The National Lawyers Guild Explained
The National Lawyers Guild was founded in 1937 in the midst of massive labor unrest. In that era, police and other authorities would regularly arrest union organizers and protesters without a warrant or probable cause, and beat or otherwise intimidate them during detention. The Guild arose from a meeting in which lawyers and legal activists recognized a need to provide a counterbalance to the massive resources of the Union and State Departments to defend their rights and provide other necessary legal services .
Since then, the National Lawyers Guild has continued to be a ready, willing, and able force for human rights, social justice, and social change movements. The National Lawyers Guild is the oldest and largest public interest bar association in the United States. Its members are diverse in origin, race, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, political belief, and legal or law office occupation. As a nationwide organization, the Guild makes no distinction between lawyers, law students, legal workers, or other concerned people who dedicate their valuable time as volunteers.
Understanding the Duties of Legal Observers
Legal observers are trained to observe, document, and report on the treatment of demonstrators during a protest or mass gathering. Legal observers may have other responsibilities, including observing and documenting illegal activity that occurs during a public demonstration or monitoring police activity, such as arrests.
The use and presence of legal observers can deter police misconduct, primarily unlawful arrests of demonstrators. When a potential arrest becomes imminent, the police, knowing that an observer is present, may be less likely to arrest the demonstrator because they do not want to violate the demonstrator’s constitutional rights, subject themselves to Fourth Amendment liability, or intimidate the demonstrator in response to the public nature of the situation.
Of course, precincts around the country have been known to ignore the legal observer’s role. Where this is the case, the presence of legal observers can encourage proper officer training and appropriate assessments of constitutional risks.
The American legal system relies on the "watchdog" function of the media to ensure public understanding of government action. The success of this function depends on unhindered access to documentary information. The National Lawyers Guild wants to expand the watchdog role of the media to also encompass "the eyes of the people."
Legal Observer Training
The training process for becoming a legal observer with the National Lawyers Guild is an intensive one that requires not only a commitment toward civil liberties and a passion for social justice, but also a certain existing level of legal knowledge. A legal observer should have a general familiarity with how our justice system operates and the rights of citizens when they are arrested; an interest in law is crucial.
The NLG has a network of certified trainers who lead new volunteers through an orientation program that includes a simulation where the recruit experiences a mock arrest situation. New legal observers will learn how to identify community members at risk and how to handle a variety of situations, such as injured and/or distressed shoppers or protestors.
New legal observers are not required to have a J.D.; a passion for civil rights and the talents necessary to document unlawful police behavior are all it takes to become a part of the 70-year strong National Lawyers Guild.
The Impact of Legal Observers on Protest Events
Legal observers continue to have a significant impact on the outcome of protests. As violence erupted during the second night of the Waterloo, Iowa, protests, legal observers covered a blockade at the courthouse to prevent police from arresting individuals who occupied the building for a second night. During both nights of protests, the legal observers and the Waterloo Human Rights Coalition engaged in "peace circles" to keep protestors calm and protect them from potentially violent police. When the police used tear gas on protesters, the legal observers helped procure medical attention for individuals who were affected.
The presence of legal observers has facilitated interventions by the United Nations (UN) in stopping government crackdowns on peaceful protests. In 2014, the UN issued two separate statements calling on Ecuador to stop its crackdown on protesters, and directing Ecuador to ensure that legal observers for protests were allowed to observe government action.
Legal observers were present during the police raids that left over 200 women dead in Soweto, South Africa during the 1976 protests over apartheid, and helped shine a light on police brutality in the lead up to the Langa massacre in Cape Town in 1985. Thousands of criminal charges against protesters were dismissed in South Africa after the presence of legal observers.
Comparing Legal Observers with Other Legal Positions
The role of a legal observer is distinct from that of any other legal professional. While there are commonalities between the roles, particularly if the protest or demonstration has devolved into a melee with widespread injuries and arrests, there are differences in how a legal observer conducts himself and herself.
A legal observer’s main focus is gathering information concerning the events at hand and providing such information to counsel who may be called upon later to represent those arrested or injured. A legal observer does not engage in factual advocacy (if the facts described and portrayed allows it). Thus, aside from the documentation and note-taking, a legal observer’s main function is merely to observe the events unfolding and seek to document them through writing and photographs and video. A legal observer may and perhaps should watch how officers handle arrested persons . In restraining the persons, use of mace, impact shells, and other devices, a legal observer will attempt to document those actions for purposes of assisting counsel later.
By way of comparison, a lawyer in a general criminal context may advocate on behalf of his or her client in presenting exculpatory evidence to a prosecutor or judge who may be considering whether to press charges or release a defendant from custody. In this capacity, the lawyer may be the person to argue the person’s innocence of the charges or the impropriety of the law enforcement actions leading to arrest and detention. And if the case proceeds to trial, the criminal defense lawyer would be the individual attempting to persuade a judge or jury of the defendant’s innocence.
By definition, a paralegal or law clerk is a legal assistant who is not a member of the bar and whose work contains substantial interaction with attorneys and public. By way of example, a paralegal may perform administrative tasks in preparing documents of record for court, performing factual research, etc.
Challenges and Risks for Legal Observers
Challenges Faced by National Lawyers Guild Legal Observers
Despite the goodwill gesture in sending NLG legal observers to a movement or action, observers are often met with antagonism from both police and the general public. At least one LGBT action lawyer has noted that officers often make it very clear that they "don’t appreciate neither the NLG’s presence nor their work," by threatening sexual violence against legal observers when outside gay bars. Other officers, noting that gay rights lawyers are present, have also been observed responding violently by throwing them against cars.
Public hostility to legal observers, however, can come from more conventional venues. Like many other volunteer-based entities, the NLG’s legal observer program is built on a small army of volunteer-based, on-the-ground observers. Some observers have asserted that a majority are fairly new to the NLG, and thus inexperienced and ill-equipped to investigate, manage, and seek recourse for hostile actions and when legal observers are abused. In 2012, law enforcement officials responded to a number of legal observer arrests very negatively, as NLG legal observer members were verbally threatened with violence.
A brief look at the National Lawyers Guild’s California-specific website provides a glimpse at some of the challenges legal observers may encounter. At the bottom of the page, it includes the notice that "Occupy Wall Street" legal observers raised concerns "about being targeted or harassed by police." This notice opens up the troubling question of whether legal observers may be knowingly targeted by authorities for their presence. Such targeting may even range from harassment to actual violence, in some cases.
Due to the increasingly confrontational issues that protests and targeted protests raise, we do not recommend that any legal observers operate without additional protections.
The Significance of Unbiased and Impartial Conduct
The importance of neutrality and objectivity cannot be overstated. The NLG does not provide free legal help to individuals who partake in civil disobedience. Instead, a Legal Observer, with a neutral stance, may document their actions. This relieves us from any pressure of partisan sympathies or the antagonistic perspective that a legal observer may encounter at the event. By taking a position of neutrality, we may correctly observe the event as it proceeds, without being an active party. We take our position as certified Legal Observer(s) very seriously and are ethically bound not to divulge, to anyone, any of our personal or private political beliefs.
We have no agenda in doing this work. We want to see a protest carried out without incident. We want you to complete your message or mission without being arrested. We want the police to abide by their code of conduct and not interfere with your right to protest. But if things should go sideways, we’ll be there to document the details – and put them in our notebooks, not our hearts, heads, or mouths.
Supporting the National Lawyers Guild
Individuals and organizations can support the work of the National Lawyers Guild and its legal observers by making a donation to our Public Education Fund. We will use your contribution to continue to train and deploy volunteer legal observers to protect protesters nationwide. Donations are tax deductible. If a major action is planned near where you live , you may be able to volunteer to become a legal observer! Most locales require each legal observer to participate in a free training. Training requirements and registration vary from chapter to chapter. Check out our chapter list to find a community chapter near you and start observing today! The National Lawyers Guild and its members engage in numerous public interest legal work throughout the nation. Find out how to get involved: