After serving impoverished clients with free legal services for thirty years, public service law firm Bet Tzedek has undergone its first complete branding. Marketing agency LA ads developed a new logo and identity package, along with a theme line for Bet Tzedek that expresses the organization’s mission: Justice for All.

Established in 1977, Bet Tzedek was initially founded as an outreach program of the Los Angeles Jewish community to provide free legal counsel to Holocaust survivors and low-income seniors. It soon added services in support of the wider non-Jewish community. However, its name, which in Hebrew means “House of Justice” and original slogan taken from the Hebrew Bible often misled its audiences into believing Bet Tzedek served only
Jews. The new branding effort, while maintaining the organization’s name, both modernizes the image of Bet Tzedek and reflects the broad diversity of its audiences, which includes donors, volunteers, staff and clients across the full spectrum of Los Angeles’ residents.

Following a series of focus groups of staff, volunteers, donors and partnering law firms, the agency determined that the three “pillars” of Bet Tzedek’s brand are its high degree of professionalism, its value system based on the spirit of righteousness, and its forward-thinking commitment to innovation. From this, the agency developed a color palette reflecting the diversity of clientele and programs, a logo that symbolizes the torch of Justice, and
the tagline which features the last three words of the Pledge of Allegiance. As is often the requirement in a complete branding project to assure uniformity of brand across all the client’s communications platforms, LA ads produced a “Brand Bible” that describes logo usage, font and color application, brand messaging and sample executions.

Immediately upon the adoption of the new brand, LA ads created new advertising for Bet Tzedek highlighting the individual success stories of some of its clients. Currently featured in the new campaign are the stories of a woman who had been enslaved by her wealthy employers, a developmentally disabled man who was being removed from of his beloved group home of 30 years, and a senior with increasing dementia whose life savings
was stolen by his housekeeper.

Additionally, Bet Tzedek has launched a completely revised website based on the new branding program, which is both easier to use and tells the Bet Tzedek story in a much more compelling fashion.

“While we do branding assignments for many different clients in many different industries, this is one of the most rewarding projects we’ve undertaken,” said Katz. “Bet Tzedek is a savior to so many people without the means to pay for legal help, whose rights have been violated, and who wouldn’t have a voice in the system were it not for this amazing organization. The fact that we can play a role in the forwarding of their mission is hugely special to us.”