National Lawyers Guild

history

The National Lawyers Guild is a progressive bar association in the United States "dedicated to the need for basic and progressive change in the structure of our political and economic system . . . to the end that human rights shall be regarded as more sacred than property interests."

Its members include lawyers, law students, paralegals, legal secretaries, "jailhouse lawyers", and other legal workers. It was founded in 1937 as an alternative to the American Bar Association (in protest of the ABA' then policy of excluding blacks and Jews from membership) and has several local chapters across the country as well as a number of Committees and Projects. The NLG web site lists the following aims:

  • to eliminate racism;
  • to safeguard and strengthen the rights of workers, women, farmers and minority groups, upon whom the welfare of the entire nation depends;
  • to maintain and protect our civil rights and liberties in the face of persistent attacks upon them;
  • to use the law as an instrument for the protection of the people, rather than for their repression.

The NLG has historically been noted for its championing of progressive and left-wing causes. Currently, the NLG opposes the PATRIOT Act, corporate globalization, the World Trade Organization, and has called for the adoption of "the Plan of Action from the 2001 UN World Conference Against Racism, Xenophobia, and Related Intolerance." The NLG also helps to train and provide legal observers for political demonstrations. The NLG has supported Palestinian rights and a number of other causes. In November, 2007, the NLG passed a resolution calling for the impeachment of then President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.

Most of the work of the Guild is done by committees, project and task forces. These include»http://www.nlg.org/membership/projects.php :

Many law collectives have been involved with the NLG.

David Gesspass is the current NLG president.

History

At its founding in 1937, the National Lawyers Guild was the nation's first racially integrated bar association. Among the NLG's first causes was its support of President Roosevelt’s New Deal, which was opposed by the American Bar Association. NLG assisted the emerging labor movement, and opposed the racial segregation policies in the American Bar Association and in society in general.

Following the Nazis' invasion of the Soviet Union, the Guild gave its complete support to President Roosevelt's wartime policies, including that of Japanese American internment.

During the McCarthy era, it was alleged by Attorney General of the U.S Herbert Brownell Jr. and by the House Un-American Activities Committee to be a Communist front organization."In 1950 the House Un-American Activities Committee issued a report denouncing the Guild as 'the foremost legal bulwark of the Communist Party,' and in 1953 Attorney-General Herbert Brownell attacked the Guild as 'the legal mouthpiece of the Communist Party.'"; Federal Bureau of Investigation director J. Edgar Hoover repeatedly tried to get successive Attorneys General to declare the NLG a "subversive organization," but without success. On June 9, 1954, on the 30th day of the Army-McCarthy Hearings, McCarthy launched an attack against Fred Fisher (a junior attorney working at the same law firm as the Army's attorney, Joseph Welch) for having associated with the NLG while in law school. The attack provoked an impassioned response on the part of Welch, who angrily rebuked McCarthy with his famous plea, "You've done enough. Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?" Welch's speech was widely viewed as having undermined McCarthy's credibility and, coupled with an earlier March, 1954 exposé by Edward R. Murrow, led to a major shift in public opinion against McCarthy.

The NLG was also involved in the American Civil Rights Movement from an early date, organizing a 1947 conference on the subject of lynching. This continued into the 1960s with the creation of the Guild's Committee for Legal Assistance. This era also saw NLG involvement in anti-war (including draft resistance) and anti-poverty efforts.

Past guild presidents have included Marjorie Cohn (a law professor at Thomas Jefferson School of Law and author), Dobby Walker (the first female President of the NLG, first serving in 1970 and member of the 1972 "Dream Team" that successfully defended Angela Davis using innovative litigation techniques that are now commonplace.»Harvard Law School Video Archives)

Membership

Full membership in the NLG is open to lawyers, law students, and legal workers (including legal secretaries, legal investigators, paralegals, and jailhouse lawyers). Prior to the 1960s, membership was only open to lawyers. Members of the Guild now include labor organizers, tribal sovereignty activists, civil liberties advocates, civil rights advocates, environmentalists, and many other progressive cause advocates involved in some aspect of legal work.

Funding

The NLG is a dues-paying membership organization, and various projects have also received funding from the Open Society Institute, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the New World Foundation and other funders.

Criticism

Since its founding, the NLG has been the focus of controversy and criticism, primarily from more conservative elements but also from moderates and liberals. In 2003, a controversy arose around the case of NLG member attorney Lynne Stewart, who was charged with transmitting "terrorist communications" from prison for Omar Abdel-Rahman, her former client and mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Center bombings. Stewart was ultimately convicted of the charges and sentenced to 28 months in federal prison. The NLG and many other groups have steadfastly supported Stewart, condemning the charges and the conviction. NLG Attorney Elaine Cassel stated that "Stewart never provided any financial support, weaponry -- or any other concrete aid -- for any act of terrorism. No act of terrorism is alleged to have resulted from her actions."

Further reading

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External links

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