TRANSFORM
THE LEGAL FIELD
DISRUPT
THE STATUS QUO
FORTIFY
BLACK
ORGANIZING
Founded in 2015 during uprisings in Ferguson, Baltimore, and New York; and admits narratives of a post-racial United States, Law for Black Lives ("L4BL") was born after the founders identified a lack of infrastructure for radical movement organizations, severe isolation and lack of coordination amongst lawyers doing the work, and a lack of rigorous political and skill training for lawyers dedicated to movement. The founders were committed to addressing these issues in the field and developing a movement lawyering praxis.
OUR HISTORY
OUR MISSION
Law for Black Lives is a Black-led, queer, abolition-minded, multiracial, feminist, and anti-capitalist movement lawyering organization dedicated to building people power for liberation by transforming the legal field, fortifying the power of local Black organizing, and disrupting the anti-Black status quo.
Law is not neutral; it is a source of power used to shape reality in a society committed to the "Rule of Law." Movement's legal community needs to be rigorous, politicized, highly skilled, and knowledgeable about what we are up against, the tools and strategies being deployed against us, and the liberation horizon we are trying to reach.
L4BL is committed to transforming the legal field by training, organizing, and providing a political home for movement lawyers as they contribute to the liberation struggle and hold themselves accountable to the communities they work alongside.
Our path toward liberation has always been a struggle for power and against oppression. As authoritarianism rises and white supremacy gets bolder, the struggle gets more difficult. Black communities continue to be starved by a lack of resources, locked out of the economy, and suffer under physical and violent containment. Hard-fought-for policy schemes and legal frameworks meant to address the persistent harm to our communities are being demonized and discarded. Movements are being surveilled, criminalized, and defunded. Organizers are being targeted by the state and capitalist forces with a level of coordination and aggression that demands a sophisticated, grounded legal response.
L4BL is dedicated to disrupting the status quo and impacting the conditions under which Black people live, and the Black liberation movement struggles through narrative shifts, research, legal and policy advocacy, coalition-building, and the curation of strategic planning and organizing spaces.
The Black Radical Tradition teaches us that sustainable, transformative social change is necessary for an equitable and liberated society to exist. L4BL believes that change only happens through organizing and power building, most effective on the local level when those closest to the problem and who deeply understand the context can guide strategy and share lessons from the ground. Black organizers are up against fierce challenges at every turn, and yet carve our path towards the liberation horizon with sharp analysis, bold imagination, careful strategy, and commitment to community and cause.
L4BL is committed to fortifying their efforts by providing them with partnership, training, research, technical assistance, legal and policy support, resources, strategic convening spaces, and connection to a radical base of movement lawyers and legal formations willing to struggle alongside them.
We believe in using the law and legal tools to build the power of the people and their moments for transformative social change.
OUR VALUES
We are committed to liberation and self-determination of all Black people -- including Black women and LGBTQIA folks.
We hold ourselves accountable to support movements for Black liberation including organic uprisings.
We believe in the importance and necessity of an agile and radical legal infrastructure that supports liberation movements.
We strive to think creatively and collectively about how the law can be used to support movements while respecting activists’ and organizers’ political choices.
We are political. We understand that staying politicized and educated is part of our commitment to the work.
We are committed to continued growth and rigor in skill and politic. We believe movement deserves a sharp and capable legal flank.
We are unapologetically committed to developing and following the leadership of radical Black people within the legal field.
We believe in creating spaces don’t replicate the kinds of oppression, harm and trauma that we are working against.