Law collective

A law collective is a non-hierarchical organization which provides legal aid to a community or communities in need. Such work ranges from traditional criminal defense, to advocacy on behalf of immigrants, to legal support at large and small protests, to "Know Your Rights" and other law-related workshops.

There were many law collectives in the 1970s. These collectives ran as worker-run, cooperative law firms. They often had revolutionary politics, and supported explicitly revolutionary groups and individuals. Lawyer and non-lawyer employees were paid the same wages, and had equal decision-making power. At some law collectives, workers supporting families were paid more. A handful of law collectives organized along those lines still exist - for example, the People's Law Office in Chicago, Illinois and the Portland Law Collective in Portland, Oregon.

Since the 1999 Seattle WTO protests, there has been a small movement of activist law collectives. These groups are usually non-lawyer centered, run along anarchist principles (even if they do not explicitly identify as anarchist), and work as part of the movement for social justice. These law collectives are made up mostly or entirely of non-lawyers. They are located in cities including Philadelphia; Washington, DC; New York; Madison; Portland; Oakland; and Montreal, Ottawa, and Toronto, Canada. Also, since June 2009, the Minnesota Law Collective has been open in St. Paul, Minnesota.

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