Oral History Project
September 15, 2023
The Clearinghouse's Oral History Project includes interviews conducted by Michigan Law students with preeminent civil rights attorneys about their backgrounds and careers, including the landmark civil rights cases to which they have contributed.
Subprojects
By: Civil Rights Litigation Clearinghouse
March 9, 2023
An oral history interview with attorney Elizabeth Alexander, conducted by Michigan Law 2L Liz Lewis on March 9, 2023. In this interview, attorney Elizabeth Alexander discusses her early life and activism, law school education, and path to a career as a prisoners' rights lawyer. She also reflects on her prisoners' rights litigation work with the ACLU National Prison Project, including arguing the monumental Farmer v. Brennan case at the U.S. Supreme Court.
By: Civil Rights Litigation Clearinghouse
April 7, 2023
An oral history interview with attorney John Boston, conducted by Michigan Law 2L Liz Lewis on April 7, 2023, and April 13, 2023. In this interview, attorney John Boston discusses several lawsuits challenging jail and prison conditions in New York City and the State of New York that he worked on during his tenure at The Legal Aid Society's Prisoners' Rights Project. These lawsuits addressed overcrowding, health care, violence, educational services, and other conditions of confinement issues. Attorney Boston reflects on lessons learned through this advocacy, including various pathways to reform and the interplay between legislation, like the Prison Litigation Reform Act, and litigation.
By: Civil Rights Litigation Clearinghouse
April 1, 2024
An oral history interview with attorney Tricia Herzfeld, conducted by Michigan Law 3L Alanna Autler on April 7, 2023. This oral history interview with civil rights lawyer Tricia Herzfeld details attorney Herzfeld's work with the ACLU of Tennessee on lawsuits involving the Occupy Nashville movement, immigration raids, and public access to private prison records.
By: Civil Rights Litigation Clearinghouse
May 4, 2023
An oral history interview with attorney Deborah LaBelle, conducted by Michigan Law 2L Liz Lewis on May 4, 2023. In this interview, attorney Deborah LaBelle recounts her early life and path to a career as a civil rights lawyer. She discusses her work on lawsuits challenging unconstitutional conditions of confinement for women and juveniles in Michigan's prison system, as well as her advocacy addressing juvenile life without parole, the Flint water crisis, and reproductive justice. Attorney LaBelle also describes the human rights model of advocacy that informs her work and offers advice for aspiring civil rights lawyers.
By: Civil Rights Litigation Clearinghouse
July 22, 2023
Oral history interviews with attorney and professor Michael Mushlin conducted by Michigan Law 3L Alanna Autler on March 30, 2023, and April 14, 2023. These interviews with attorney and Professor Michael Mushlin address his childhood in Meridian, Mississippi, his education, and his early career, as well as his time as a lawyer with the Legal Aid Society's Prisoners' Rights Project. During his time with the Project, Professor Mushlin litigated several cases on behalf of pre-trial detainees in New York City's jail system. In these interviews, Professor Mushlin reflects on those cases and their legacy, as well as the effect of the Prison Litigation Reform Act.
By: Civil Rights Litigation Clearinghouse
December 21, 2023
An oral history interview with attorney and professor Lucas Guttentag, conducted by Michigan Law 2L Carlos Hurtado-Esteve on December 21, 2023. In this interview, civil rights lawyer and law professor Lucas Guttentag discusses his background and career trajectory, which has included senior policy positions at the Department of Homeland Security and Department of Justice, as well as his work as founder and director of the ACLU Immigrant Rights Project. The interview focuses, in particular, on cases that Professor Guttentag litigated during his time with the Immigrant Rights Project, including lawsuits challenging legislation eliminating judicial review of removal orders, combatting indefinite detention of Haitian refugees at Guantanamo Naval Base, and reshaping asylum adjudications for Central American refugees.
By: Civil Rights Litigation Clearinghouse
April 5, 2024
An oral history interview with attorney William Yeomans, conducted by Michigan Law 2L Pilar Martinez on November 16, 2023. This interview with attorney William Yeomans focuses, in particular, on the work that attorney Yeomans did over the course of more than two decades with the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, including cases involving school desegregation, housing discrimination, hate crimes, police misconduct, and voting rights.
By: Civil Rights Litigation Clearinghouse
March 22, 2024
An oral history interview with attorney and professor Michael Steinberg, conducted by Michigan Law 2L Andrew Eslich on March 22, 2024. In this interview, civil rights lawyer and professor Michael Steinberg discusses his background and path to civil rights lawyering as well as his work as legal director of the ACLU of Michigan, including a lawsuit that sought press and public access to immigration proceedings, a case challenging property tax assessments in Detroit in the wake of the 2008 recession, and a lawsuit alleging violations of the Safe Drinking Water Act in Flint.
