The National Lawyers Guild was founded in 1937 as the nation’s first racially integrated bar association to advocate for the protection of constitutional, human, and civil rights. Today the Guild has almost 50 local chapters and over 100 law school-based student chapters throughout the country. Members also include legal workers and jailhouse lawyers.
Much of the work of the Guild comes out of its national committees and projects, which work on issues including defense of demonstrators, international human rights, environmental justice, prison policy, drug policy, immigration, police abuse, animal rights, housing rights, and labor rights.
www.nlg.org
NLG National Committees - the Foundation of our Programmatic Work
The work of our committees, task forces, and projects defines the Guild as a coalition for social change. Below are three examples.
Anti-Racism Committee
The Anti-Racism Committee (ARC) strives to make the Guild into an effective anti-racist organization, holding it to the principles on which it was founded.
White supremacy and racism are serious problems in our society that affect us all. Racism affects how we do our work, and how we interact with each other, potential allies, and power structures. ARC desires to be a resource for NLG chapters, committees, and projects to engage in analysis and action on anti-racism.
For more information, as well as to access anti-racism resources, go to https://www.nlg.org/committees/
International Committee
The NLG International Committee (IC) supports legal work around the world “to the end that human rights shall be regarded as more sacred than property interests.” Members seek to change U.S. foreign policy that threatens rather than engages or that is based on a model of domination rather than respect. The IC provides assistance and solidarity to movements in the United States and abroad that work for social justice in this increasingly interconnected world.
The IC plays an active role in international conferences, delegations, and ongoing projects that examine and seek to remedy conditions caused by illegal U.S. or corporate practices. By bringing an alternative perspective to multinational institutions, schools, community centers, and Congressional hearings, the IC and its members actively educate, litigate, and truth-seek toward the end of social justice.
For more information see the NLG International Committee website.
National Immigration Project
Founded in 1980, the National Immigration Project has persistently promoted justice and equality of treatment in all areas of immigration law, the criminal justice system, and social policies related to immigration. Members provide technical assistance and support to legal practitioners, immigrant communities, community-based organizations, and all advocates seeking to advance the rights of non-citizens.
For more information see the National Immigration Project website.
National Police Accountability Project
The National Police Accountability Project is a non-profit organization of plaintiffs’ lawyers, law students, and legal workers, and is dedicated to ending police abuse of authority through legal action, public education, and support for grassroots and victims’ organizations addressing police misconduct. For more information, see the NPAP website.
How to Join
Guild Notes
Guild Notes is the NLG National Office’s newsletter.
NLG Video History: Speaking Freely
The NLG’s history now spans over three quarters of a century. To celebrate and to commemorate this milestone, the NLG National Office presents Speaking Freely, a series of video interviews. See especially The United People of Color Caucus (TUPOCC).
NLG Chapters
Learn more about other National Lawyers Guild chapters.
