Advocacy. Empowerment. Our Mission, Your Rights.

Our Mission

Many individuals in our local communities are facing immense challenges on their journey to rehabilitation. By supporting NBLC, you’re helping to change lives in powerful, practical, and transformative ways—while also strengthening the well-being of our entire community. You are their Second Chance.

There are several ways to contribute. To make a tax-deductible donation, you can send a check to:

New Beginnings Law Center
4040 Civic Center Drive, Ste. 200
San Rafael, CA 94903

Please call us at (415) 492-4540 with any questions.

Or you can make a donation securely online below.

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Elisa Lasserre

Ms. Lasserre attended law school at Southern California Institute of Law.  She worked fulltime in a law office during the day and attended law school at night.  In 1995, she graduated law school at the top of her class and earned several awards of merit in Evidence and Trial Advocacy.  Immediately after graduating, she sat for the California State Bar and began practicing law.

Although her passion from her early days as a court clerk was criminal law, Ms. Lasserre’s early experience as an attorney was in the area of complex civil litigation.  During this time, she litigated cases involving millions of dollars in damages.  This experience taught her the invaluable skills of case evaluation, written and oral argument and court preparedness.

In 2003, she left civil litigation to pursue her passion as a criminal defense attorney.  She opened her own criminal defense practice where she began representing indigent juvenile and adult defendants by court appointment.

In 2005, Ms. Lasserre was offered the position of Bay Area Staff Attorney for the Cochran Firm-Criminal Defense Division.  It was an honor to be considered for this position as Johnnie was a brilliant litigator and inspiration to those in the trenches practicing criminal defense. She accepted the position and represented Cochran Firm clients throughout the bay area.   The Cochran Firm – Criminal Defense Division dissolved in 2006 due to Johnnie’s untimely passing.

Ms. Lasserre immediately re-opened her criminal law practice and continued to represent indigent defendants in criminal and juvenile proceedings.  Over the years, she has represented defendants charged with many different crimes including driving under the influence, drug possession and sales, theft, domestic violence, serious and violent felonies, strike offenses, assault, gang violence, sex crimes and attempted murder.  She has also been appellate counsel on several cases including a life-sentence rape case.

After years of watching people’s lives negatively defined by involvement in the criminal justice system, Ms. Lasserre decided to focus her efforts on helping clients assess and redefine their lives.  In late 2015, Ms. Lasserre founded the New Beginnings Law Center.  The Center’s focus is to help clients diminish the effects of a criminal record thereby increasing self-worth and lowering recidivism rates.