On Wednesday April 27 at the Corboy Law Center panelists discussed the task force’s report and its ramifications for future policymaking, people’s lawyering, and activism.

On April 13, 2016, the mayor-appointed Chicago Police Accountability Task Force Report released a scathing indictment of the state of the Chicago Police Department. Many applauded the report’s candor, empirical data, and “painful but necessary reckoning.” Others blasted the absence of community members on the task force, an inadequate critique of the City’s disinvestment in mental health, the (over) emphasis on CPD’s “history,” and, above all, the report’s reiteration of lived experiences that have been ignored, dismissed, and appropriated for generations.

Panelists
Paul Strauss, director of impact litigation
Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights

Stan Willis, civil rights and criminal defense attorney
The Law Offices of Standish E. Willis, Ltd.

Cosette Hampton, youth activist and organizer
Black Youth Project 100

Moderator
Alan Raphael, professor of law
Loyola University Chicago School of Law

On Thursday March 31 at the Loyola Corboy Law Center, the Chicago NLG co-sponsored an event discussing the over 3,500 women are incarcerated in the state of Illinois. It covered such topics as who are these women, and how they end up in prison. The panel addresses the reality of prison for women, the effects of prison on women and the consequences in their lives and their communities.

On Wednesday, March 30 at the Corboy Law Center, the Chicago NLG hosted an event that discussed nontraditional approaches to practicing law and building legal
practices through organization-building.  Panelists answered their thoughts on what it means to be a people’s lawyer,  how progressive attorneys help interrupt
systems of oppression through their work, and how are attorneys working to consciously build organizing power and community leadership in their practice.

The panelists had participated in programs such as the AmeriCorps VISTA Legal Fellowship and Justice Entrepreneurship Project (“JEP”) where they learned how to build crossdisciplinary relationships to the end that “human rights shall be regarded as more sacred than property interests.”