NLG Student Chapters Report… & Guild News

BOSTON UNIVERSITY:
In March, our NLG Student Chapter organized and co-sponsored several events:

• Palestine on the Precipice”: a presentaiton by Diana Buttu, former legal advisor to the PLO, with BU Students for Justice in Palestine.

• “The Goldstone Report”: a BU part of the NLG series with two editors of the book, Lizzy Ratner and Philip Weiss; moderated by Judy Somberg.

HARVARD:
In February, we co-sponsored (with Middle East Law Student Association and Justice for Palestine) a panel titled “Boycotting the Israeli Occupation?” Our guest speakers were Louis Michael Seidman, Roy Kreitner, and moderator NLG member Duncan Kennedy.

In March, we organized or co-sponsored the following events:

• “Developments in Material Support Law”: a panel discussion with panelists Claude Bruderlein, Tyler Giannini, NLG member Susan Akram, and Maureen Murphy; co-sponsored with Middle East Law Student Association and Justice for Palestine.

• “Wikileaks & the Pentagon Papers”: a conversation with Daniel Ellsberg & Scott Horton and screening of a documentary.

• “The Goldstone Report”: with Lizzy Ratner and Philip Weiss; moderated by Duncan Kennedy.

NORTHEASTERN:
In January, we hosted Christina Knowles, Lobbying Director for Mass. NOW for a “Massachusetts Lobby Training”.

In February, 10 of our members joined other NLG students at RebLaw Conference at Yale Law School in New Haven, CT.

In March, we did the following:

• Hosted the NLG Happy Hour.

• “Roundtable Discussion on Wisconsin”: what the struggle is, how it affect the labor solidarity.

• “Lunch Meeting with Flor Bermudez”: a Daynard Fellow.

• “The Goldstone Report”: an NLG series with two editors of the book, Lizzy Ratner and Philip Weiss; moderated by Judy Somberg.

ROGER WILLIAMS UNIVERSITY:
In February, we sent three of our NLG student members to the Rebellious Lawyering Conference at Yale Law School.

In March, we organized or attended the following events:

• Anti Death Penalty Day: screening of a documentary, “Mumia:  A Case for Reasonable Doubt.”

• “Tell It Like It Is”:  a panel on the truth about Immigration in the U.S.

• “Domestic Terrorism in the Context of the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act“: a discussion panel on AETA, co-sponsored with APIL.

• Street Law Clinic Training: on Stop & Search, with NLG member Benjamin Evans.

• Annual Robert Cover Retreat (Peterborough, NH): we had almost 10 NLG students there.

From April 1 to April 3, we will host the 2011 NLG Northeast Regional Conference.

Our Student Chapter holds board meetings every two weeks which are open to the entire student body.

WNEC:
In January, our student member Lauren Marcous was selected to be an NLG Haywood Burns Fellow to do work with Prisoners’ Legal Services this summer.

In February, the following happened:

• Our NLG WNEC students attended the Rebellious Lawyering Conference at Yale.

• NLG WNEC Chapter was accepted as WNEC Student Bar Association organization and placed on probationary period.

• We completed the Legal Observer training with Urszula Masny-Latos and the Civil Disobedience training with NLG member Bill Newman.

In March, we organized or co-sponsored the following:

• Anti Death Penalty Day: a presentation by Linda Thompson, local criminal defense attorney.

• Annual Robert Cover Retreat in NH: a group of NLG WNEC students attended.

• Foreclosure & Eviction Clinic training: NLG students are co-sponsoring a training in post-foreclosure eviction defense with local housing attorney, Joel Feldman, and the Springfield No One Leaves Coalition.

• U.S. Detention Policies a Decade After 9/11: Two Perspectives on Security: a convesation with Pardiss Kebriaei of the CCR and Michael Sullivan of Ashcroft Sullivan LLC; co-sponsored with, among others, Pioneer Valley No More Guantanamos, the WNEC Federalist Society and the South Asian Law Student Association.

Our Student Chapter has been very involved in the anti-foreclosure work – we continue to maintain an active partnership with the Springfield No One Leaves Coalition; we plan to act as legal observers at local foreclosure auction protests, as well as eviction blockades.  With the help of local NLG attorney Bill Newman, we will train local tenant associations in civil disobedience throught the NLG Street Law Clinic project; we will recuit participants for an eviction defense clinic. With our group’s help, No One Leaves continues to gain community support in the movement to fight back against the big banks.

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GUILD NEWS

NLG Presents…

Andrei Joseph, Shelly Kroll, and Ira Sills
Responding to Attacks on Labor!
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
5:30 pm

Kennedy’s Midtown Pub
44 Province St., 2nd Fl., Boston

Join ANDREI JOSEPH, a high school teacher, activist and leader with the Massachusetts Teachers Association, and SHELLY KROLL and IRA SILLS, partners at Segal Roitman LLP, for a discussion of attacks on unions and how progressive attorneys and activists are responding.

Following the discussion will be our NLG Monthly Happy Hour.
Hope to see you there!

2011 Regional Conference
The 2011 NLG Regional Conference will be hosted by the newly formed NLG student Chapter at Roger Williams School of Law in Bristol, RI.

2011 NLG Annual Dinner
This year, the NLG 30th Annual Dinner will be held on Friday, May 13, 6:00pm, at the Colonnade Hotel, and we will honor four outstanding Guild members: Karen Blum and Emily Yozell (Lawyer Award), Chip Berlet (Legal Worker Award), and Liz Dedrick (Student Award).  The dinner program will include silent and live auction with wonderful items, and an hour of dancing to the best tunes.  Please reserve you tickets before the deadline on May 3.  For more information please either call 617-227-7335 or go to nlgmass.org.

Street Law Clinic Report
The following Guild members conducted (or are scheduled to conduct) trainings for law students and/or clinics for members of Boston area community organizations and agencies:
March 2: Workers’ Rights  training for Suffolk Law School students, by Mark Stern.
March 3:   Legal Observing  at a pro-Palestinian rally at BU School of Law, by Urszula Masny-Latos and Daniel Werner.
March 17: Stop & Search  clinic at Cardinal Medieros Center, by law student Daniel Werner (New England) and Makis Antzoulatos.
March 25: Stop & Search training for Roger Williams Law School students in Bristol, RI, by Ben Evans.
March 28: Civil Disobedience and Legal Observer trainings at Boston University School of Law, by Jeff Feuer and Urszula Masny-Latos.  Tenants’ Rights training for New England School of Law law students, by Melinda Drew and Jeff Feuer.
March 30: Immigration Law clinic at Cambridge Rindge & Latin International Program, by Amy Wax.
March 31: Workers Rights clinic at The Workplace Boston, by law student Debra Garrett (Suffolk) and Mark Stern.