Many students enter law school with hopes of changing the world. As an incoming law student myself, I hope to create impact. However, it’s not easy to know how to do that. Even within public interest law, there are different types of lawyering and many ways to make a difference.
One of the most critical components of social change is centering the communities that are impacted. Movement lawyering does just that.
What is Movement Lawyering?
I recently watched the webinar “Movement Lawyering for Human Rights Attorneys” hosted by the Corporate Accountability Lab and featuring law professors Renee Hatcher and Bill Quigley.
According to Quigley, “Movement lawyering is really working with communities of people… who are fighting for a fair share of the power that should be in their lives.” Critically, it means working with organizations and communities working to create change through a respectful partnership.
Movement lawyering is distinct from impact litigation, which puts a greater focus on bringing lawsuits against the right actors to create social change. In contrast, movement lawyering comes alongside impacted communities that are organizing for change to elevate their voices and stories.
How Movement Lawyers Create Social Change
What do movement lawyers do? Like many lawyers, movement lawyers don’t spend a lot of time in court, but rather take on a variety of tasks to be responsive to impacted communities.
Quiqley said that movement lawyers are like a Swiss Army knife, with a variety of skills to serve their clients. Quigley said that his job is, “to be whatever the people that we’re working with need.”
Hatcher’s work focuses on the solidarity economy, “a movement and a theory to transform the dominant capitalist economy to one that puts the needs of people and the sustainability of the planet at its core.” Hatcher works with small business, nonprofits, and other local organizations to help realize structural economic change. She sees her work with these organizations as a way to transform the economy to better serve and reflect communities.
Hatcher said that movement lawyering is about, “Who evaluates your work?” A nonprofit board may have power, but the folks that are impacted should be the ones who decide whether or not advocacy has been successful.
Community Lawyering vs. Movement Lawyering
Quigley mentioned that movement lawyering is community lawyering. But what is community lawyering? This community-based approach uses collaboration and legal advocacy to serve impacted communities.
Movement lawyering is often defined as a type of community lawyering, but the terms are also used interchangeably.
“I help support peoples’ visioning for themselves… to sustain themselves and to address community issues,” Hatcher said. Ultimately, movement and community lawyering both center the communities that they serve and partner with.
Movement lawyering is “lawyering with” rather than “lawyering for.” It focuses on giving communities agency and redistributing power.
Check out the Movement Law Lab to learn more.
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