As a member of the National Lawyers Guild, you join thousands of others who have dedicated their lives and careers to the proposition that the law should serve the people. You help determine the direction of the Guild, and you help make us a stronger community of like-minded individuals working for social change. Each lawyer, law student, legal worker or jailhouse lawyer who joins our ranks brings us another step closer to a just world. We benefit from both the stability and experience of our long-standing members and from the vitality of our newer members who carry on our legacy with a sense of urgency and energy. While the Guild has grown older and wiser, our nation’s leaders have not. The Guild is a dynamic, living organization made up of members who never stop challenging themselves and who never rest in their quest for justice. As a member of the Guild, your work puts the power of the law back into the hands of the people. Contact the national membership coordinator if you have any questions or ideas you would like to share.
Join the Guild to be a part of the legal arm of movements for justice and you will:
- work together with other radical legal professionals and law students, sharing legal strategies, practices and ideas on issues ranging from environmental justice to international human rights and mass incarceration to housing rights.
- receive Guild publications such as Guild Notes and the NLG Review, ranked by EspressO as #4 Constitutional Law Review in 2013
- be entitled to a 20% discount at the annual Law for the People Convention. According to Natali Segovia "The NLG Convention was an opportunity to (re)ignite passion for justice and (re)imagine the law, seeing it for not only what it is but what it ought to be. Being surrounded by legal professionals dedicated to furthering human rights, civil rights and addressing the complex issues of today was inspiring."
- participate in the Guild's democratic process both locally and on the national level: vote for leaders and resolutions...or run yourself!
- have the opportunity to join our legal referral directory for a $50 fee which allows individuals seeking referrals, organizations seeking legal support, and activists who need a people's lawyer to get in touch with you.
Why join? The Guild can hold more power with a healthy membership base. Guild members accomplish more as part of a national organizations that helps promote and sustain a radical legal agenda and many members consider the NLG a supportive community for their efforts.