Staff Profile: Oscar Aguirre, Records Project Staff Attorney
Oscar Aguirre manages KCBA’s Records Project, a pro bono program that helps individuals vacate eligible criminal convictions from their record and obtain waivers of legal financial obligations, thereby removing barriers to stable housing and employment. Oscar’s path to his work with the Records Project began when he was a child. His parents found him argumentative and naturally suggested Oscar consider being a lawyer. Oscar started building his skills at Squalicum High School in Bellingham, where he participated on the Debate Team and competed against other schools. He found that researching, writing, and arguing different topics—from political issues of the day to tariffs and embargos—were more fulfilling to him than his math and science courses.
At Western Washington University, Oscar engaged in social justice issues. Inspired by the unrest in Ferguson, Missouri, after the fatal shooting of Michael Brown by a police officer, he joined campus protests and sought other ways to become involved in efforts to address racial inequities in the criminal legal system. An in-depth paper about private prisons for his Econ class sparked a desire to dismantle the private prison system and furthered him down his path to law school.
Oscar attended UC Berkeley School of Law and was drawn to its commitment to public interest and social justice. During his 1L year, the Asian Pacific Law Students Association led efforts to de-name the main law school building due to the namesake’s racist ideology about Chinese immigrants and Chinese Americans in the 19th century. In law school, Oscar continued to build a foundation for his future in criminal law by interning at the ACLU National Prison Project, the Death Penalty Clinic, and public defense agencies. He learned about the criminal legal system from all facets, both impact litigation and indigent defense. After graduating, Oscar chose his post-graduate clerkship with the late Judge Martinez for the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas in part due to its high criminal docket.
Oscar returned to Washington State post-clerkship and landed at a small criminal defense firm representing clients in Skagit County. He continued to see how the criminal legal system perpetuates racial and socioeconomic inequalities and the negative impacts of a person’s criminal case long after it is over.
This led Oscar to the Records Project in 2022, where he found a mix of client-focused and systemic work and the flexibility to craft solutions. Oscar says that through the Records Project, he has gained a broader perspective of how inextricably tied criminal laws impact clients’ post-conviction lives.
The Records Project is seeking new volunteer attorneys. According to Oscar, “The amount of work volunteers do creates an outsized impact on clients’ lives.” The Records Project makes the process of volunteering easy and straightforward with training, advanced prep work, and mentoring. When volunteers accept a case, they can “hit the ground running.”
To learn more about volunteering with the Records Project, contact Oscar at oscara@kcba.org.
