By Jennifer M. Smith Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane. . . —The Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. 1 Preface In 1940, when Moses A. Robinson was only 13 years old, he wanted to go to a movie in his hometown of Franklin, Louisiana. Because […]

By Deborah Willis I want to thank the Guild for the Arthur Kinoy Award. I was surprised—in fact I was floored—but I’m very pleased and proud to receive it. Arthur Kinoy is someone I’ve admired for years and it’s an honor to receive an award with his name on it. I’m not a lawyer. I’m […]

By Jules Lobel Movements seeking fundamental social, economic and political change have faced a recurring dilemma in the United States and other nations. During activist periods such as the 1930s and ’60s, powerful protests inspire important constitutional and legal reforms and weaken the power of entrenched elites. Yet once the social movement ebbs, the activists’ […]

The first two features in this issue look inward at the Guild itself. “Transformational Movements: The National Lawyers Guild and Radical Legal Service” by Jules Lobel seeks to explain why the Guild, virtually alone among the radical-progressive organizations founded to better conditions for struggling and disenfranchised groups during the Great Depression, has “survive[d]… with its […]