Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law

Description

The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law is a nonpartisan, nonprofit American civil rights organization.

It was founded in 1963 at the request of President John F. Kennedy, to mobilize leading lawyers as agents of change during the Civil Rights Movement. It uses legal advocacy, litigation and public policy work to pursue racial justice for Black people and other people of color. It draws on the pro bono resources of the private bar rather than employing lawyers alone, working both inside and outside the courts.

Its work is organized into standing projects covering criminal justice, economic justice, educational opportunities, fair housing, voting rights and hate crimes, and it runs the Election Protection coalition. It has brought or joined major cases on voting rights, university admissions, census questions, hate crimes and access to counsel in criminal courts. It has also testified before Congress and issued public statements on civil rights issues.

The organization operates nationally from Washington, D.C., and works through eight independently funded and governed local affiliates in Boston, Chicago, Denver, Jackson, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. Its national litigation focuses on cases with broad impact, such as class actions, rather than individual representation. It refers people with individual civil rights complaints to its affiliates or to other organizations.