Monday, November 21, 2011

National Lawyers Guild Files FOIA Requests on Occupy Crackdown

http://www.nationofchange.org/national-lawyers-guild-files-foia-requests-seeking-evidence-federal-role-occupy-crackdown-1321810742

I have a love/like relationship with the National Lawyers Guild. They aren't so sure about me. Ahem, anyways, I came into the Guild via Legal Observer Training rather than at law school. I wrote my Senior Thesis at UC Santa Barbara on the D2K protests at the Democratic Convention in August 2000 in Los Angeles, CA.

While attending the A16 protest in Washington DC, I first encountered NLG Legal Observers. They were walking in pairs. You couldn't miss them in their lime green baseball caps. As they approached, I greeted them thus, "I am sure happy to see you."

I formed the intention of writing my thesis on the D2K protest that day. When I learned that the Guild would offer Legal Observer Training before the protest, I jumped at the opportunity. Literally. It was a 180 mile round trip to the heart of LA from Santa Barbara.

When I went to law school I joined the Guild and spent a summer writing a Mass Defense Legal Manual in the National Office in NYC. I worked for a member of the San Francisco National Lawyers Guild Executive Board for six years.

I know and love the Guild. These are the people who, no matter what, will move mountains to protect your First Amendment Rights, right there in the street, as well as in the halls of law.

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