Published on October 5, 2007
Author: jadymitchell
Source: slideshare.net
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/
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