 |
 | |
| Formation | 1937 |
|---|---|
| Type | Legal society |
| Headquarters | 132 Nassau St., Ste 922, New York, New York |
| Location |
|
President | Elena L. Cohen |
Key people | Pooja Gehi, Executive Director |
| Website | nlg.org |
The National Lawyers Guild (NLG) is a progressive public interest association of lawyers, law students, paralegals, jailhouse lawyers, law collective members, and other activist legal workers, in the United States. The group was founded in 1937 as an alternative to the American Bar Association (ABA) in protest of that organization's then exclusionary membership practices and conservative political orientation. They were the first predominantly white US bar association to allow the admission of minorities to their ranks. The group sought to bring more lawyers closer to the labor movement and progressive political activities (e.g., the Farmer-Labor Party movement), to support and encourage lawyers otherwise "isolated and discouraged," and to help create a "united front" against Fascism.[1]
Upon its formation in 1937, the organization aimed to provide a progressive and racially integrated alternative to the ABA.[2] Shortly thereafter, New Dealers and civil libertarians split from the organization, making it more left-wing. In its early days some of its members also belonged to the Communist Party.[2][3]
The group declares itself to be "dedicated to the need for basic and progressive change in the structure of our political and economic system ... to the end that human rights shall be regarded as more sacred than property interests."[4] During the McCarthy era, Attorney General Herbert Brownell Jr. and the House Un-American Activities Committee accused the organization of operating as a communist front group.
- ^ Rabinowitz, Victor; Ledwith, Tim, eds. (1987). A History of the National Lawyers Guild: 1937–1987. National Lawyers Guild. pp. 7–8 (founding), 12 (Berle, Ernst). Retrieved 14 May 2019.
- ^ a b David Margolick, "The Law: At the Bar," New York Times, December 11, 1987.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
:1was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Peter Erlinder, "National Lawyers Guild: History," National Lawyers Guild, www.nlg.org/