Every guide below is free. Every guide is generic, not case-specific. Every guide cites the operative statutes and regulations so you can verify against current law before relying on any procedural detail. Bearpoint Foundation provides comprehensive research so a lawyer can litigate. We do not provide legal services and nothing in these guides is legal advice.
Federal Agency Complaints
Filing pathways with the federal regulators that enforce civil rights statutes against federally funded institutions and public actors.
OCR Title VI Complaints
The 180-day clock, evidence that moves OCR vs. evidence that doesn't, retaliation as a separate violation, what to do when OCR closes without investigating.
Read the guide →Title IX Complaints
Sex-based discrimination, harassment, and pregnancy/parental status in federally funded education. The 2020 and 2024 rule changes and which one applies.
Read the guide →FERPA Complaint Guide
Filing with the Student Privacy Policy Office (SPPO), the amendment-and-hearing right, why FERPA has no private right of action.
Read the guide →IDEA & Section 504
FAPE under Endrew F., procedural rights, the three federal enforcement channels, due process vs. state complaint vs. mediation, the stay-put right.
Read the guide →ADA Title II Complaints
Disability discrimination by state and local government. Reasonable accommodation, effective communication, Section 504 parallel filing.
Read the guide →DOJ Civil Rights Division
The federal pattern investigator. Sections of the Division, the pattern-or-practice standard, criminal civil rights under 18 U.S.C. §§ 241 and 242.
Read the guide →42 U.S.C. § 1983
The constitutional tort. Three elements, Monell liability, qualified immunity, individual vs. official capacity, statute of limitations, what § 1983 doesn't reach.
Read the guide →ICWA Enforcement & Tribal Identity
What ICWA covers and doesn't when a school district erases a tribal child. Three-vector federal response, documentation checklist, sovereignty path.
Read the guide →State-Level Enforcement
Washington-specific enforcement vectors. Many overlap with federal counterparts but offer broader substantive protections or different procedural windows.
WA Public Records Act
Penalty structure under Yousoufian, the print-to-scan spoliation pattern, multi-vector enforcement, and the insurance leverage most requesters miss.
Read the guide →WSHRC Complaint Guide
Washington Law Against Discrimination (chapter 49.60 RCW) — broader than federal protections. WSHRC vs. direct court path, the 6-month window.
Read the guide →WA Tort Claim Notice
The mandatory RCW 4.96 pre-litigation notice. Six required elements, the 60-day waiting period, strict-substantial-compliance standard.
Read the guide →WSBA Bar Grievance
Attorney discipline in Washington. The RPCs that matter, the candor-to-tribunal vector, reciprocity rules, what makes a grievance survive screening.
Read the guide →WA State Auditor
Reporting government fraud, Single Audit Act referrals, the 6-month management decision rule, 2 C.F.R. Part 200 grant compliance.
Read the guide →Evidence Architecture and Pressure Frameworks
The methodological infrastructure that makes the rest of this library work. Build these before you file anything.
Pro Se Filing Fundamentals
What to build before you file. Evidence vault, timeline document, actor profiles, reading statutes and cases, the three phases of pro se civil rights work.
Read the guide →SHA-256 Chain of Custody
A field manual for preserving digital evidence. Hashing on day one, FRE 901 authentication, the mirror pattern, metadata preservation.
Read the guide →Spoliation Detection
How to identify document destruction in PRA productions and discovery. The print-to-scan pattern, metadata layer analysis, byte-identical duplicates.
Read the guide →Multi-Vector Pressure
The Bearpoint framework explained. Why single complaints fail, the four pressure-vector categories, cross-reference mechanics, settlement engineering.
Read the guide →