NLG CHICAGO

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NLG to Provide Legal Support for Chicago NATO Demonstrations

National Lawyers Guild to Provide Legal Support for Chicago NATO Demonstrations
Support effort to include recording police misconduct, staffing a legal hotline & criminal defense

Chicago, IL — The National Lawyers Guild (NLG) will be providing legal support to political protesters in Chicago this week as several demonstrations are set to occur in advance of and during the NATO summit on May 20th & 21st. The Guild has already been working with protest organizers to secure rally and march permits, and will extend those efforts to include: staffing a legal hotline, conducting Know Your Rights trainings, dispatching Legal Observers throughout the city to record police misconduct, and representing people who have been arrested and criminally charged.

The NATO summit has been designated as a National Special Security Event (NSSE) and the policing apparatus set up to respond to protest activity is under the authority of the U.S. Secret Service and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Historically, NSSEs have led to widespread violations of people’s constitutional rights, including heavy surveillance and infiltration, preemptive raids by police and other administrative agencies, as well as harassment and intimidation used to chill political protest.

The city’s intolerance to political protest was brought into question after it refused to allow Occupy Chicago activists to demonstrate in Grant Park last October, arresting more than 300 people in the process. More than 90 of those cases are still being prosecuted. In February, the city settled an NLG-led class action lawsuit for $6.2 million, in which more than 700 anti-war protesters were wrongfully arrested in 2003.

“The police have again been harassing activists in the Occupy movement who came to Chicago to protest this week,” said Sarah Gelsomino with the NLG and the People’s Law Office. “The city should be on notice that the Guild will be vigilant in recording actions that are aimed at preventing political protest.”

The Guild is widely disseminating its legal hotline number, which is 312-913-0039, to provide activists with a way to contact legal support staff and for friends and loved ones to find out the status of people who have been arrested.

National Lawyers Guild media liaisons are available for interviews:
Kris Hermes 510-681-6361 or krishermes@earthlink.net
Sarah Gelsomino 773-520-8246 or sarahgelsomino@gmail.com

Other ways of getting information from the NLG include:
www.NLGChicago.org
www.Facebook.com/NLGChicago
Twitter: @NLGChicago

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NLG NATO HOTLINE

312-913-0039 

As part of our commitment to providing legal support and defense work to activists protesting against the NATO summit in Chicago, Chicago NLG will be staffing a 24-hour hotline throughout the NATO summit.

Call 312-913-0039 to report arrests, police misconduct, request legal observers, of for any other legal support needs.

 

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Occupy Chicago Activists Back in Court


MEDIA ADVISORY
Chicago Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild
For Immediate Release: March 27, 2012
Contact: NLG Legal Worker Kris Hermes 510-681-6361 or NLG Attorney Sarah Gelsomino 773-520-8246

More than Ninety Occupy Chicago Activists Back in Court Wednesday Seeking Dismissal of Charges
City continues to use procedural issues to drag out legal cases and duck claims of First Amendment violations

Chicago, IL— At least 94 Occupy Chicago defendants will have their day in court again Wednesday, as the city uses procedural issues to drag out the legal cases and avoid accountability for what National Lawyers Guild attorneys are saying were clear First Amendment violations. The cases stem from arrests last October of more than 300 people who were charged with violating a city-imposed curfew at Grant Park. Nearly a third of those arrested have chosen to fight their charges and are being represented by Guild attorneys and others, who will be arguing motions to dismiss on Wednesday at 1:30pm in Daley Center.What:

Court hearing aimed at dismissing the charges against more than 90 Occupy Chicago defendants

When:

Wednesday, March 28th at 1:30pm

Where:

Room 1307 of the Daley Center, 50 W. Washington Street, Chicago

“The city is showing its intolerance of the First Amendment by refusing to relent against activists arrested last year for protesting in the park,” said Sarah Gelsomino with the People’s Law Office, and one of the Guild attorneys who filed motions to dismiss on behalf of the defendants. “It’s an outrage that the city is spending precious tax-payer dollars to prosecute frivolous cases, while being unwilling to give an inch to accommodate the free speech rights of Occupy Chicago activists.”

Although hundreds of Occupy Chicago activists were arrested last year with many of them jailed for up to 24 hours, the city is now claiming that the resulting legal cases are civil, not criminal. The city is also using legal procedure to omit defendant affidavits — the statements of arrested Occupy Chicago activists — in an attempt to drag out the proceedings.

Approximately 175 people were arrested on quasi-criminal charges in the early morning hours of October 15th as activists remained protesting in the park after 11pm. A week later, on October 22nd, another 130 people were similarly arrested. Not only did the city refuse to grant Occupy Chicago an ongoing presence in any of the city’s public parks, it also has so far refused to dismiss any of the cases unless defendants agree to perform 10 hours of community service. Of the more than 90 Occupy Chicago defendants who are seeking a dismissal of their charges, more than half say they will go to trial if their motions to dismiss are denied.

“The city’s posture on the Occupy Chicago cases casts serious doubts about its respect for and ability to uphold the rights of dissidents in advance of the NATO demonstrations in May,” continued Gelsomino. Also, just last month, the city settled an NLG-led class action lawsuit for $6.2 million, in which more than 700 anti-war protesters were wrongfully arrested in 2003.

The National Lawyers Guild was founded in 1937 and is the oldest and largest public interest/human rights bar organization in the United States. Its headquarters are in New York and it has chapters in every state.

Further information:
Sample NLG motion to dismiss: https://nlgchicago.org/wp-content/uploads/NLG-Motion-to-Dismiss.pdf

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2012 NLG Midwest Regional Conference

2012 NLG Midwest Regional Conference:

Now’s the Time!

Rising Up for Human Rights


Save the date — March 23 to March 25!  Join the Midwest region of the National Lawyers Guild for our annual conference in Chicago, hosted by Chicago-Kent NLG.  Join the NLG Chicago Chapter and others from the Midwest as we gather together to reflect, learn, catch up, and recharge.

This year we will be focusing on the timely issues of mass incarceration, immigration, continued attacks on workers’ rights, protest, and more! There will be informative panels as well as a choice of practical workshops in the afternoon.  More than ever it is time for us to come together and rise up as basic human rights are being attacked.

March 23-25, 2012

IIT Chicago-Kent School of Law

565 West Adams Street

Chicago, Illinois

Brief Schedule

Friday Night, March 23  |  Welcome Social (hosted by Next Gen Chicago)
Saturday, March 24  |  Conference
Sunday, March 25  |  Caucuses & Trainings

Panels

Which Way Forward for the Guild: Legal Work for the Movement in Times of Change

Workers Fighting Back: Responses to Austerity, Attacks on Unions, and Economic Inequality

Stopping the School-to-Prison Pipeline: Keeping Kids Out of Prison

Legal Response to Mass Political Protest, NSSEs, and the NATO/G8

Workshops

Crimmigration 101: A Primer on Navigating the Immigration Consequences of Criminal Cases

How To Win Section 1983 Wrongful Conviction Cases

Registration

To register, go to:  http://tinyurl.com/cknlg2012

For more information, click here!

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Update on February 16th Hearing on Occupy Chicago Motions to Dismiss

Dear Occupy Chicago Sisters and Brothers:

Today we returned to the Daley Center to address the matter of your bonds with Judge Donnelly.  While he accepted the City’s position that there was proper authority to subject you to bond, he also granted our request to enlarge your bond to allow for travel outside the jurisdiction of the state.  In other words: you are now free to travel outside Illinois at will.  Please note, however, that you are still on bond, which should still be a consideration for any future arrests.
There was also a slight change made to the schedule of future court dates.  The date for the hearing on the Motion to Strike Affidavits will be March 28th, instead of April 18th.  It will once again be in Room 1307 at 1:30PM.  All are welcome to attend, although not required to do so.
Finally, there will be a meeting for those of you who may be interested in pursuing a jury trial if the Motion to Dismiss is denied, on Sunday March 11th at 2PM at the Merchandise Mart.  If you have not already done so, please contact occupychiattorney@gmail.com to be added to the list of possible defendants for the jury trial.

If you have any questions regarding any of these matters, please contact your attorney, or the National Lawyers Guild at www.nlgchicago.org.  Thank you.

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Update from February 15th Hearing on Occupy Chicago Motions to Dismiss

Sisters and Brothers of Occupy Chicago:

Thank you to everybody who came down to the Daley Center this afternoon for the first hearing on the Motion To Dismiss.  For those of you unable to attend, John Stainthorp and Tom Durkin did an excellent job arguing the Motion of behalf of all the defendants.  However, due to several unresolved legal issues in the matter, the judge was not able to make a ruling on the Motion, and the hearing will now be continued for several more court dates.  Here’s what we have scheduled going forth:

-TOMORROW, February 16th, we will return to Room 1307 of the Daley Center at 1:30PM to address issues pertaining to your bonds.  This will have an important effect on your ability to travel out of state, or to remain “green” for future political actions, in addition to the impact it will have on this case.  Your lawyer, or someone from the NLG, will contact you tomorrow evening to inform you of the judge’s decision.

-The City will have until February 29th to file their Motion to Strike Affidavits, to which we will have until March 14th to file a Response Memorandum, to which the City will have until March 28th to file their Reply Memorandum in turn.  None of these dates involve a return to court, as this is just some procedural business.

-The hearing on the Motion To Strike Affidavits, which will involve us returning to court, is set for April 18th, again in Room 1307 at 1:30PM

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact your attorney, or the National Lawyers Guild at www.nlgchicago.org.

Contact

637 S. Dearborn St., 3rd Floor
Chicago, IL 60605

(773) 492-1405
chicago[@]nlg.org