Uniting the legal community in the service of the people.

The National Lawyers Guild (NLG) was founded in 1937 as the country’s first racially integrated bar association of progressive lawyers and jurists who believed that they had a major role to play in reconstructing legal values to emphasize human rights over property rights. The Guild is the oldest and most extensive network of public interest and human rights activists working within the legal system.

We work tirelessly towards our mission of uniting lawyers, law students, legal workers, jailhouse lawyers, and community members to function as an effective force in the service of the people so that human rights are regarded as more sacred than property interests.

We aim to bring together all those who recognize the importance of safeguarding and extending the rights of workers, women, LGBTQ people, farmers, people with disabilities, and people of color, upon whom the welfare of the entire nation depends; who seek actively to eliminate racism; who work to maintain and protect our civil rights and liberties in the face of persistent attacks upon them; and who look upon the law as an instrument for the protection of the people, rather than for their repression.

Find NLG’s national bylaws, constitution, and resolutions HERE.

Our Programs

NLG-LA has four primary programmatic areas to fulfill our mission:

Amplify

Educate

Protect

Connect

<h3><em>Amplifying the voices of the movement</em></h3> <p>We believe in movement- and grassroots-led actions. We utilize our skills and resources to support this work through programming and coalition building.</p>

<h3><em>Resources and Education</em></h3> <p>We provide educational materials and host events on social and economic justice movements and being lawyers for change. We conduct trainings, workshops, CLEs, and student retreats to educate our members on advocating effectively for the movement. Our popular Lawyer’s Guild radio show on KPFK disseminates information about the movement to the general public.</p>

<h3><em>Connecting lawyers, legal workers, and community members for change</em></h3> <p>A major purpose of the guild is to create an association of like-minded, committed lawyers and legal workers and to promote the interests of the group in serving the movement. We encourage our members to join a Guild committee or our Legal Observer team. We host special events that bring together community members to learn, connect, and grow.</p>

About

Uniting the legal community in the service of the people.

Our Programs

Connect with NLG-LA