“Everyone told me it was my word against theirs. Imara found the camera on the gas station across the street.”
Darnell W.
Civil rights law in Birmingham
Hold them to the same law you live by
Imara Odum is a one-lawyer civil rights office. She sues police departments, jails and public places that shut people out, and she handles every case herself, from the first call to the courtroom.
Sample matters
Where three cases ended up
$148,000
Settlement, force during a traffic stop
Stopped for a broken tail light, a driver was taken to the pavement and cuffed. The city settled once the dashcam video came out in discovery.
2025 · Sample matter
Gross figure, before the fee and case costs.
$71,500
Settlement, insulin withheld in a county jail
A man with diabetes went four days without insulin after booking. The county and its medical contractor settled before trial.
2025 · Sample matter
Before fees and costs; his hospital bills were paid from it.
Lift installed
Consent decree, a public library branch
A wheelchair user couldn’t reach the meeting rooms upstairs. The library agreed to a lift, a ramp at the side door and a deadline for both.
2024 · Sample matter
No money damages here; the change was the result.
Invented sample matters, shown to illustrate the work; an owner replaces them with real ones. Past results don’t guarantee a similar outcome. Every case turns on its own facts, evidence and court.
How she works
She goes to the corner where it happened
Reports leave things out. So before Imara files anything, she stands where it happened: the curb, the booking desk, the front steps. She counts the cameras, finds the people who were there, and asks for the video before anyone has a reason to erase it.
Then she tells you what she found, including the parts that hurt your case.
You speak with Imara on every call
Video and records requested in the first week
A plain answer if the case isn’t strong enough
Cases she takes
Three kinds of harm, and nothing else
If what happened to you doesn’t fit one of them, she’ll say so and point you to a lawyer who takes it.
Police force and false arrest
Force at a stop or an arrest, an arrest with no reason behind it, a search of your home or car without a warrant.
Police cases
Jail and prison conditions
Medical care denied or delayed, assaults by staff or ignored threats, and deaths in custody, for the families left asking why.
Jail cases
Disability access
City buildings, clinics, shops and courthouses with no ramp, no interpreter or no way in for a wheelchair or a guide dog.
Access cases
From clients
In their words, after the file closed
Shared with permission. Each client’s case was different, and none of these predicts how yours will go.
“My brother was in that jail for nine days. She was the first person who asked to see his medical file.”
Rochelle T.“I’d complained about the steps for two years. Three months after she wrote to the county, they poured the ramp.”
Gail M.
Write down the date, the place and the names
Then send it through the form or call. Imara reads every message herself and calls back to talk it through. Deadlines in these cases can be short, so don’t wait on it.