In 2025, the National Lawyers Guild will offer its members a training series to provide skills and knowledge helpful when supporting people arrested for their political activism. The curriculum will cover assisting protestors before and after protests, navigating the criminal punishment system, understanding political prosecutions and collective defense, preparing for civil rights lawsuits, and more.
Drawing on the NLG’s long history of providing legal support for social movements, our member-trainers will explain how to handle political cases sensitively and in alignment with principled defendants’ goals and principles. The training series is designed for all our members: legal workers, law students, jailhouse lawyers, and attorneys!
Topics will include:
- Preparing and delivering successful Know Your Risks (KYR) training
- Understanding and Navigating Federal Grand Juries
- Performing Effective Jail Visits
- Protecting and Preserving Attorney-Client Privilege
- Preparing and Appearing for Post-Arrest Bond Hearings
- Issues relating to Indigency, Right to Counsel, and Case Funding
- Representing Radical Defendants
- Cultural Humility, Anti-Oppression, and Client-Centered Representation
- Collective Defense and Joint Defense Agreements
- Constitutional Issues in Political Prosecutions
- Federal Civil Rights Lawsuits
- And more!
The series will be offered via live Zoom webinars throughout the year, with recordings available on our members-only platform. Those who complete the training will receive a certificate from the NLG and the option of being added to a referral list for political cases in your jurisdiction(s).
Please note that the Representing Protestors training series and curriculum will be available to NLG members only. To access the live trainings and recordings, please join the NLG at nlg.org/join. These trainings will not provide legal advice; serve as substitute for legal research or trial training; address substantive issues of any specific jurisdiction; nor provide information about individual criminal statutes or procedure. Please reach out to your local NLG chapter for more local trainings and information.
