We want to live in a world where every town and city has legal professionals assisting urban farms, worker cooperatives, food cooperatives, community-owned solar cooperatives, homemade food enterprises, housing cooperatives, nonprofits, and other projects that create local ownership, promote democratic control, and build community resilience. 

The Sustainable Economies Law Center's Legal Professions Program works to vastly expand the number of lawyers and other legal professionals expertly serving the unique legal needs of worker-owned and other social enterprises that promote economic justice and sustainable, local economies. We provide education, hands-on experience, mentoring and networking opportunities and other support to lawyers, aspiring lawyers, paralegals and other legal professionals serving the legal needs of the next economy.

Our vision for the Legal Profession implicates how and where lawyers are trained, what skills they learn, what legal areas they study, how they establish law practices, how they relate to clients, how they communicate, how they charge for services, and so much more. The legal profession is changing to keep pace with innovations in worker-ownership and other social enterprise models of next economy. The Sustainable Economies Law Center is supporting this change.

A Living Classroom for Attorneys, Apprentices, and Law Students: Our Resilient Communities Legal Cafe is a legal advice clinic and discussion space that takes place in various locations in the Bay Area. While we provide essential legal services to community-based projects, we also create a living classroom, where attorneys, apprentices, and law students may observe legal advice sessions, network with one another, use resources in our mobile law library, and take part in the many discussions and teach-ins we organize. Interested in attending the Legal Cafe as an observer or volunteer? Please notify Tia at [email protected].

Networking Events for Sustainable Economy Legal Professionals: We regularly host happy hours designed to foster networking among lawyers, law students, and other legal professionals focused on serving the legal needs of the sharing economy.  See our event calendar for a listing of upcoming happy hours.

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