Seeking attorneys from law firms and in-house legal departments to research and summarize state-level laws regarding Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports at public schools. The research generated through this project will allow us to produce a report and uplift model legislation. We estimate that each state will take approximately 4-8 hours of work. Deadline is July 31, 2023.
Lawyers for Racial Justice: Ending School Pushouts
Seeking attorneys from law firms and in-house legal departments to research and summarize state-level laws regarding school suspensions and expulsions. The research generated through this project will allow us to produce a report and uplift model legislation. We estimate that each state will take approximately 6 hours of work. Deadline is June 16, 2023.
Lawyers for Racial Justice: Agricultural Child Labor Project (Phase 2)
[22 projects remaining, roughly 25-30 hours each] Seeking law firms and/or in-house legal teams to assist with the second phase of a 50-state research project regarding state law on agricultural child labor. We estimate that each assignment will take 25-30 hours, and request that the projects be completed by April 15.
State Legislative Research Project
Seeking law firms and in-house legal teams to research state-level legislation that has been drafted or proposed during the last full legislative session in each state, whether passed or not, and answering a number of questions about it so that the approach of different states regarding different topics can be compared and synthesized by organizations that are part of Lawyers for Good Government’s coalition-based model of impact work. Each participating attorney will be assigned to one issue area (e.g., voting rights, police misconduct, education, etc.) in one state.
Lawyers for Racial Justice: Homework Gap / Education Technology Access
Seeking law firms and/or in-house legal teams to assist with a 50-state research project regarding access to technology. Often described as “the homework gap,” access to technology is often a barrier to success in schools. Because lack of access to technology is more pronounced in Black, Hispanic, and lower-income households, the homework gap is a structural inequity that expands other inequities in our society.
Lawyers for Racial Justice: Police in Schools (Phase 1)
Removing law enforcement personnel from schools has been a key demand of civil rights organizations and the Black Lives Matter movement for years.
In recent months, due in part to the nationwide protests against the unlawful death of George Floyd at the hands of a police officer, school districts in Minneapolis, Milwaukee, Denver, Portland, Ore., and San Francisco have moved to cut ties with the police.
We’ve partnered with Dignity in Schools, the Education Civil Rights Alliance, and others to pursue this work. With your help, we will conduct legal research to help achieve the movement goal of removing law enforcement personnel from schools.
Law enforcement personnel in schools are a key part of “the school-to-prison pipeline”, a phrase describing how school policies often lead black and brown students into the criminal justice system. See e.g. a 3-minute primer video on the issue by Vox. Although having law enforcement personnel in schools was conceived as a way to protect students from rare mass school shootings, law enforcement personnel in schools are concentrated in schools that are majority children of color and lead to children being arrested and brutalized over minor disciplinary issues. See e.g. recent examples in South Carolina, Texas, and Florida.
Meanwhile, in more affluent schools without law enforcement personnel, minor disciplinary issues are handled by a trip to the principal's office, and without physical and emotional trauma or legal consequences.
Unfortunately, our federal system limits what can be done on the national level—the U.S. Constitution largely reserves both education and policing policy to the state and local level. Thus, to truly address the issue, state and local work is required. This project will be to research existing state and local laws pertaining to the use of law enforcement in schools. If warranted by the findings, we may then work with coalition partners to draft model state-level legislation on the use of SROs.
Click here to view full project details and instructions for participating attorneys.