Attorney Organizations

We tag "attorney organizations" that represent civil rights plaintiffs when they have repeat appaerances in the Clearinghouse's cases.  The tagging is not automatic, and it sometimes misses cases. If you want to propose a new organization to be included in the list below, or if you think we've omitted something or made any other kind of mistake, email us.   


Abolitionist Law Center

(15 cases in collection)

The Abolitionist Law Center is a public interest law firm inspired by the struggle of political and politicized prisoners, and organized for the purpose of abolishing class and race based mass incarceration in the United States. Abolitionist Law Center litigates on behalf of people whose human rights have been violated in prison, educates the general public about the evils of mass incarceration, and works to develop a mass movement against the American punishment system by building alliances and nurturing solidarity across social divisions.

Logo: Abolitionist Law Center


ACLU Affiliates (any)

(826 cases in collection)

Founded in 1920, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a national organization advocating individual rights and liberties by litigating, legislating, and educating the public on a broad array of issues. Much of its work is done by "chapters" or "affiliates." The ACLU has at least one affiliate in every state and Puerto Rico. Affiliates handle requests for legal assistance, lobby the state legislatures, and host public forums throughout the year.

ACLU logo


ACLU Immigrants' Rights Project

(80 cases in collection)

The ACLU Immigrants' Rights Project is dedicated to expanding and enforcing the civil liberties and civil rights of immigrants and to combating public and private discrimination against them. Since 1985, the ACLU has been at the forefront of almost every major legal struggle on behalf of immigrants’ rights, focusing on challenging laws that deny immigrants access to the courts, impose indefinite and mandatory detention, and discriminate on the basis of nationality. In addition, they have challenged constitutional abuses that arise from immigration enforcement at the federal, state, and local levels, including anti-immigrant “show me your papers” laws at the state level and unconstitutional enforcement tactics by the federal government and local agencies.

ACLU logo


ACLU National (all projects)

(368 cases in collection)

Founded in 1920, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a national organization advocating individual rights and liberties by litigating, legislating, and educating the public on a broad array of issues. Much of its work is done by national "projects." These include: the Capital Punishment Project, Drug Law Reform Project, Human Rights Project, Immigrant Rights Project, LGBT Rights & AIDS Project, National Prison Project, National Security Project, Racial Justice Project, Reproductive Freedom Project, Voting Rights Project, and Women's Rights Project.

ACLU logo


ACLU National Prison Project

(107 cases in collection)

The ACLU's National Prison Project is the leading national litigation program on behalf of prisoners. Since 1972, the NPP has represented more than 100,000 men, women, and children in cases about unconstitutional conditions of confinement in American jails and prisons.

ACLU logo


ACLU of Michigan

(57 cases in collection)

As early as 1955, there was interest from social justice advocates in establishing a Michigan chapter of the ACLU. Officially established in 1959, the ACLU of Michigan defends civil liberties at the most local level.

ACLU of Michigan logo


ACLU of Northern California

(64 cases in collection)

Founded in 1934, the ACLU of Northern California is an enduring guardian of justice, fairness, equality, and freedom, working to protect and advance civil liberties for all Californians.

ACLU of Northern California logo

@aclu.norcal


ACLU of Southern California

(88 cases in collection)

The ACLU of Southern California was founded in 1923, just three years after the national ACLU. It works on behalf of people in the Southern California region, namely Los Angeles, Kern, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties.

ACLU of Southern California logo

@aclu.socal


Advancement Project

(14 cases in collection)

The Advancement Project is a multi-generational, multi-racial civil rights and racial justice organization. It aims to fulfill America's promise of a caring, inclusive, and just democracy by using its expertise in research, advocacy, and policy to strengthen social movements and achieve high impact policy change.

Advancement Project logo


American Freedom Law Center

(1 cases in collection)


American Immigration Council's Legal Action Center

(26 cases in collection)

The American Immigration Council uses litigation, research, legislative and administrative advocacy, and communications to advance positive public attitudes and create a more welcoming America—one that provides a fair process for immigrants and adopts immigration laws and policies that take into account the needs of the U.S. economy. The Council is highly respected for its willingness and ability to bring cutting-edge lawsuits that hold the government accountable for unlawful conduct and restrictive interpretations and implementation of the law.

American Immigration Council logo

@immcouncil


American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA)

(5 cases in collection)

The American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) is the national association of more than 15,000 attorneys and law professors who practice and teach immigration law. Founded in 1946, AILA is a nonpartisan, not-for-profit organization that provides continuing legal education, information, professional services, and expertise through its 39 chapters and over 50 national committees.

AILA logo


Americans for Immigrant Justice (previously FIAC)

(2 cases in collection)

Americans for Immigrant Justice (AI Justice, previously the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center, FIAC) is an award-winning non-profit law firm that fights for justice for immigrants through a combination of direct representation, impact litigation, advocacy and outreach in Florida and on a national level.

Americans for Immigrant Justice logo

@AIJustice.org


ArchCity Defenders

(14 cases in collection)

ArchCity Defenders (ACD) is a holistic legal advocacy organization that combats the criminalization of poverty and state violence, especially in communities of color. ACD’s foundation of civil and criminal legal representation, social services, impact litigation, policy and media advocacy, and community collaboration achieves and inspires justice and equitable outcomes for people throughout the St. Louis region and beyond.

ArchCity Defenders logo


Asian American Legal Defense & Educ. Fund (AALDEF)

(4 cases in collection)

Founded in 1974, the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF) is a national organization that protects and promotes the civil rights of Asian Americans. By combining litigation, advocacy, education, and organizing, AALDEF works with Asian American communities across the country to secure human rights for all.

AALDEF logo


Asian Americans Advancing Justice | AAJC

(11 cases in collection)

The mission of Asian Americans Advancing Justice | AAJC (Advancing Justice | AAJC) is to advance civil and human rights for Asian Americans and to build and promote a fair and equitable society for all. Since 1991, it has served as a voice for the Asian American community, fighting for civil rights through education, litigation, and public policy advocacy.

Asian Americans Advancing Justice logo


Bazelon Center

(42 cases in collection)

The Judge David L. Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law uses litigation, public policy advocacy, coalition building and leadership, public education, media outreach, and technical assistance to protect and advance the rights of adults and children with mental illness or developmental disabilities. The Bazelon Center envisions an America where people with mental disabilities live with autonomy, dignity, and opportunity in welcoming communities.

Bazelon Center logo

@bazeloncenter


Brennan Center for Justice

(16 cases in collection)

The Brennan Center for Justice is an independent, nonpartisan law and policy organization that works to reform, revitalize, and when necessary, defend our country’s systems of democracy and justice. It is a think tank, advocacy group, and cutting-edge communications hub that advances legal and policy change ranging from protecting voting rights to ending mass incarceration.

Brennan Center for Justice logo


Bronx Defenders

(9 cases in collection)

The Bronx Defenders is a public defender nonprofit that is radically transforming how low-income people in the Bronx are represented in the justice system and, in doing so, is transforming the system itself. It pioneered a ground-breaking, nationally recognized model of defense called holistic defense and defends 27,000 low-income Bronx residents each year.

Bronx Defenders logo

@bronxdefenders


California Rural Legal Assistance

(7 cases in collection)

California Rural Legal Assistance, Inc., (CRLA) is a nonprofit law firm founded in 1966 to provide free civil legal services to low-income residents of California's rural counties. It has offices from the Mexican border to Northern California.

CRLA logo


Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR)

(49 cases in collection)

The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) works with communities under threat to fight for justice and liberation through litigation, advocacy, and strategic communications. Founded in 1966 by attorneys who represented civil rights movements in the South, CCR has taken on oppressive systems of power, including structural racism, gender oppression, economic inequity, and governmental overreach.

Center for Constitutional Rights logo


Center for Human Rights & Constitutional Law

(14 cases in collection)

The Center for Human Rights & Constitutional Law is a non-profit, public interest legal foundation dedicated to furthering and protecting the civil, constitutional, and human rights of immigrants, refugees, children, prisoners, and the poor. Since its incorporation in 1980, the Center has provided a wide range of legal services to vulnerable low-income victims of human and civil rights violations.

CHRCL logo


Center for Reproductive Rights

(81 cases in collection)

The Center for Reproductive Rights is a global human rights organization of lawyers and advocates who ensure reproductive rights are protected in law as fundamental human rights for the dignity, equality, health, and well-being of every person.

Logo: Center for Reproductive Rights


Children's Rights, Inc.

(36 cases in collection)

Children’s Rights is a national advocacy group working to reform failing child welfare, juvenile justice, education, and healthcare systems, holding governments accountable for keeping kids safe and healthy. Founded by Marcia Robinson Lowry, Children’s Rights began as a project of the New York Civil Liberties Union and, later, the American Civil Liberties Union. It became an independent nonprofit organization in 1995.

Children's Rights logo


Civil Rights Corps

(43 cases in collection)

Civil Rights Corps is a non-profit organization dedicated to challenging systemic injustice in the U.S. legal system. It works to shift power to community-led movements, particularly those led by Black, Brown and poor people who are most affected by this legal system, so they can build sufficient power to create structural change. It engages in advocacy and public education and specializes in innovative, systemic civil rights litigation with the goal of re-sensitizing the legal system and our culture to the injustice and brutality that characterizes the contemporary U.S. legal system.

Civil Rights Corps logo


Civil Rights Education and Enforcement Center

(57 cases in collection)

The Civil Rights Education and Enforcement Center (CREEC) is a nonprofit membership organization that challenges discrimination through litigation and education, seeking systemic change and improvement in individual lives. It provides legal expertise as well as education and resources to individuals, advocates, and lawyers in the immigrant and civil rights communities. It is a successor to the firm Fox & Robertson.

CREEC logo


Columbia Legal Services (formerly Evergreen)

(9 cases in collection)

Located in the state of Washington, Columbia Legal Services is a nonprofit, statewide civil legal aid program advocating for laws that advance social, economic, and racial equity for people living in poverty. Through community-led movement lawyering and a systemic approach, it supports communities and movements by bringing deep legal expertise that is grounded in—and strongly guided by—an understanding of race equity.

Columbia Legal Services logo

@ColumbiaLegalServices


Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR)

(20 cases in collection)

Established in 1994, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) works to enhance understanding of Islam, protect civil rights, promote justice, and empower American Muslims. Through media relations, government relations, education, and advocacy, CAIR puts forth an Islamic perspective to ensure the Muslim voice is represented, and its civil right department works to protect and defend the constitutional rights of American Muslims, thereby supporting the rights of all Americans.

CAIR logo


Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund (DREDF)

(18 cases in collection)

Founded in 1979, Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund (DREDF) is a leading national civil rights law and policy center directed by individuals with disabilities and parents who have children with disabilities. It works with the core principles of equality of opportunity, disability accommodation, accessibility, and inclusion through its training and education, legal advocacy, and public policy and legislative development work.

DREDF logo


EEOC

(2455 cases in collection)

[NO AFFILIATION WITH THE EEOC]

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is the federal agency responsible for enforcing federal laws that make it illegal to discriminate against a job applicant or an employee. These laws include Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Equal Pay Act of 1963 (EPA), the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the Rehabilitation Act. It also oversees and coordinates federal equal employment opportunity regulations, practices, and policies, and it works to prevent discrimination before it occurs through outreach, education, and technical assistance programs.

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission logo


Emery Celli Brinckerhoff & Abady LLP

(14 cases in collection)

Emery Celli Brinckerhoff Abady Ward & Maazel LLP is a litigation boutique that focuses on civil rights, commercial, criminal, and ethics matters. It represents individuals, businesses, and institutions in all aspects of litigation and pre-litigation dispute resolution, from negotiation, mediation and arbitration, through hearings, trials, and appeals.

Emery Celli Brinckerhoff & Abady LLP logo

@ecbawm


Equal Justice Initiative (EJI)

(4 cases in collection)

The Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) is committed to ending mass incarceration and excessive punishment in the United States, to challenging racial and economic injustice, and to protecting basic human rights for the most vulnerable people in American society. Founded in 1989 by Bryan Stevenson, EJI is a nonprofit organization that provides legal representation to people who have been illegally convicted, unfairly sentenced, or abused in state jails and prisons. It challenges the death penalty and excessive punishment, and it provides re-entry assistance to formerly incarcerated people.

Equal Justice Inititiative logo


Equal Justice Under Law

(38 cases in collection)

Equal Justice Under Law is a nonprofit law organization dedicated to achieving equality in the criminal system and ending cycles of poverty across the nation. Through impact litigation, policy reform, and public outreach, it seeks radical reform of systemic inequalities in the justice system. Founded in 2014, it fights the use of pretrial money bail, wealth-based driver's license suspensions, debtor's prisons, abusive private probation practices, and other areas of wealth-based inequality in our justice system.

Equal Justice Under Law logo


Farmworker Justice

(1 cases in collection)

Working with farmers and their organizations throught the country, Farmworker Justice is a nonprofit organization that seeks to empower migrant and seasonal farmworkers to improve their living and working conditions, immigration status, health, occupational safety, and access to justice.

Farmworker Justice logo

@FarmwrkrJustice


Florida Justice Institute

(15 cases in collection)

The Florida Justice Institute is a nonprofit public interest law firm that uses impact litigation and advocacy to improve the lives of Florida’s poor and disenfranchised residents, while focusing on criminal justice reform, homelessness and poverty, disability access, and other civil rights issues.

Florida Justice Institute logo


GLAD (GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders)

(17 cases in collection)

Founded in 1978, GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD)—formerly Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders)—works in New England and nationally to create a just society free of discrimination based on gender identity and expression, HIV status, and sexual orientation through strategic litigation, public policy advocacy, and education.

GLAD logo


Hadsell, Stormer & Renick

(26 cases in collection)

Hadsell, Stormer Renick & Dai, LLP, is one of the largest civil rights firms in the country. It pursues justice through individual and class action lawsuits, legal services, education, and community-based efforts; its practice areas include employee and workers’ rights, civil and human rights, police misconduct and prisoners’ rights, and housing rights.

Hadsell, Stormer, Renick, & Dai logo


Human Rights First

(5 cases in collection)

Human Rights First is an independent advocacy and action organization that challenges America to live up to its ideals. It is a non-profit, nonpartisan international human rights organization based in New York, Washington D.C., and Los Angeles.

Human Rights First logo


Impact Fund

(11 cases in collection)

Founded in 1992, the Impact Fund provides grants, advocacy, and education to support impact litigation on behalf of communities seeking economic, environmental, racial, and social justice. Its direct services and programs include training, advice and counseling, amicus representation, conferences, and co-counseling.

Impact Fund logo


Institute for Justice

(11 cases in collection)

The Institute for Justice (IJ) is the “National Law Firm for Liberty.” IJ litigates to limit the size and scope of government power and to ensure that all Americans have the right to control their own destinies as free and responsible members of society. It combines cutting-edge litigation, sophisticated media relations, strategic research, boots-on-the-ground advocacy and much more to fight on behalf of those individuals who are denied their constitutional rights.

Institute for Justice logo


International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP)

(9 cases in collection)

The International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP) organizes law students and lawyers to develop and enforce a set of legal and human rights for refugees and displaced persons. Mobilizing direct legal aid, litigation, and systemic advocacy, IRAP serves the world’s most persecuted individuals and empowers the next generation of human rights leaders.

IRAP logo

@RefugeeAssist


Jerome N. Frank Legal Services Organization (Yale)

(27 cases in collection)

The Jerome N. Frank Legal Services Organization (LSO), at Yale Law School, provides legal representation to individuals and organizations in need of legal services but unable to afford private attorneys. Law students, supervised by faculty members and participating attorneys, interview clients, write briefs, prepare witnesses, try cases, negotiate settlements, draft documents, participate in commercial transactions, draft legislation and regulatory proposals, and argue appeals in state and federal courts.

Yale Law School shield


Juvenile Law Center

(15 cases in collection)

The Juvenile Law Center advocates for rights, dignity, equity and opportunity for youth in the child welfare and justice systems. Founded in 1975, Juvenile Law Center was the first non-profit, public interest law firm for children in the country. Through litigation, appellate advocacy and submission of amicus briefs, policy reform, public education, training, consulting, and strategic communications, it fights for children who come into contact with the child welfare and justice systems.

Juvenile Law Center logo


Kairys, Rudovsky, Messing & Feinberg, LLP

(28 cases in collection)

Since 1971, Kairys, Rudovsky, Messing, Feinberg & Lin, LLP, has been a leader in the fields of civil rights law and criminal defense. Their areas of expertise in constitutional litigation include police misconduct, prisoner rights, search and seizure, and the protection of First Amendment rights.

Kairys, Rudovsky, Messing, Feinberg & Lin LLP

@KRMFLlaw


Kaye, McLane, Bednarski & Litt

(9 cases in collection)

McLane, Bednarski & Litt, LLP, (MBL) specializes in civil rights and criminal defense cases. It has handled numerous damage class actions involving jails and police departments.

Kaye, McLane, Bednarski & Litt, LLP logo


Lambda Legal

(61 cases in collection)

Founded in 1973, Lambda Legal is the oldest and largest national legal organization whose mission is to achieve full recognition of the civil rights of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgender people and everyone living with HIV through impact litigation, education and public policy work.

Lambda Legal logo


LatinoJustice PRLDEF

(13 cases in collection)

LatinoJustice PRLDEF (Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund) works to create a more just society by using and challenging the rule of law to secure transformative, equitable and accessible justice, by empowering communities, and by fostering leadership through advocacy and education. By litigating precedent-setting impact cases across the country and training young people to be leaders in their community, LatinoJustice PRLDEF has profoundly improved the way Latinos are treated in U.S. society, working to ensure that they have more opportunities for political, economic, social and educational equality.

LatinoJustice PRLDEF logo


Law Office of Lainey Feingold

(35 cases in collection)

Lainey Feingold is a disability rights lawyer who has focused on technology and information access issues for blind people since 1995. She is nationally recognized for negotiating landmark accessibility agreements and for pioneering the collaborative advocacy and dispute resolution method known as structured negotiation. Several dozen disability rights settlement agreements reached by structured negotiation are included on the Clearinghouse. They concern accessible pedestrian signals; braille, audio recording, and other accessible document formats; accessible credit card swipe machines and other point of sale accessibility issues; talking ATMs; and web accessibility.

Law Office of Lainey Feingold: Disability Rights Legal Advocacy


Lawyers Comm. for Civil Rights Under Law

(53 cases in collection)

Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization, formed in 1963 at the request of President John F. Kennedy to enlist the private bar's leadership and resources in combating racial discrimination and the resulting inequality of opportunity. Its principal mission is to secure equal justice for all through the rule of law, targeting in particular the inequities confronting Black individuals and other racial and ethnic minorities.

Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law logo


Legal Services/Legal Aid

(241 cases in collection)

Across the United States, there are hundreds of civil legal aid providers offering free legal services for people with low income. Their largest funder is the Legal Services Corporation (LSC), which funds over a hundred independent nonprofit legal aid programs with more than 800 offices serving every county and territory in the country. LSC Is headed by a bipartisan board of directors whose 11 members are appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate.

Scales of justice logo


Loevy & Loevy

(27 cases in collection)

Loevy & Loevy is a private civil rights law firm in Chicago dedicated to seeking justice for people whose civil rights have been violated, and for whistleblowers. Its practice areas include civil rights, whistleblower protection, prisoners’ rights, and employment law.

Loevy & Loevy logo


MacArthur Justice Center

(29 cases in collection)

The Roderick and Solange MacArthur Justice Center is a public interest law firm founded in 1985 by the family of J. Roderick MacArthur to advocate for human rights and social justice. It has fought cases to right individual wrongs, confront racial and social inequality, and demand real reform. It has freestanding offices in New Orleans, St. Louis, and Washington D.C., and Chicago.

MacArthur Justice Center Logo


MALDEF

(59 cases in collection)

Founded in 1968, MALDEF (Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund) is the nation's leading Latino legal civil rights organization. Its commitment is to protect and defend the rights of all Latinos living in the United States and the constitutional rights of all Americans.

MALDEF logo


Michigan Clinical Law Program

(10 cases in collection)

The University of Michigan School of Law’s numerous clinical programs allow students to gain hands-on experience helping clients who would not otherwise have access to high-quality legal representation. The clinics cover a variety of practice areas, and students represent these clients under the supervision of experienced faculty.

Logo: M Law (in maize and blue)


Muslim Advocates

(13 cases in collection)

Muslim Advocates is a national civil rights organization working in the courts, in the halls of power, and in communities to halt bigotry in its tracks. We ensure that American Muslims have a seat at the table with expert representation so that all Americans may live free from hate and discrimination. It is a big tent organization that recognizes the rich and full diversity of the American Muslim community in race, sex, place of birth, ability, income, education, gender identity, sexual orientation, sect of worship and level of religiosity.

Muslim Advocates logo

@muslimadvocates


NAACP Legal Defense Fund

(97 cases in collection)

The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., (LDF) is America’s premier legal organization fighting for racial justice. Through litigation, advocacy, and public education, LDF seeks structural changes to expand democracy, eliminate disparities, and achieve racial justice in a society that fulfills the promise of equality for all Americans. Founded in 1940 by Thurgood Marshall, LDF defends the gains and protections won over the past decades of civil rights struggle and works to improve the quality and diversity of judicial and executive appointments.

NAACP Legal Defense Fund logo


National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR)

(23 cases in collection)

NCLR is a non-profit, public interest law firm committed to advancing the civil and human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people and their families through litigation, legislation, policy, and public education. Founded in 1977, it was the first national LGBTQ+ legal organization founded by women.

NCLR logo


National Center for Youth Law

(38 cases in collection)

The National Center for Youth Law (NCYL) is a non-profit law firm that helps disadvantaged children and youth achieve their potential by transforming the public agencies that serve them. NCYL leads campaigns, weaving together research, public awareness, policy development, technical assistance and litigation to ensure governmental systems provide the support these children and youth need to thrive.

Logo: National Center for Youth Law


National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON)

(7 cases in collection)

NDLON improves the lives of day laborers, migrants and low-wage workers in the United States. It builds leadership and power among those facing injustice so they can challenge inequality and expand labor, civil and political rights for all.

NDLON logo


National Immigration Law Center

(47 cases in collection)

Established in 1979, the National Immigration Law Center (NILC) is one of the leading organizations in the U.S. exclusively dedicated to defending and advancing the rights of immigrants with low income. In addition to legal and policy strategies that challenge unjust laws and policies that marginalize low-income and other vulnerable immigrant communities, NILC is also focused on building a stronger, more inclusive immigrant justice movement.

NILC Logo


National Immigration Project of the NLG

(17 cases in collection)

The National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild (NIPNLG) is a national non-profit organization that provides technical assistance and support to community-based immigrant organizations, legal practitioners, and all advocates seeking and working to advance the rights of noncitizens. NIPNLG promotes justice and equality of treatment in all areas of immigration law, the criminal justice system, and policies related to immigration.

National Immigration Project of the NLG logo


National Women's Law Center

(6 cases in collection)

The National Women’s Law Center fights for gender justice—in the courts, in public policy, and in our society—working across the issues that are central to the lives of women and girls. It uses the law in all its forms to change culture and drive solutions to the gender inequity and to break down the barriers that harm all of us—especially women of color, LGBTQ+ people, and low-income women and families.

National Women's Law Center logo

@nwlc


NDRN/Protection & Advocacy Organizations

(506 cases in collection)

The Protection and Advocacy (P&A) System and Client Assistance Program (CAP) make up a nationwide network of congressionally mandated, legally based disability rights agencies. A P&A/CAP agency exists in every U.S. state and territory. There is also a Native American P&A in the four corners region of the Southwest. The P&A agencies have the authority to provide legal representation and other advocacy services, under all federal and state laws, to all people with disabilities. All P&As maintain a presence in facilities that care for people with disabilities, where they monitor, investigate and attempt to remedy adverse conditions. They also devote considerable resources to ensuring full access to inclusive educational programs, financial entitlements, healthcare, accessible housing and productive employment opportunities. CAP agencies (many of which are housed within P&A offices) provide information and assistance to individuals seeking or receiving vocational rehabilitation (VR) services under the Rehabilitation Act, including assistance in pursuing administrative, legal and other appropriate remedies.

The National Disability Rights Network (NDRN) is the nonprofit, voluntary membership association for the P&A and CAP agencies. Collectively, the network is the largest provider of legally based advocacy services to people with disabilities in the United States. For a list, see The NDRN.org.

NDRN logo


New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU)

(17 cases in collection)

Founded in 1951 as the New York affiliate of the ACLU, the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) is a non-profit, nonpartisan organization with eight chapters and regional offices, and more than 160,000 members across the state. Its practice areas include freedom of speech and religion, and the right to privacy, equality and due process of law, with particular attention to the pervasive and persistent harms of racism.

NYCLU logo

@NYCLU


Northwest Immigrant Rights Project (NWIRP)

(28 cases in collection)

Based in the state of Washington, Northwest Immigrant Rights Project promotes justice by defending and advancing the rights of immigrants through direct legal services, systemic advocacy, and community education. Their impact litigation work has helped fight racial profiling by border patrol officials in the Olympic Peninsula, secured the right to an attorney for mentally ill immigrants facing deportation, and ensured that immigrants are considered for conditional parole from detention when they qualify.

NWIRP logo


NYU Clinical Law Center

(5 cases in collection)

New York University School of Law's Jacob D. Fuchsberg Clinical Law Center provides students with experience working with clients and communities to address urgent problems, influences public policy, and improves the quality of legal problem-solving.

NYU School of Law logo

@nyulaw


Outten & Golden

(25 cases in collection)

Outten & Golden LLP is dedicated to representing employees and other individuals (including executives, partners, professionals and talent), not employers, in all industries, across all professions, and at all employment levels. As advocates for workplace fairness, it helps advance the goals of employees and protects their rights against injustices in the workplace. The Clearinghouse includes the firm's employment discrimination class actions.

Outten & Golden logo


Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project

(12 cases in collection)

The Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project's (PILP) mission is to ensure equal access to justice for indigent incarcerated and institutionalized people within Pennsylvania whose constitutional and other rights are being violated. PILP recognizes the formidable number of barriers to resources and specialized knowledge that institutional legal issues require. The organization was created for the purpose of contributing this access and unique expertise. PILP provides civil legal assistance free of charge and is committed to ensuring that the most marginalized members of our community behind bars are afforded their constitutionally protected rights.

Logo: Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project


Perkins Coie

(61 cases in collection)

Perkins Coie represents corporations, trade associations, individuals, candidates, parties, political committees, lobbyists, public affairs firms, and tax-exempt organizations seeking to more effectively engage in political activity. It has a "political law team" that focuses on this area of law.

Logo: PerkinsCoie


Planned Parenthood Federation of America

(65 cases in collection)

Planned Parenthood, is a nonprofit organization that provides reproductive health care in the United States and globally.

Planned Parenthood logo


Prisoners' Legal Services of Massachusetts

(15 cases in collection)

Prisoners’ Legal Services is a Massachusetts nonprofit legal services office founded in 1972 that provides civil legal assistance to the approximately 14,000 people incarcerated in Massachusetts state prisons (Department of Correction facilities) and county jails and houses of correction. It focuses on work involving health and mental health care, assaults by staff, extreme conditions of confinement (including COVID-19, overcrowding, exorbitant prison phone rates), misuse of segregation and isolation, and racial equity.

Prisoners' Legal Services of Massachusetts logo

@prisonerslegalservices


Prisoners' Legal Services of New York (PLSNY)

(20 cases in collection)

Prisoners’ Legal Services of New York is a non-profit legal services organization founded in 1976 to provide indigent incarcerated New Yorkers access to the courts. Its mission is to provide high quality, effective legal representation and assistance to indigent prisoners, help them to secure their civil and human rights and advocate for more humane prisons and for a more humane criminal justice system.

PLS - Prisoners' Legal Services of New York Logo


Prisoners Rights Union

(16 cases in collection)

Located in Sacramento, California, the Prisoners Rights Union was founded in 1971 by ex-convicts and activists. Its leaders have included John Irwin and Paul Comiskey. For many years it published newspapers and other resources for prisoners, including the California Prisoner, and the Outlaw; it also ran the Inside/Outside Press. In the 1990s, it litigated over a dozen cases to improve jail conditions throughout California.

Its motto was "Convicts, ex-convicts, and concerned individuals fighting to promote and uphold the rights and welfare of California prisoners" and it worked especially towards three major goals: the end of indeterminate sentencing in California; the restoration of civil rights to prisoners, including the right to organize; and the payment of fair wages for work done, safe working conditions, and compensation for work-related injuries.

A history, including background on the jail litigation highlighted in this Clearinghouse, is available here.

Prisoners Rights Union logo


Prison Law Office

(32 cases in collection)

The Prison Law Office is a nonprofit public interest law firm based in Berkeley, California that strives for fair and humane treatment of people who are in prisons, jails, and juvenile facilities and who are on parole. It engages in class action and other impact litigation, advocates for policy and law changes, assists individuals in administrative actions and lawsuits, educates the public, creates and distributes self-help information, and lends technical assistance to other attorneys.

Prison Law Office logo


Public Counsel

(22 cases in collection)

Public Counsel is the largest pro bono law firm in the nation. Founded in 1970, Public Counsel is the public interest law firm of the Los Angeles County and Beverly Hills Bar Associations as well as the Southern California affiliate of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. Public Counsel's activities are far-ranging and impact a wide spectrum of people who live at or below the poverty level.

Public Counsel logo


Public Interest Law Center (PILCOP)

(16 cases in collection)

The Public Interest Law Center uses high-impact legal strategies to advance the civil, social, and economic rights of communities in the Philadelphia region facing discrimination, inequality, and poverty. It uses litigation, community education, advocacy, and organizing to secure access to fundamental resources and services.

The Public Interest Law Center logo


Public Justice

(12 cases in collection)

Founded in 1982, Public Justice is a nonprofit legal advocacy organization that pursues high impact lawsuits to combat social and economic injustice, protect the Earth’s sustainability, and challenge predatory corporate conduct and government abuses.

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Relman, Dane & Colfax

(22 cases in collection)

Relman Colfax PLLC is a national civil rights law firm, with a litigation practice focused on combating discrimination and obtaining equity, including in the areas of housing, lending, employment, public accommodations, education, and police accountability. The firm also provides legal counsel to progressive financial institutions, Internet-based companies, housing providers, local governments, and nonprofits wishing to be industry leaders on civil rights compliance.

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Rosen, Bien, Galvan & Grunfeld

(32 cases in collection)

Rosen Bien Galvan & Grunfeld LLP (RBGG), founded in San Francisco in 1990, focuses its practice on complex litigation. It counsels and represents clients across the nation and handles disputes in federal and state trial and appellate courts throughout California and nationwide, and regularly handles high profile cases that move and shape public policy, including Brown v. Plata. The Clearinghouse has many of the firm's criminal-justice related civil rights class actions.

Rosen, Bien, Galvan & Grunfeld, LLP


Southern Center for Human Rights (SCHR)

(44 cases in collection)

The Southern Center for Human Rights (SCHR) works for equality, dignity, and justice for people impacted by the criminal legal system in the Deep South. SCHR was founded in 1976 by ministers and activists concerned about criminal justice issues in response to the Supreme Court’s reinstatement of the death penalty that year and to the horrendous conditions in Southern prisons and jails, and it fights for a world free from mass incarceration, the death penalty, the criminalization of poverty, and racial injustice.

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Southern Poverty Law Center

(153 cases in collection)

The Southern Poverty Law Center is a nonprofit civil rights organization dedicated to fighting for racial justice in the South and beyond, working in partnership with communities to dismantle white supremacy, strengthen intersectional movements, and advance the human rights of all people. It is based in Montgomery, Ala., and has offices in Atlanta, Tallahassee, New Orleans, Miami, and Jackson, Miss.

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Steve Gold

(18 cases in collection)

Steve Gold is a disability rights lawyer in private practice in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.


Thomas More Law Center

(2 cases in collection)


University of Denver Civil Rights Clinic

(8 cases in collection)

The Civil Rights Clinic at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law focuses on the constitutionality of the conditions in which federal and state prisoners are held, including issues such as indefinite solitary confinement, freedom of expression, and the free exercise of religion, as well as a host of other civil matters. The clinic is led by faculty and staffed by law students enrolled at the Sturm College of Law.

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Uptown People's Law Center

(27 cases in collection)

UPLC’s constituency is the people of the Uptown neighborhood, the poor and neglected throughout the Chicago area, and prisoners in Illinois. We work to improve people’s quality of life through sound, community-oriented lawyering and by leveraging the law to effect social change, with its biggest areas of practice being housing law, Social Security disability income, and prisoners’ rights issues. UPLC was started in 1975 by former coal miners and their widows in an effort to secure black lung benefits for disabled coal miners. The Chicago Area Foundation for Legal Services, in its first newsletter, succinctly described the Law Center as "a classic community organization that just happens to practice law."

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U.S. Dept. of Justice Civil Rights Division

(750 cases in collection)

[NO AFFILIATION WITH THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE]

The Civil Rights Division, founded in 1957, works to uphold the civil and constitutional rights of all persons in the United States, particularly some of the most vulnerable members of our society. It enforces a number of the nation's civil rights laws, especially against state and local governments, including the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act of 1980, the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, the Police Misconduct Provision of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, and Section 102 of the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA). In particular, its litigating components enforce laws that prohibit discrimination in education, employment, credit, housing, public accommodations and facilities, voting, and certain federally funded and conducted programs. The Division also prosecutes actions under several criminal civil rights statutes which were designed to preserve personal liberties and safety. In addition, the Division is responsible for coordinating the civil rights enforcement efforts of federal agencies, and assists federal agencies in identifying and removing discriminatory provision in their policies and programs.

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Washington Lawyers' Committee

(48 cases in collection)

The Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs works to create legal, economic and social equity through litigation, client and public education and public policy advocacy. It partners with individuals and communities facing discrimination and with the legal community to achieve justice, and it has put special focus on the central role that current and historic race discrimination plays in sustaining inequity.

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Youth Law Center

(39 cases in collection)

The Youth Law Center is a public interest law firm that advocates to transform foster care and juvenile justice systems across the nation to protect children and youth from abuse and neglect so that they can thrive.

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@youthlawcenter