This month Law for Black Lives completed the first semester of our clinical cohort. We worked with over 10 law school clinics to create resources for movement organizations and train law students in the tenants of movement lawyering. Based on requests from our movement partners, we focused on three topics: bail, land cooperatives, and reparations.
Based on the needs of the 15 members of the National Bail Out Collective, law clinics researched current bail laws, jail populations, and sheriff’s budgets in Memphis, TN, and Dallas, TX. Clinical Students researched and created a report about the impact pre-trial detention has on women. Organizations within the National Bail Out Collective, have gone on to use the research to support the Mamas Bail Out Day and ongoing campaigns to End Money Bail.
Those Clinics focused on Land cooperatives, provided research for Picture the Homeless and members organizations within the National Alliance of Black Farmers, to research eminent domain in New York and community land trust policies and procedures across the country.
Lastly, in the area of reparations, we worked with law clinics to provide research support to the Movement for Black Lives Policy Table for the development of a reparations popular education toolkit. Law students evaluated existing reparation victories in the national and international context, including reparations given for the internment of Japanese Americans during War World II, the Chicago police torture regime, and to descendants of slaves sold by Georgetown University. Students also explored possible legal mechanisms to obtain reparations in the national and international context.
Next semester we will continue our research on bail, land co-opts, fees and fines, as well as local and state budgets.
We are currently recruiting clinics for the Fall semester. If you are a clinical professor or a clinical student and are interested in our clinical cohort please sign-up at http://bit.ly/L4BLClinic.
In Solidarity,
Erica