On January 9th Victoria Baratain and Cameron Cantelmo provided legal observing at a protest in Cambridge in response to a killing by Cambridge police in Sayed Faisal, organized by Bangladeshi Association of New England (BANE) and Muslim Justice League.
On January 14th Melissa Costa, Mathew Freimuth, and Deb Wilmer provided legal observing at a rally in Fall River in support … Read more>>
NLG-Mass’ Abortion Justice Task Force (AJTF) was established in response to the Dobbs decision. The AJTF is currently researching the most pressing legal questions for those seeking an abortion, helping with accessing an abortion, and performing abortions in Massachusetts. Additionally, AJTF is researching the added legal concerns for more vulnerable populations, such as college students and noncitizens. We hope to … Read more>>
STUDENT REPORT – HARVARD
This year, the Harvard Law School National Lawyers Guild chapter held a number of events and welcomed new members.
In the spring, we held a series of abolitionist skills training workshops, which taught skills related to de-escalation, first aid at protests, and responding to people in crises. We also continued our monthly abolitionist community building gatherings, which … Read more>>
In June 2020, Litigation Committee members, including Jeff Petrucelly and David Kelston, sent public records requests to the Boston Police Department (BPD) and the Boston Regional Intelligence Center (BRIC) seeking records concerning the so-called, “Straight Pride Parade” (SPP) of August 31, 2019 and arrests, harassment and abuse of people who protested SPP. BPD and BRIC … Read more>>
STREET LAW CLINIC
Street Law Clinic project has been working hard to grow our network of law students, practitioners, and community organizations.
This fall, we trained approximately 30 new students from a variety of law schools on how to lead Know Your Rights workshops with community groups. For workshops, we have focused our outreach on local community library branches throughout … Read more>>
Our Mass Defense Committee had an exciting and full year supporting social movements for racial, economic, reproductive and climate justice. We held trainings, represented numerous activists in courts across the state, and partnered with a number of fantastic grassroots groups pushing forward meaningful change.
With the ongoing national attacks on reproductive freedom, the MDC stepped … Read more>>
State of the NLG – MA Chapter – 2022
Well, another busy year for the MA chapter of the NLG is nearly over. With the support of our members, we have achieved several goals, some in response to decisions of the Supreme Court. As you all know the Court decided the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization in which the … Read more>>
We are planning to do a Narcan Training. We are still awaiting some responses and getting the details in order. This Fall, UMass Dartmouth Law NLG Student Chapter plans to host a movie night showing, “Aftershock”; we have invited members of If/When/How and BLSA to join us. We are co-sponsoring a Judicial Accountability event as well as co-sponsoring a post … Read more>>
NLG-Mass’ Abortion Justice Task Force (AJTF) will start facilitating trainings for groups and communities across Massachusetts in January 2023. The AJTF is currently researching the most pressing legal questions for those seeking an abortion, helping with accessing an abortion, and performing abortions in Massachusetts. Additionally, AJTF is researching the added legal concerns for more vulnerable populations, such as college students … Read more>>
I recently had the pleasure to attend the 2022 National Lawyers Guild Mass Chapter Annual Dinner as a guest of New England Law I Boston student, Sara Malley. As I am an architect and most certainly not a lawyer, I expect that I may have been one of the few attendees who wasn’t either directly employed in the field of … Read more>>
There were 13 people participating at this year’s retreat – Bonnie, Doug Smith (Lit. Com.), Eden, Jeff, Jesse Sanderson (2022 Suffolk grad.), Lee, Makis, Melinda, Rebecca Amdemariam, Roberto Patterson, Sara Malley (N.E. Law), Urszula, Zach.
Melinda and Bonnie opened the proceedings up with a brief summary of the topics to be discussed during the retreat. This included the our ongoing … Read more>>
The Litigation Committee of NLG-Mass Chapter September Report
Following the presentation of Drew Friedfertig from the NLG-Buffalo Chapter to the Litigation Committee’s September meeting concerning the Buffalo NLG Chapter’s work in examining police policies and practices to screen out or investigate and discipline police officers who are members of white Nationalist organizations, anti-government militias, sovereign citizen groups, or “domestic terrorist” … Read more>>
The Litigation Committee of NLG-Mass. was busy this month. Law student intern Adam Baldasarre finished up his summer duties by investigating Boston police surveillance and especially drone surveillance, with an emphasis on Mass-Cass and other spots where people lacking sustainable housing gather for safety. No present plans for action as of this writing, but come back next month for an … Read more>>
Our Mass Chapter joined the ACLU, and five community & legal service organizations, with the assistance of a private law firm pro bono, in successfully suing the Boston Police Department (BPD) and the Boston Regional Intelligence Center (BRIC) for its failure to timely and fully produce public records of gang surveillance in Boston. The suit was filed in January, 2019, … Read more>>
At the end of August, students from – UMass at Dartmouth, BU Law, Suffolk Law, Northeastern Law, and New England Law – came together to discuss potential campaigns their NLG chapters may adopt for the 22-23 academic year. As students share their scheduled events, the information will be included in Mass Dissent as well as posted on social media. Additionally, … Read more>>
NLG-Mass lawyers are currently hard at work pushing for city-wide ordinances in Cambridge, Somerville and Boston that would make the use of chemical and kinetic force weapons by police restricted/illegal. This is incredibly important when considering how the aforementioned tactics were used against protestors last year. The fight against these horrific tactics is ongoing!
https://www.wickedlocal.com/story/cambridge-chronicle-tab/2021/03/16/cambridge-officials-consider-tear-gas-ban-police-draft-own-policy/4714994001/… Read more>>
The Week Against Mass Incarceration will begin on March 1st and run through the 6th. Click the link below to sign up and to learn about the diverse offerings including a panel with Black … Read more>>
NLG ATTORNEY TAKEN INTO CUSTODY & HELD IN CONTEMPT OF COURT
On Sep. 3rd and 4th, 2019, individuals charged for their role in counter-protesting the alt-right sponsored Straight Pride parade, were arraigned in the Boston Municipal Court. This has been five days of reckless disregard for the law and justice by some of the people and institutions who are supposed … Read more>>
NLG Support for Activists from Never Again Movement
18 activists from Never Again Para Nadie: Jews Against ICE were arrested and charged with trespassing on the night of Tuesday, July 2nd at the demonstration organized by Cosecha with a march to the ICE detention facility at the South Bay Jail in Boston. On the morning of Wednesday, July 3rd, they … Read more>>
In March, Mass Chapter members gathered for our Annual Meeting. After short reports from the co-chairs and committees – Litigation, Mass Defense, Finance, and Dinner – and the Referral Directory, we held elections of the new Mass Chapter’s Board of Directors and Officers.
All running candidates were elected to serve on the Board of Directors. Bonnie … Read more>>
hosted by the NLG-UMass Dartmouth School of Law Chapter
Justice Week is a week long celebration and awareness campaign of contemporary social justice issues. This annual event is hosted by the National Lawyers’ Guild – UMass Law Chapter, and other UMass Law affinity groups. This year’s theme is: “Gender, Gentry, and Grace.” We will be looking at … Read more>>
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The third Women’s March in Boston took place last Saturday, 1/19, on a sunny and cold winter’s day. Despite a looming blizzard, thousands of people came out to make their voices heard in Boston Common. As a protestor’s sign said; “You know it’s serious if we are marching in January”.
About 20 counter-protestors were also … Read more>>
On Thursday, January 17th, at 6:00pm, the NLG-Mass Chapter presented the fifth Know Your Rights teach-in of our six-month long series, “Law For The People.” Northeastern University School of Law co-sponsored and hosted this teach-in, entitled “Employment/Labor Law For The People.”
NLG-Mass member Attorney Mark Stern spoke about the many different types of labor law, from union law to … Read more>>
On Wednesday, January 9th, at 6pm, the NLG-Massachusetts Chapter hosted a Happy Hour event at the Red Hat Café, featuring a pertinent presentation entitled “What’s Going On At The Southern Border.” About thirty folks attended to discuss the current struggles of immigrants who have fled their countries of origin, where living conditions have become intolerable (often due to exploitative … Read more>>
