Community Reintegration Program.

Our Focus

Our focus is helping people rebuild after involvement in the criminal justice system. We provide clear guidance, skilled legal advocacy, and practical support that restores stability and opens doors to opportunity. Whether you’re working to clear your record, protect or reinstate your professional license, obtain a caregiver exemption, or navigate complex requirements like the 290 process, NBLC is here to help you move forward with dignity and confidence.

How We Help

Involvement in the criminal justice system is life‑altering. NBLC helps you move forward with clarity and dignity through our three core programs—Professional License Defense/Caregiver Exemption, 290 Termination/Redesignation, and Criminal Record Clearing. We provide the legal advocacy and guidance you need to rebuild stability and open new opportunities.

How We Are Different

As a nonprofit, NBLC makes high‑quality legal help truly affordable. We bridge the gap between the high cost of private firms and public offices stretched thin with overwhelming caseloads. Our team gives you the time, attention, and clear guidance you deserve—so you can move forward with support that’s personal, accessible, and built around your future.

How Our Fees Work

Our fees are designed to be fair, transparent, and truly affordable. We base our pricing on the median individual income of each county we serve—so your fee reflects the economic reality of your community, not the high cost of a private firm. There are no hidden fees, no complex qualifying rules, and no surprises. Just straightforward, accessible pricing that makes high‑quality legal help possible for more people.

Investing in the Community

NBLC provides clients the opportunity to give back to the community through our “Pay it Forward” Program. This includes the opportunity to participate on NBLCs board and committees. Through this program, our clients develop new skills, discover new passions, and gain new insights about themselves and the world around them. 

Contact us today for your free consultation.

Let's Work Together

Our Programs

Involvement in the criminal justice system is life‑altering, and navigating what comes next can feel overwhelming. NBLC helps you move forward with clarity, dignity, and real support. Through our three core programs, we provide the legal advocacy, guidance, and tools needed to rebuild stability, restore opportunity, and create lasting change.

The Professional Licensing/Exemption Project addresses the needs of those who are at risk of losing their professional license or have lost their professional license due to a criminal conviction. We also advocate for those who are denied a care-giving position due to a criminal conviction.

Professionals work hard to obtain their professional licenses. Their achievement proves that they have the skills, knowledge, and expertise necessary to do their job and to do it well. Licensed professionals and those working in the care-giving professions are subject to a wide variety of legal and ethical rules. If a violation of these rules is reported or suspected, the license or position is in danger of being suspended or revoked. Sadly, all that hard work may be lost if a professional license or position is denied, suspended, or revoked due to a criminal conviction. Professionals who lose their licenses often feel helpless, powerless, and fearful of the future. NBLC helps professionals maintain their licenses and certifications. We are committed to providing the legal support necessary to challenge and overturn a license/position revocation decision.

Our Services

  • Licensing Board Investigation
  • License Probation, Suspension, Revocation
  • Denial of Professional License
  • Offer of Diversion Program
  • Department of Social Services “Care Giver” Exemption/Waiver
  • Case Management and Support

Donate to the Professional License Defense program and give hope for a secure future.

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The 290 Project addresses the needs of those who have suffered a sex offense conviction.  This population has unique challenges associated with their reintegration into the community.   For those with a sex offense conviction, community reintegration is a daunting experience. The public holds many erroneous assumptions about sex offenders. As such, sex offenders face social isolation, hostility, extreme difficulty obtaining housing, education, and employment. These challenges together with the lack of a support system leaves the offender with feelings of hopelessness which, in turn, can lead to mental health issues, and substance abuse.  NBLC provides client advocacy, referrals, case management, and community organization collaboration to this unique population in an effort to alleviate the effects of this type of conviction.  We provide socio-legal advocacy in the following matters:

Our Services

  • Tier Designation Determination
  • Criminal Record Clearing
  • Employment Assistance
  • Housing Assistance
  • Education Assistance
  • Access to Public Assistance and Competent Healthcare
  • Case Management and Support

Donate to the 290 Project and help change lives..

 A criminal record shouldn’t define the rest of your life. At NBLC, we help people clear old convictions, reduce felonies, end probation early, and correct outdated records so you can move forward with confidence. Our approach is simple: expert legal work, transparent pricing, and a team that treats you with dignity.  Whether your case is simple or complex, we’re here to help you take the next step toward stability, opportunity, and peace of mind.

Your past doesn’t have to hold you back. We’re here to help you move forward.

Our Services

  • Expungements (PC 1203.4)
  • Felony reductions (17(b))
  • Early termination of probation
  • Prop 47 & Prop 64 reductions
  • RAP sheet / DOJ / FBI cleanup
  • Multi‑case coordination
  • Internet record clean‑up
  • Certificates of Rehabilitation
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 NBLC provides additional legal services in the following areas:

  • Department of Justice Criminal History Amendments/Disputes
  • FBI Criminal History Amendments/Disputes
  • Out of State Record Clearing Research
  • Personal Reputation Management
  • Traffic Penalty Alternatives

Out of County/State Legal Representation

Out of county/state post-conviction legal representation may be performed for Marin County residents. If the case is in a county/state outside the bay area, NBLC will first need to secure the assistance of pro bono counsel in that county/state, prior to committing to and undertaking any legal work.

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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.