We kicked off the first stop of The Power Building Tour in Baltimore, welcoming 60+ movement lawyers, legal workers, organizers, and movement partners from across the region. Nestled between Summer School '26 (more on that soon!), Baltimore marked the beginning of a year-long journey to strengthen our movement lawyering ecosystem and deepen our collective commitment to building Black power.
We began our tour stop with a Movement Lawyering panel discussion featuring Christian Snow (Law for Black Lives); Marbré Stahly-Butts (CUNY Law), Erin-Miles Cloud (Advancement Project); and Iman Freeman (Baltimore Action Legal Team). They reflected on what brought them to movement lawyering, how Baltimore's organizing landscape has shaped their practice, and what this political moment demands of lawyers and legal workers committed to movement work.
Their insights challenged us to think critically about how we continue building people power in the face of rising authoritarianism and emboldened white supremacy.
The Movement Lawyering Training:
On June 23, our Executive Director, Christian Snow, led a movement lawyering training that grounded participants in the principles of movement lawyering and contextualized the current growing authoritarianism and white supremacy in the history of the Black freedom struggle. Snow paid particular attention to the Black Radical Tradition's call to be radical tacticians in our use of legal tools and authentic in our alliances with movement organizers. Participants explored how we can continue building a connected legal infrastructure that effectively supports movement in this moment and were invited to join movement lawyers from across the country in committing to the work.
The Movement Lawyering Training:
We closed out our Baltimore stop with an evening of fellowship, creating space to reconnect with peers, partners, and friends -- old and new -- and deepen the relationships that will carry this work forward.
Baltimore set the tone for what we hope this tour will become: a space to sharpen our politics, strengthen the relationship between lawyers and organizers, and imagine together how movement lawyering can better serve the work of Black organizing.
A huge thank you to our incredible vendors, community partners, & everyone who helped make the weekend possible.