FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: communications@nlg.org The National Lawyers Guild (NLG) mourns the passing of Congressman John Lewis and Reverend C.T. Vivian, two giants in the Civil Rights movement who devoted their entire lives to Black liberation. Both walked together across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in 1965 and suffered the blows of Sheriff Jim Clark on […]
The National Lawyers Guild today joins with all those in the country fighting for a better and more just society in mourning the loss of Lynne Stewart. We are proud and honored by her membership in the Guild and were proud to have stood by her throughout her prosecution for being a vigorous and conscientious […]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: communications@nlg.org NEW YORK — It is with the greatest sadness that we share the news that our comrade, friend, and past NLG President Michael Ratner died yesterday afternoon at the age of 72. Michael was a true revolutionary lawyer. He embodied the spirit of the Guild’s founders who believed that the […]
Elizabeth “Liz” Fink (1945-2015) was a “second-generation,” lifelong NLG-NYC member and fierce criminal defense attorney. In this Speaking Freely video, Liz explains how she grew up in the Guild and what led her to become a radical lawyer, ultimately winning a $12 million settlement for the victims of the 1971 Attica prison uprising. Elizabeth Fink […]
By Eleanor Stein Michael Kennedy, a member of the NLG San Francisco Bay Area and New York City Chapters, died in January at the age of 78. Kennedy represented movement clients in major cases and was known as an indomitable fighter for justice and a combative and creative strategist on the side of the “underdogs […]
A year after the death of Hugo Chávez is a propitious time to examine his legacy. Such an examination is even more important in light of the current wave of demonstrations in Venezuela, which have given new life to the transparent attempts of the opposition and the United States to depose the Bolivarian government. These […]
By David Gespass, Past NLG President We are deeply saddened by the sudden and untimely death of Chokwe Lumumba, who lived a genuinely revolutionary life providing guidance to, and taking direction from, the poor, oppressed and disenfranchised. Chokwe proved that one does not have to abandon principles to be successful in politics, that it is possible […]
For those of you who haven’t heard Pete Seeger died yesterday at the age of 94. He was not only a renowned balladeer, but a working person’s hero and a legend to any of us who grew up in the cultural revolutions of the 1950s through the 1970s on everything from poverty and labor rights to […]
By David Gespass, Past NLG President Fifty years ago today, President John F. Kennedy was killed in Dallas. For those of us who were alive and sentient back then, it was a signal event. JFK was the first of a new generation of leadership for the country, and held the promise, as it were, for […]
