Beyond our members’ professional work and their outside advocacy and activism, the Portland Chapter of the NLG coordinates and is otherwise involved with multiple community projects. Find a few examples below.
Legal Observing
Legal observers trained by the Portland Chapter are dispatched to political events in the Portland area to prevent and, where necessary, document police abuse. Requests for legal observers and observer training can be made by emailing pdxlegalobserver@nlg.org or by contacting the chapter through our contact page.
Know Your Rights Trainings
The Portland National Lawyers Guild offers free Know Your Rights trainings when requested by groups—from high school classrooms, to organizational meetings, to in the streets right before rallies and protests, we’re happy to help our community understand and assert their rights when interacting with law enforcement. If you would like to request a training, please contact us.
Police Reform and Advocacy
The Portland Chapter has been active in efforts to empower citizens in seeking redress and accountability in police misconduct cases since 2000. The Chapter spearheaded efforts in 2000 leading to a Mayoral Task Force. We continued to pressure for reform of the prior weak and ineffective watchdog, Police Internal Investigations Audit Committee (PIIAC), which led to the establishment of the current Independent Police Review (IPR) process. The Chapter played an important role along with other community partners in the recent strengthening of IPR and will continue to press for reforms until a truly independent and empowered investigation and review process is in place.
Student Chapters
Lewis and Clark Law School has a very active NLG chapter. Students lead Portland’s Legal Observing and CRC Advocacy projects, conduct Know Your Rights trainings, communicate with political prisoners, conduct legal research for NLG attorneys, and host radical speakers.
Chapters are also active at the University of Oregon and Willamette University College of Law.
Social Events
The Portland chapter coordinates regular social events for public interest lawyers, law students, legally-minded non-lawyers, and all friends of the people. This is a great opportunity to meet like-minded folks and continue to support each other in the work we do.
Stop the Sweeps PDX
The Chapter is a member of Stop the Sweeps PDX, a coalition of houseless-led groups and supporters fighting against city and county sweeps of houseless encampments, and those who profit from the exploitation of poverty and public space.
Jobs with Justice
The Chapter is a member of Portland Jobs with Justice, a coalition of labor and community groups fighting for workers’ rights and economic justice.
National Committees
National Lawyers Guild committees are the foundation of our programmatic work. Our volunteer members work nationally to realize the mission of the Guild in areas such as immigration, labor, international, and constitutional law. The work of our committees, task forces, and projects defines the Guild as a coalition for social change. These groups demonstrate that not only are we passionate in our convictions, but we are also resolute in our actions.
Find information for the NLG’s most active national committees, projects and task forces here. Please contact the committee chairs for more specific information on how to get involved.