my information on because in her mind I wanted my record sealed and in hers there was no such thing). So this may just have been an isolated incident with one employee who unfortunately did not know the correct and up to date laws, lacked compassion and empathy, and unprofessionally chose to not even pass along the appointment rather than the agency at large although my experience is still valid!

Jessica was very polite and made me feel heard when no one else in the valley wanted to listen. Thank you.