Social Justice Lawyering

Social Justice Lawyering

 

“ The first thing I lost in law school was the reason that I came…”

“ I am not sure justice is being done, but I am following the law.”

Law Justice But you can help narrow the gap !

Though we say differently Justice is actually a counter-cultural value in the legal profession

Challenge : Hold on to the justice dreams that brought you to law school

Thousands of others have been able to do social justice law and make a living Katrina sample of examples

 

 

 

 

 

Scope of Damage Mississippi Louisiana Alabama Florida

300,000 homes uninhabitable

Katrina Damaged 90,000 Square Miles Area from Boston to Baltimore Inland hundreds of miles

One Million Displaced

 

 

 

 

 

 

Response of Legal Community Incredible!

 

 

 

 

Advancement Project

 

USDC Civil Rights Action for Release of Misdemeanor Women Sep 20, 2005 federal civil rights action filed for misdemeanor women sent to Angola state prison – Paula Cobb, Nick Trenticosta, Carol Sobel

Sep 20, 2005 federal civil rights action filed for misdemeanor women sent to Angola state prison – Paula Cobb, Nick Trenticosta, Carol Sobel

Lawyers Volunteer 24/7 to Identify Unknown Prisoners Phyllis Mann – interviewed over 2400 prisoners herself by September 13, 2005.

Phyllis Mann – interviewed over 2400 prisoners herself by September 13, 2005.

St. Bernard Parish: September 2005 Rent Only to Blood Relatives Ordinance

 

Waves of Evictions Hit New Orleans

Federal challenge to LA eviction laws – tacking 3 day notice

LA Secretary of State: “299,000 voters in N.O. not back”

NAACP LDF & Civil Rights Advocates file Voting Rights Action

FEMA - November 15, 2005 Quit paying for housing for nearly 60,000 homeless Katrina families residing in government paid hotel and motel rooms.

McWaters v FEMA to halt FEMA evictions *4500 hours of pro bono legal work by 20 lawyers private firm Lawyers Committee Civil Rights & Public Interest Law Project

*4500 hours of pro bono legal work by 20 lawyers private firm

Lawyers Committee Civil Rights & Public Interest Law Project

8300 Prisoners Left in Cells

ACLU Report Abandoned & Abused

 

Criminal Courthouse Closed No Jury Trials No Witnesses No Victims Accused Still Lost in System

Criminal Evidence Room: Chest-deep Water

6000 criminal case backlog – May 2006 Judges only in courtrooms part-time Insufficient #s Public Defenders Problems with Jail Facilities Absent retired or quit NOPD officers Evidence problems District Attorney problems Displaced victims, witnesses Backlog cut to 3000 by October 06; Backlog cut to 2000 by December 06;

Judges only in courtrooms part-time

Insufficient #s Public Defenders

Problems with Jail Facilities

Absent retired or quit NOPD officers

Evidence problems

District Attorney problems

Displaced victims, witnesses

Backlog cut to 3000 by October 06;

Backlog cut to 2000 by December 06;

 

Pre-Katrina, 5000 families lived in public housing

June 2006 - 1040 families allowed to return to public housing HUD Announces Demolition of 4500 Apartments

HUD Announces

Demolition of

4500 Apartments

 

Class Action USDC Filed on behalf of 4500 families displaced from public housing

Federal suits filed to open public schools & stop wait list

USDC Class Action v FEMA Termination and Recoupment

Voter Purge Challenged in USDC

There are thousands of social justice lawyers

High profile Social Justice Lawyers

Shirin Ebadi Nobel Peace Prize Iran

Stephen Bright Southern Center Human Rights Admitted 1974 - Kentucky

Marian Wright Edelman Children’s Defense Fund Admitted 1960s

Kim Gandy President of NOW Loyola New Orleans 1978

Refuse the Standard Choices: “$-or- Good Work” Guantanamo Detainee Lawyers – hundreds – eg Neal Katyal & Lt. Commander Charles Swift

Lawyers Protest in Kashmir Against Human Rights Violations Committed in Local Jail – July 2004

Digna Ochoa Human Rights Defender Mexico City + 19 October 2001

Lawyers Protest Threat to Arrest Human Rights Lawyer A.S. Chahal in Chandigarh India

Marjorie Cohn President National Lawyers Guild

Brian Concannon & Mario Joseph Haiti Human Rights Advocates

You Make the Path by Walking – No Superhighway to Social Justice Judith Browne & Penda Hair – Advancement Project – Civil Rights

Pakistani Lawyers Protesting for Freedom of Judiciary – March 2007

Do not let anyone tell you it is impossible Chen Guangcheng Human Rights Defender Shandong China

Louise Arbour Prosecutor Yugoslavia War Crimes

Graham Russell – Human Rights Global Justice

Mary Robinson UN High Commission on Human Rights

Brian Stevenson Death Row Lawyer

Hassan Bubacar Jallow of Gambia Prosecutor Rwanda War Crimes

Carla del Ponte Chief Prosecutor War Crimes in Yugoslavia

Daniel Bekele Action Aid Ethiopia

Carol Bellamy UNICEF Director

Learn and Reclaim The History of Social Justice Lawyers A Sample Follows

James Stephen Abolitionist Advocate - 1807

John Quincy Adams Amistad Defender - 1840

Albion Tourgee – Admitted 1865 Ohio and North Carolina - Plessy v Ferguson (1896)

Arabella Babb Mansfield Admitted 1869 Iowa Suffrage Advocacy

Charlotte E. Ray First African American Woman Lawyer Admitted DC 1872 Suffrage Activist

Louis Brandeis Economic Social Political Justice – Admitted 1877

Instead of holding a position of independence between the wealthy and the people …able lawyers have… neglected to use their powers for the protection of the people Louis Brandies - 1905 Option for the Poor and Powerless

Clara Shortridge Foltz Women’s rights Public defender Admitted 1878

Clarence Darrow Union Defender Admitted Ohio 1878

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi Barrister-at-Law – admitted 1891

 

Carol Weiss King Human Rights Lawyer Admitted 1920 1895-1952

Charles Houston, NAACP Counsel, Howard Law Prof. “A lawyer is either a social engineer or a parasite on society.”

Hope has two beautiful daughters: Courage and Anger. Augustine of Hippo

Max Hirschberg, Anti-Nazi Lawyer in Germany in 1920s and 1930s

Thurgood Marshall Civil Rights & U.S. Justice Admitted 1933

Nelson Mandela - Admitted 1944

 

Constance Baker Motley and Thelton Henderson Civil Rights Lawyers & Federal Judges

Social Justice Lawyers on the Front Lines Today

Astrid Puentes Riano Inter-American Association for Envronmental Defense Colombia Mexico Peru

Greg Schell Legal Services Farmworker Advocate - Florida

Tulika Srivastava – Women’s Rights India

Brian Kogoro Human Rights Zimbabwe

Laura Tuggle - Housing Advocate New Orleans

Vanita Banks National Bar Association

Sarah Cleveland Human Rights Advocate for Sugar Cane Cutters

Janice Fukai (L.A.) & Bob Wolfrum (St. Louis) Public Defenders

Domestic Violence Victim Lawyers Sarah Buel & Rachel Amy Putterman

Salih Mahmoud Osman Sudan Organization Against Torture

Ella Bhatt Self-Employed Women’s Association - India

Michele Stephenson Human Rights Attorney and Filmmaker

Dionisio Diaz Garcia Lawyer of the Poor Labor Lawyer More Just Society Honduras + 4 December 2006

Disability Advocates – Matt Laffin & Claudia Gordon

Mental Health Law Advocates - Georgia

Child Advocates Susan Knowles & LaShanda Taylor

Jeanette Keller Iowa Legal Services Advocate for Disabled Veterans

Law Profs (SALT) Protesting for Affirmative Action

If there is no struggle, there is no progress.

Monica E. Magoke-Mhoja Women’s Legal Aid Center Tanzania

 

 

 

 

Seek Out Hope Joy Love

Wherever you find tragedy and injustice You will also find resistance and inspiration

If you have come to help me you are wasting your time. But if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us struggle together. Solidarity Lila Watson – Aboriginal Activist Collective

Law Justice But it can!

http://www.loyno.edu/~quigley/