NLG President Elena Cohen gave the following address at the start of the 2020 #Law4thePeople Convention. Read more about this year’s 2020 #Law4thePeople Convention here. Dear Guild Members and Allies, This year has been extraordinarily difficult. The dual pandemics of COVID-19 and state-sponsored murders and violence against Black people have shown us that we can- […]
Issues: Guild Notes Vol. 45 (2020)
Pooja Gehi Transitions from NLG Executive Director to Member
The following statement was posted to nlg.org on December 3, 2020 I am writing to share that after five years as Executive Director of the NLG, I have stepped down to focus on my writing and lawyering for social justice. It has been an honor and privilege to lead the NLG in our ongoing work […]
NLG Statement on COVID-19: Solidarity in Times of Crisis
The following was issued as a statement by the NLG National Office on March 18, 2020. The National Lawyers Guild (NLG) is committed to building collective power and solidarity during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the spirit of our mission of valuing human rights and the rights of ecosystems over property interests: “We must lift coercive […]
Statement of Support for Legal Observers Targeted & Brutalized by Police
The following was originally published to nlg.org on June 16, 2020. The Mass Defense Committee (MDC) Steering Committee and NLG National Office have been concerned about an increasing number of reports of police targeting Legal Observers (LOs) in a variety of ways, either with chemical or projectile weapons, physical force and brutality, or arrest and/or […]
Resources for Resisting Federal Repression
Since June of 2020, activists have been subjected to an increasingly aggressive crackdown on protests by federal law enforcement. The federal response to the movement for Black Lives has included federal criminal charges for activists, door knocks by federal law enforcement agents, and increased use of federal troops to violently police protests. The NLG National […]
NLG Welcomes Mass Defense Director Tyler Crawford
In late March, 2020, the NLG National Office was thrilled to welcome Tyler Crawford (he/him) as the new Director of Mass Defense. As an NLG law student at Fordham, Tyler demonstrated a deep commitment to the Guild’s principles. In 2018, Tyler was a Haywood Burns fellow, and helped mobilize Guild members in response to the […]
CA Central Valley NLG Use Guild Grants to Air Spanish Know-Your-Rights Radio Spots
by Mariah Thompson, CV NLG President The California Central Valley chapter of the National Lawyers Guild (CV NLG) is located in California’s politically conservative San Joaquin Valley (SJV). The area is home to hundreds of thousands of the agricultural workers who feed the U.S. and the world. These communities are especially vulnerable to state violence, […]
NLG Condemns Violent Police Response to Black Lives Matter Protests Nationwide
Spurred by the uprising in Minneapolis in response to the police killing of George Floyd, demonstrations took place in more than 75 cities over the weekend of May 29-31 as thousands of people protested to demand an end to racialized police violence and justice for Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, and so many others. National […]
NLG-Chicago Legal Observers: Ready at the Drop of a (Neon Green) Hat
by Betsy Merbitz, NLG-Chicago Chapter Administrator NLG Chicago Legal Observers (LOs) have been out in the streets at action after action since the uprising began, facing the challenge of remaining calm and focused on their role even when being beaten, pepper sprayed, pushed or threatened by police. In some cases, police actively prevented LOs from […]
NLG Statement In Support of #8ToAbolition
The following was originally published on nlg.org June 10, 2020. The NLG supports the #8toAbolition campaign, which builds on decades of work by Black feminist abolitionists to demand an end to policing and prisons, and community investment that prioritizes the lives and safety of Black people. 8 to Abolition was created by BIPOC police and […]