We envision a world without lawyers! Movement lawyering fosters the collective action and democratic participation of everyday people to reshape our social, economic, and political system.
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.
Legal Fellowship Program
The fellowship provides training, mentorship, and other resources to attorneys beginning new law practices, legal organizations, and other projects serving the legal needs of local sustainable economies. The goal of the program is to meet the legal needs of the growing sustainable economy movement.
Volunteer Opportunities
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 Hope at [email protected].
Mandatory Continuing Legal Education Classes
Learn how to advise nonprofits, worker cooperatives, and other social enterprises! Since 2010, the Law Center has taught many classes on various facets of practicing law in the sharing economy, such as cooperative taxation and advising worker self-directed nonprofits. We also co-sponsored and taught an MCLE on Practicing Law in a Post-Capitalist Society, which addressed bias in the current legal profession and ethical considerations for transitioning to new and more positive paradigms for both the economy and the legal system. Now, we're offering our CLE courses online! Check them out here.
Resources for Nurturance Lawyering:
- Lucky Charms for Lawyers Part 1 (MCLE: Competence - Prevention and Detection)
- Lucky Charms for Lawyers Part 2 (MCLE: Competence - Wellness Education)
- Lucky Charms for Civilized Lawyers (MCLE: Civility in the Legal Profession)
- Nurturance Lawyering: How to Bring Connection and Healing To Our Work in Challenging Times (30 min cartoon)
- Join this community: www.Law4EconomicDemocracy.org
- Legal structures for social transformation (short article)
- Structuring Your Law Practice (1 hour cartoony workshop)
- Visual Guide to Decommodifying the Law
- How octopuses can inspire legal documents
- The Legal Roots Of Resilience (4 min cartoon)
- Black Women Lawyers Matter (interview series)
- Three Legal Principles for Rebuilding the Commons (article)
- Practicing Law in the Sharing Economy (book)
- Legal Structures for Economic Transformation (1 hour cartoony workshop)
- A New Meaning to Equity (45 min keynote)
- Economy Sandwich (9 min cartoon)
- Law as Commons (5 min cartoon)
Misc
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.
Resources for Legal Apprentices: We believe that legal apprenticeships are an important alternative to law school. They enable people to become lawyers, regardless of their wealth status, geographical location, or learning needs. And apprenticeships - far more readily than law schools - can be tailored to train lawyers on the specific legal needs of the resilient communities movement.
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