Exploring the Opportunities & Challenges of Movement Lawyering

Exploring the Opportunities & Challenges of Movement Lawyering

Friday, December 8, 2023 at 10:00-11:30 am PT / 1:00-2:30pm ET 

Zoom Meeting

Duration: 1.5 hours   

CLE Credit: None

Description: Communities navigating the interwoven crises of authoritarianism, racism, imperialism, and climate change need movement lawyers now more than ever.  The successes of the conservative legal movement – an increasingly hostile judiciary, shrinking space in the federal courts, and a regressive state policy landscape – shape the terrain in which we currently operate. In the immigration context, we’re facing multiple challenges including rollbacks to protections for people seeking refuge in the United States, pedaling back on recognizing the need for a different approach on enforcement and detention, fractured organizing infrastructure, and increased border militarization and surveillance.  What does the immigrant rights movement need from lawyers to meet the current challenges?  How do we go beyond winning individual cases to building long-term collective power?

In this panel session facilitated by Movement Law Lab, we’ll tackle these questions in the first of a multi-part series on movement lawyering for National Immigration Project members. Don’t miss this chance to be in dialogue with experienced movement lawyers to assess current conditions and candidly explore the challenges of working together as lawyers, organizers, and community partners on transformational campaigns. The vibe we’re going for here is less of a webinar and more of a fireside chat–an intimate sharing space to get on the balcony and make sober assessments about where we’re at and where we’re trying to go as a sector. Together, we’ll interrogate the work we do as well as how we’re doing it with an eye toward big-picture systems change.  Whether you’re a seasoned movement lawyer or just starting out, this session is for you!

About Movement Law Lab: Movement Law Lab (MLL) is committed to stewarding a new generation of dynamic, collaborative, and versatile legal organizations and lawyers with the expertise to use the law to transform our world. They do this by building the field of movement lawyering through training lawyers and law students, incentivizing legal innovation, building networks of movement lawyers, scaling successful movement lawyering projects, and leadership development. 

This course is being taught by Nikki Thanos, Director of Training and Praxis. Learn more about Nikki here. 

Speakers include:

JJ Rosenbaum, National Immigration Project Board Member

Mich González, Associate Executive Director, Freedom for Immigrants

Fahd Ahmed, Executive Director, DRUM - Desis Rising Up & Moving