Lawyering for Liberation

This fiery manifesto provides a concrete action plan for legal professionals and activists advancing Black liberation and transformative social change.
 
Revolutions happen in the streets, not in courtrooms. But in the struggle against systems increasingly designed to perpetuate inequality and benefit those in power, lawyers must do their part. As leaders from the acclaimed movement lawyering and advocacy organization Law for Black Lives, editors Marbré Stahly-Butts and Ameca Reali have spent years on the front lines of transformative social change. With Lawyering for Liberation, they offer concrete tools for fellow legal workers and lawyers working to achieve a just future.
 
Grounded in the politics of abolition, Black queer feminism, and anticapitalism, this approachable how-to guide distills key concepts of movement lawyering and assembles advice from dozens of lawyers, legal workers, and organizers in areas like jail and bail support, stop-and-frisk litigation, protester defense, reparations, family law, housing, and more. The result is not just a manual for resistance but an urgent call to join the movement.

Ameca Reali is Executive Director of the Louisiana Fair Housing Action Center and former Membership Director at Law for Black Lives.

Marbré Stahly-Butts is Associate Professor at CUNY School of Law and cofounder and former Executive Director of Law for Black Lives.
 

Contents
 
Preface
Acknowledgments
 
Introduction
 
I. Making Change: The What of Movement Lawyering
1. Revolutions Happen in the Streets Not Courtrooms
Theory of Change
Common Theories of Change
The Theory of Movement Lawyering
Learn Something from This
Resources
Reflection
 
2. Beyond Your Mama's Liberation Movement: A Grounding in Our Politics
Our Politics
Our Movements
Learn Something from This
Resources
Reflection
 
3. This Is a Call-In (Not a Call-Out)
The Dos and Don'ts of Movement Lawyering
Movement Lawyering Gone Wrong
Learn Something from This
Resources
Reflection
 
II. Get in Formation: The How of Movement Lawyering
4. We in These Streets
Biographical Reflection: Building Infrastructure from the Rubble
Tactical Case Study: Lessons from Ferguson for Movement Lawyers
The Hard Stuff: Movement Lawyering in a Time of Genocide—Bolstering the Palestine Movement Through a Crisis of Repression
Praxis: Standing Up for the Right to Resist at the Global Level
Learn Something from This
Resources
 
5. Bringing Movements into the Courthouse
Biographical Reflection: My Journey to Movement Lawyering
Tactical Case Study: The Radically Inclusive Amicus Litigation Strategies of Centering Black Trans Voices
The Hard Stuff: Resolving the Tensions in Movement Lawyering
Praxis Case Study: Four Organizing Lessons for Lawyers from Floyd Litigation
Learn Something from This
Resources for Radical Litigation
 
6. Frontline Defenders for the Revolution
Biographical Reflection: Navigating the Family Regulation System as an Abolitionist Public Defender
Tactical Case Study: Navigating Organizing as a Public Defender
The Hard Stuff: The Ethics of Frontline Legal Defense in a Housing Crisis
Learn Something from This
Resources
 
7. Policymaking for Radicals
Biographical Reflection: Black Feminist Lessons in Representing and Organizing Women with Incarcerated Loved Ones
Tactical Case Study: The Grassroots Struggle for Chicago Police Torture Survivors
The Hard Stuff: "Radical" Means Getting to the Root—Navigating Policy Advocacy in Support of Transformative Social Change
Praxis: Crafting Prison Industrial Complex Abolitionist Policy
Learn Something from This
Resources
 
8. Teaching the Revolution
Biographical Reflection: Dispatches from the Clinical Undercommons
Tactical Case Study: Bridging Academy and Community
The Hard Stuff: Navigating a Collision Course
Praxis: Understanding Law and Power
Learn Something from This
Resources
 
Contributors
Index