The National Lawyers Guild (NLG) was formed in 1937 as the country’s first integrated national bar association. The NLG is dedicated to the need for basic change in the structure of our political and economic system. We seek to unite the lawyers, law students, legal workers and jailhouse lawyers to function as an effective force in the service of the people, to the end that human rights shall be regarded as more sacred than property interests.

The Chicago Guild is hiring a part-time Director of Operations. We are looking for an organized and dedicated advocate who can support the Guild’s critical work providing legal support to Chicago’s social justice movements. The person who fills this position will be tasked with managing day-to-day operations and supporting continued capacity-building efforts alongside the efforts of NLG Chicago’s Board. Our ideal candidate would bring experience and enthusiasm for providing administrative and logistical support to projects and organizations, along with a deep knowledge of movement work in the Metro Chicago area, and current issues regarding state repression of Chicago’s contemporary social movements. Legal experience is not required for this position.

This position requires someone who is self-directed and can work independently; the Director of Operations will report directly to the Board of Directors.This position will be scheduled for 10 hours a week at $20.00/hour, with a $4.25 hourly health and wellness benefit, and will include 36 hours of paid sick leave  and 72 hours of paid time off each year. The Director of Operations position is covered under a Collective Bargaining Agreement with National Organization of Legal Services Workers, United Auto Workers Local 2320.

This position includes the following duties:

• Providing administrative and logistical support to members of the NLG Chicago Board, including scheduling Board meetings, logistically coordinating the annual election process, and coordinating Board input on day-to-day chapter decision making.
• Performing office administrative duties, including responding to phone calls, email, and receiving postal mail in the Guild Office (located in downtown Chicago)
• Coordinating and facilitating chapter wide events with the support of the NLG Chicago Board, including NLG Chicago’s annual fall fundraising dinner and spring May Day party
• Providing administrative support for Board efforts regarding fundraising and pursuing grant opportunities and coordinating finances and operations needs with the Board Treasurer
• Coordinating external promotions of Guild activities on the chapter website, email list, and social media
• Producing and publishing the quarterly Chapter Newsletter
• Supervising occasional office volunteers and interns
• Other duties as assigned

The position will begin as soon as possible and require 10 hours per week, with regular office hours and some flexibility depending on the Chapter activities each month. This position will be a hybrid position with some tasks needing to be completed in the NLG Office. Although most work can be completed remotely, in person tasks do require that the candidate’s residence is in the metro Chicago area. 

NLG Chicago is an equal opportunity employer and people from historically marginalized groups and people who have been directly impacted by the criminal legal system are encouraged to apply. 

To apply, please email a resume, cover letter (in the body of the email), and three references, to chicago@nlg.org, with the subject line “NLG Director of Operations Application.”Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis until the position is filled. Interviews will be conducted via Zoom with members of the NLG Chicago Board.  Interviews will be held on a rolling basis until the position is filled. We will ask the Director of Operations to begin work as soon as possible. No phone calls please.

Faculty and graduate employee working conditions are student learning conditions, and the learning conditions at Chicago’s universities are miserable and unacceptable. 

National Lawyers Guild Chicago joins in solidarity with the members of UIC United Faculty, UChicago Graduate Students United, and Northwestern University Graduate Workers, who are demanding appropriate workloads, fair wages, academic freedom protections, and greater support for students and faculty, including greater access to mental health care. 

Each of these unions face significant struggles this month. UIC United Faculty voted to authorize a strike, with a tentative strike date of January 17, 2022. This comes after months of negotiation with administration lead to an impasse on critical bargaining demands, including wages and expanded mental health services for students and faculty. In addition, GSU graduate workers at University of Chicago organized with UE and Northwestern University graduate workers organized with UE are both preparing to vote for NLRB recognition of their unions due to their university’s refusal to grant voluntary recognition.

As a bar association rooted in a core belief that “human rights and the rights of the environment shall be held more sacred than property interests,” we have been proud to support students, staff, and faculty across Chicago’s universities throughout numerous organizing campaigns, to ensure the protection of their First Amendment rights to speech, association, expression, and petitioning the state for a redress of grievances. 

Our membership and Board includes students and alumni affiliated with all three of these universities. While law schools constantly tout their rankings and supposed “prestige,” mistreatment of faculty, graduate workers, and students can be found at every Chicago university–in every department and program. Our model of higher education is one of austerity, which requires students to pay unaffordable tuition and take out loans to obtain the degrees required for economic stability. This model can be traced back to Ronald Regan’s time as California Governor, where he deliberately gutted California’s public university system with the expressed purpose of quashing leftist student and faculty organizing movements.

Contemporary campus protests and organizing movements are possible due to the critical legal victories fought and won by student activists during the height of the Vietnam War, including Healy v. James, 408 U.S. 169 (1972) and Papish v. Bd. of Curators of Univ. of Missouri, 410 U.S. 667 (1973). Students, graduate workers, and faculty continue to be at the forefront of struggles to prevent state repression in higher education. This is more critical than ever as even tenured faculty face sanctions for abolitionist and antiracist scholarship and advocacy, and multiple state legislatures seek to weaken or eliminate tenure, or criminalize the right to teach classes about systemic oppression in the United States.

All three of these local universities currently taking an adversarial position against faculty and graduate student workers use legal rhetoric to justify their refusal to bargain with union members or voluntarily recognize graduate worker unions. This is a blatant violation of their workers’ express rights to organize and collectively bargain for higher wages and better working conditions. University administrations take advantage of the fact that they will receive a slap on the wrist at worst for their flagrantly illegal conduct, and only after the significant delays caused by the inadequate funding and staffing for the NLRB. Law is not neutral, and just because American labor law is biased towards management doesn’t make that right or just. Any number of our members could share their “horror stories” about stressful experiences as students–experiences that are not in fact necessary to educate the skilled attorneys and legal workers that Chicago’s social justice movements need.

We recognize that the landscape of law school and higher education will not improve without solidarity between all faculty, graduate researchers, students, and staff.  United, we can challenge  inadequate wages, demanding hours, and relentless attacks on academic freedom.

For example, in the fall of 2020, UIC and UI Health workers affiliated with SEIU Local 73 and the Illinois Nurses Association went on strike for 7 days to demand higher pay, COVID-19 protections, and safe staffing ratios for workers and patients in the UI Health system. Striking workers were joined by UIC students, UICUF members, and members of UIC Graduate Employees Organization (GEO). Healthcare and university workers who had been disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic won their demands due to this outpouring of solidarity, which included Teamsters Local 705 members refusing to deliver packages to UIC. 

The professions of law, healthcare, social services, and many other fields seek to divide workers from clients as a way to advance “professionalism.” This always comes at the expense of our clients receiving the time and quality of care that they deserve and negatively impacts the entire community as a result. 

When we work together and reject blatant austerity measures, we can win a better world for all faculty, graduate workers, students, and staff in Chicago and beyond.

In Solidarity, 

NLG Chicago Board

Elena Gormley, MSW, UIC Jane Addams College of Social Work, NLG Chicago Board Member
Mike Podgurski, JD, UIC Law, NLG Chicago Board Member
Andrew Segal, 3L, Northwestern University Law School, NLG Chicago Board Member
Dean Mayer, JD, Northwestern University Law School, NLG Chicago Board Member
Eli Massey, 2L, University of Michigan Law School, NLG Chicago Board Member
Sarah Ryan, JD, Loyola University Chicago School of Law, NLG Chicago Board Member

UIC Law NLG Chapter Board

Jacq Spreadbury, 3L, UIC Law, UIC NLG Board, NLG Chicago Legal Observer®? Program Coordinator
Rachel Sternic, 3L, UIC Law, UIC NLG Board Tony Wingfield, 3L, UIC Law, UIC NLG Board 
Jonathan Ballew, 3L, UIC Law, UIC NLG Board
Emily Cotner, 3L, UIC Law, UIC NLG Board 
Ashlyn Amador, 2L, UIC Law, UIC NLG Board

University of Chicago Law School NLG Chapter Board

Gabrielle Zook, 2L University of Chicago Law, UChicago Law NLG Board
Rebecca Marvin, 2L University of Chicago Law, UChicago Law NLG Board
Allison O’Connor, 2L University of Chicago Law, UChicago Law NLG Board
Isabelle Argueta, 2L University of Chicago Law, UChicago Law NLG Board
Juliana Steward, 2L University of Chicago Law, UChicago Law NLG Board

Northwestern University Law School NLG Chapter Board

Elaine Cleary, 3L, Co-president NLG Northwestern Law
Shawn Oh, 2L, Co-president NLG Northwestern Law

Chicago-Kent College of Law NLG Chapter Board

Devin Ross, 3L, Chicago-Kent, C-K NLG President
Kayla Farhang, 2L, Chicago-Kent, C-K NLG Vice President
Yasmin Yousif, 2L, Chicago-Kent, C-K NLG Secretary
Ben Ginzky, 3L, Chicago-Kent, C-K NLG Events Chair
Jake Marshall, 2L, Chicago-Kent, C-K NLG-Chicago Liaison
Emma Byrne, 2L, Chicago-Kent, C-K NLG Chicago Area School Liaison

Loyola University Chicago Law School NLG Chapter Board

Kelly Barrett 3L, LUC Law School NLG Board
Agrismary Santiago 2L, LUC Law School NLG Board
Casey Callahan 2L, LUC Law School NLG Board
Juan Gonzalez-Martinez 3L, LUC Law School NLG Board
Jasmine Anderson 3L, LUC Law School NLG Board
Charlene Echeverria Burciaga 3L, LUC Law School NLG Board

DePaul University Law School NLG Chapter Board

Sarah Pitre, 2L, DePaul Law School NLG Board President
Arjun Nair, 3L DePaul Law School NLG Board Vice-President
James Fleming, 2L, DePaul Law School NLG Board Treasurer 

NLG Chicago is so excited to announce that we are gearing up for the National Lawyers Guild’s annual DisOrientation! It will take place over the weekend of October 1^st and 2^nd, and will consist of online panels, zoom trainings and two in person social events including a happy hour and a coffee hang. The NLG boards of all the Chicago-area law schools have been working hard to make this happen, and we are so excited to share it with you. 

Register HERE & we will send you the necessary zoom links via email prior to the event. 

We’re excited to announce that our annual celebration on Sept 17 at Haymarket House will feature Sarah Davila A, lead author of a comprehensive collaborative report by UIC Law School International Human Rights Clinic, NLG Chicago, and Good Kids Mad City documented human rights abuses by Chicago police during the uprisings in summer 2020.

——-

Sarah Dávila A. is an Assistant Professor of Law & Co-Founder and Director of the International Human Rights Clinic at UIC Law. She teaches International Human Rights, Transitional Justice, and lectures on international topics as part of her clinical teaching.

Prior to working at UIC Law, Sarah Dávila was an adjunct lecturer at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), where she taught international law, international human rights, transitional justice, human rights in the U.S., and criminal law. She also worked as a pro bono attorney with the Institute for Justice & Democracy (IJDH) in Haiti, where she focused on issues relating to the displacement of Haitians in the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake, the Duvalier prosecution, and sexual violence. Prior to her work with IJDH, she was a litigator at CAMBA Legal Services, an organization in New York City. 

She has experience in the domestic and international litigation of human rights cases and has engaged in impact advocacy at the United Nations. She has also been instrumental in the Clinic’s work on behalf of Haitian cholera victims suing the United Nations, immigrant detention conditions and solitary confinement, Inter-American litigation, human trafficking of Puerto Rican victims, Human Rights for Syrians Initiative, Privacy and Human Rights Project, and most recently the Environmental Human Rights Project.

In just a few days dozens of NLG Chicago members and supporters will be coming together for an evening of music, food, and celebration as we honor the work of dedicated movement legal workers and attorneys!

Join us September 17th at Haymarket House!

• Delicious vegan food from Kalish Vegan

• Incredible tunes from Airgo Radio

• Tasty beverages from @revbrewchicago and @drinkhalfpast

• Community with Chicago’s incredible movement legal workers and attorneys!

• Raising the critical funds needed to support our mission that “human rights and the rights of the environment shall be held more sacred than property interests.”

This event is our biggest fundraising event of the year and helps us continue doing the important work we’re known for of using the law for the people. Will you buy your ticket today? Click here!

NLG Chicago is proud to honor Iveliz Orellano as this year’s Trailblazer Award Winner!

We are proud to announce that this year’s Trailblazer Award winner is movement lawyer Iveliz Orellano! This year we did something different and opened up voting for the Trailblazer Award to NLG Chicago’s general membership. Come celebrate her and the work of NLG Chicago at this year’s Annual Celebration on Sept 17th! 

Buy your tickets HERE: bit.ly/NLGCHI2022

—

Iveliz works as an assistant public defender at the Office of the Cook County Public Defender. In that role, she strives for zealous representation of her clients within the framework of police and prison abolition. She has actively organized with other Assistant Public Defenders to build a more radical, abolitionist framework within the office. She played an instrumental role in trainings coordinated by NLG and the PDs office focused on training PDs on providing representation in protest cases.

She has written for Teen Vogue about the impacts of systemic racism and anti-Blackness within the criminal legal system, particularly in the context of the 2020 uprisings.

Iveliz is a longtime NLG member, one of the founding members of TUPOCC Chicago and a pervious member of the NLG Chicago Board. She has organized both inside and outside NLG in supporting the Puerto Rican community here in Chicago. This has included walking tours of Humboldt Park for NLG members to learn about the Puerto Rican Independence movement and the fight against gentrification here in the city, helping to organize legal support for Puerto Ricans forced to come to Chicago after Hurricane Maria, and organizing events to support lawyers fighting the legality of austerity legislation on the island.

Have you RSVP’d for the Annual Celebration yet? Do so here! 

Patricia Handlin to be honored with Kinoy Award!

Pat Handlin is a criminal defense and civil attorney based in Chicago who has represented over twenty Water Protectors facing misdemeanor charges stemming from the Standing Rock No DAPL movement. Pat spent time staffing the legal tent at Oceti Sakowin camp in winter 2016 and has been one of the most active Pro Hac attorneys, continuing through 2019. She has filed innovative and creative motions, emphasizing tribal rights when appropriate. She has shown extreme sympathy to the legal, political and emotional situation of arrested water protectors.

She also provided pro bono legal research support for the challenge to TC Energy’s permit application in South Dakota to use water for the KXL pipeline and represented Water Protectors in Minnesota who were arrested protesting construction of the Enbridge Line 3 pipeline. She has been a public defender, legal services attorney, administrative law judge on employment discrimination matters, represented numerous Occupy Chicago activists, and has litigated to protect victims of elder abuse, neglect and financial exploitation.

Sponsor Our 2022 Annual Celebration!

Are you or your organization interested in sponsoring our Annual Celebration this year? You can purchase sponsorships at: https://bit.ly/NLGCHI2022

And of course you can buy event tickets there as well! If you have any questions contact us at chicago@nlg.org

• For $100, purchase a name listing in our program book.
  
• For $250, get a sponsorship at our Movement Lawyer level. Your quarter-screen message will be featured in our event slideshow (25 words max). Plus, you’ll get promotion on our event website. 
  
• For $500, sponsor at the Community Builder level.  Your half-screen ad including an image will be featured in our event slideshow (50 words max). You’ll get promotion on our event website AND a sponsorship listing in the program booklet Sponsorship at this level also helps us bring in the live band who will give you a special shoutout!
  
• For $1000, sponsor at the Revolutionary Level. This buys you a full-screen ad with image that will be featured in our event slideshow (100 words max). Plus, promotion on our event website and a sponsorship listed in the program booklet.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Wednesday, August 17, 2022
CONTACT: Ankur Singh | Chicago@nlg.org | 309-838-4265

Chicago Police Violated Black Lives Matter Protestors’ Human Rights In Summer 2020 According To New Comprehensive Multi-Year Report

CHICAGO — During the summer of 2020 Chicago law enforcement violated the human rights of Black Lives Matter activists with excessive force, according to a comprehensive multi-year report published on the second anniversary of the protests by UIC School of Law International Human Rights Clinic, the National Lawyers Guild (NLG) of Chicago and GoodKids MadCity. 

According to the report, titled “Violating Human Rights: Chicago Law Enforcement’s Excessive Force Against Black Lives Matter Activists and Human Rights Defenders”, Chicago law enforcement regularly violated human rights with an indiscriminate level of violence against protestors. CPD officers pepper sprayed and tear gassed crowds, used rubber bullets, and pushed, shoved, and punched protestors until they were incapacitated.

Chicago law enforcement also weaponized city Infrastructure through the use of kettling and mass arrest, raising the bridges, CTA shutdowns, and mandatory curfews. The report also documents that NLG legal observers were routinely targeted and abused by police.

“This project has been a true testament to the many voices that took action in Chicago in the 2020 summer and paid an enormous price to exercise their human right to protest,” said Sarah Dávila, director of UIC’s International Human Rights Clinic. “It is imperative that the U.S. government and in particular the city of Chicago hold those accountable and take immediate action to protect and promote human rights for all in this city.”

Last week the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination heard from several young people from Chicago regarding excessive police violence. “We are asking that you strongly recommend that the United States pass The PeaceBook Ordinance – a resource directory meant to invest in our communities and divest from the police,” said Damayanti Wallace, a member of GoodKids MadCity. “The PeaceBook will fund programs that allow survivors of trauma to heal.”  

###

UIC School of Law International Human Rights Clinic The UIC Law School International Human Rights Clinic (IHRC) is a non-profit, nonpartisan, law school legal clinic dedicated to promoting and protecting human rights in the United States and around the world. The IHRC offers students a background in human rights advocacy through the practical experience of working on international human rights cases and projects.

National Lawyers Guild of Chicago The National Lawyers Guild of Chicago (NLG) is a non-profit federation of lawyers, legal workers, and law students dedicated to actively eliminating racism, maintaining, and protecting our civil rights and liberties, and using the law as an instrument for the protection of the people.

GoodKids MadCity GoodKidsMadCity has the mission to prevent gun violence in underserved communities, by creating safe spaces for healing, changing behaviors and organizing young people to advocate and lobby for progressive legislation that contributes to community revitalization, restorative justice and reducing youth recidivism and incarceration. It does so, while simultaneously giving direct support to teens in neighborhoods that have suffered from gun violence by hosting healing circles, peace walks, honoring victims, block parties and peer mediated conflict resolution.

Our July Happy Hour will be on the beach on Sunday July 10 from 3pm – 7pm at Loyola Beach! Bring whatever you’d like to eat and drink. Celebrate summer and enjoy the beach with NLG friends and comrades. RSVP here.