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UNCOMMON LAW

EIN 46-1538094 OAKLAND, CA

Browse the largest nonprofits in California

Revenue 2023
$3,021,275
Expenses 2023
$3,428,593

Program services were 89.9% of total expenses calculated — Part IX's program-services column over total expenses, both as filed.

As filed

Subsection
03
NTEE code
I80
Classification
1000
Street
318 HARRISON ST STE 103

These codes are the IRS's own and are shown exactly as filed. What each one means is in the Business Master File documentation (opens in a new tab).

Mission and programs · 2023

Mission

UNCOMMON LAW'S MISSION IS TO PROVIDE ACCESS TO JUSTICE AND HEALING FOR PEOPLE IMPACTED BY INCARCERATION. WE DELIVER TRAUMA-INFORMED, HEALING-CENTERED MENTAL HEALTH AND LEGAL COUNSELING TO HELP PROVIDE A SAFE PATHWAY HOME FOR PEOPLE CURRENTLY SERVING LENGTHY PRISON TERMS IN CALIFORNIA PRISONS. WE REPRESENT PEOPLE IN THEIR PAROLE HEARINGS AND HABEAS PETITIONS, AND WE ENGAGE IN LITIGATION AND POLICY ADVOCACY TO ADDRESS SYSTEMIC DISCRIMINATION IN THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM. WE ALSO PROVIDE TRAINING FOR PEOPLE IN PRISON, ATTORNEYS, FAMILY MEMBERS, AND LAW STUDENTS IN ORDER TO IMPROVE THE OVERALL QUALITY OF PREPARATION FOR AND REPRESENTATION IN PAROLE HEARINGS. OUR CLIENTS CANNOT BE RELEASED FROM PRISON UNLESS AND UNTIL THEY HAVE PARTICIPATED IN COUNSELING AND OTHER TRAINING PROGRAMS, AND CAN SHOW THE CALIFORNIA PAROLE BOARD THEY CAN SAFELY REJOIN THEIR COMMUNITIES. WE HELP THEM GET READY TO MAKE THAT SHOWING.

Activities or mission (Part I)

UnCommon Law fights to ensure that all people incarcerated for violent crime have access to healing, justice, and effective legal representation.Through our unique, trauma-informed model of advocacy, we provide the space currently missing in the system for healing, accountability, and safe pathways home from prison. In developing new self narratives, the people we serve are able to more effectively disrupt violence inside and outside prison, and become leaders who change negative societal narratives about those incarcerated for violent crime. Our groundbreaking approach is changing policy and outcomes, driven by the voices and experiences of system-impacted communities.

  • UnCommon Law provided parole resources (by mail and through online access), phone support, and legal trainings to over 9,000 incarcerated people and community members across the State.Our attorneys represented 68 clients in the parole hearing process, with 35scheduled parole hearings and 15 parole grants. Additionally, we provided 20written consultations which help non-clients reflect on their past hearing andbetter prepare for their next hearing

    Expenses $3,081,804

  • We launched a cohort at our second location of the Home After Harm program: Salinas Valley State Prison (SVSP). In addition to this inaugural cohort at SVSP, we launched the second cohort at California State Prison- Los Angeles County (Lancaster) following the first Lancaster graduation in 2022.UnCommon Laws Policy team introduced a bill to the California State Legislature, SB82, to increase judicial oversight and legal protections for people challenging parole denials.

As filed on the 2023 return.

Officers and directors · 2023

As listed in Part VII of the 2023 return, in the order the filer printed them. Each return names its own; this is not a roster the organization keeps with us.

  • Keith Wattley

    Executive Dir.

    Total calculated
    $193,814
    From this org
    $193,814
    From related orgs
    $0
    Other
    $0
    Hours/week
    60

    Schedule J breakdown matched by us

    Base
    $193,814
    Bonus
    not reported
    Other
    not reported
    Deferred
    not reported
    Nontaxable benefits
    not reported
    Filer's total
    $193,814

  • Lilliana B Paratore

    Dir. Legal Service

    Total calculated
    $127,391
    From this org
    $127,391
    From related orgs
    $0
    Other
    $0
    Hours/week
    40

  • Katy Dybwad

    Dir.Finance & Oper

    Total calculated
    $123,471
    From this org
    $123,471
    From related orgs
    $0
    Other
    $0
    Hours/week
    40

  • Ann M Roge

    Dir of Dev. & Comm

    Total calculated
    $101,460
    From this org
    $101,460
    From related orgs
    $0
    Other
    $0
    Hours/week
    40

  • Erin Scott

    Finance Chair

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    2

  • Carletha Sterling

    Board Chair

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    2

  • Kwame Marfo

    Secretary

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    2

  • Ernest Hammond III

    Board member

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    2

  • Satch Slavin

    Board member

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    2

  • Eddy Zheng

    Board Member

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    2

  • Rob Eber

    Fundraising Chr

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    2

  • Paul Petrequin

    Audit Chair

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    2

Compensation is as filed in Part VII: reportable pay from this organization and from related organizations, other compensation, and hours per week. The total, marked calculated, is our sum of the three dollar columns, with a blank column counted as $0; the form itself has no total. On a Form 990-EZ the columns are Part IV's instead, and on a Form 990-PF Part VIII's — compensation, contributions to benefit plans, and expense account — and the total sums those. A Schedule J breakdown is as filed: base pay, bonus, other, deferred compensation and nontaxable benefits from this organization, with any from related organizations beside each, and the filer's own total. It is shown with the Part VII listing of the same name on the same return. The form gives no key between the two, so that pairing is ours, and is marked matched by us. Earlier years are each on their own filing page.

Filings

  • 2023
    Revenue
    $3,021,275
    Expenses
    $3,428,593
    Contributions
    $2,951,671
    Grants paid
    $0
  • 2022
    Revenue
    $4,072,621
    Expenses
    $2,978,268
    Contributions
    $3,986,555
    Grants paid
    $0

The four totals the IRS asks for on Part I of the Form 990, as filed. A dash means the figure was not present on the return — not that it was zero.

Other returns filed

  • 2021 · 990

    Revenue
    $2,145,290
    Expenses
    $2,557,809
    Assets (EOY)
    $2,981,564

  • 2020 · 990

    Revenue
    $3,657,943
    Expenses
    $1,208,670
    Assets (EOY)
    $3,992,430

  • 2019 · 990

    Revenue
    $1,335,634
    Expenses
    $654,845
    Assets (EOY)
    $889,429

  • 2018 · 990

    Revenue
    $543,339
    Expenses
    $444,585
    Assets (EOY)
    $114,397

  • 2017 · 990

    Revenue
    $319,599
    Expenses
    $364,122
    Assets (EOY)
    $95,805

  • 2016 · 990

    Revenue
    $437,371
    Expenses
    $367,225
    Assets (EOY)
    $130,739

  • 2015 · 990

    Revenue
    $247,741
    Expenses
    $248,420
    Assets (EOY)
    $74,215

  • 2014 · 990

    Revenue
    $254,200
    Expenses
    $244,023
    Assets (EOY)
    $80,927

Nonprofiteer parses Forms 990, 990-EZ and 990-PF, in a window of recent tax years. These returns are recorded from the IRS e-file index, so their figures were extracted by that index rather than read from the return here — treat them as a different source from the filings above, not as more of the same record. A dash means the index carries no figure; Form 990-T listings carry none at all.

Grants made

No itemized grants to organizations. Schedule I is filed only by organizations that granted more than $5,000 to a recipient, so most filers have none.

Grants received

The 10 largest by cash amount. The API serves every itemized grant.

Other IRS files

Auto-Revocation List

Not listed. The IRS publishes this list for organizations whose exemption was automatically revoked for failing to file for three consecutive years.

Publication 78

Listed as of 13 October 2026, under deductibility PC.

These are two separate IRS files on two separate schedules, shown as published and not reconciled with each other. Neither is a statement about whether a contribution is deductible today: 19,245 organizations appear in Publication 78 while the IRS's own revocation file lists them as currently revoked, more than half of those revoked before 2019. Absence from Publication 78 is evidence of nothing, and presence is not evidence either. Verify current status with the IRS before relying on it.

What this page reflects

The registration facts above come from the IRS Business Master File published 9 November 2026 and read 9 November 2026, for every organization at once. Returns through tax year 2023, the newest we have parsed for this organization.