Local Committees
The local Lawyers’ Committees address many of the same issues as the national Lawyers’ Committee: voting rights; employment discrimination; fair housing and community development; environmental health and justice; and educational opportunity. Each local Committee also has taken on other issues that reflect community needs and the priorities set by its board and staff. Local Lawyers’ Committees represent children in poverty, provide pro bono legal services to low-income people, represent applicants for asylum and refugee rights, protect the rights of people with disabilities, and provide public policy advice to state legislators on issues affecting minorities and low-income people – among other subject areas.
The staffs of the national Lawyers’ Committee and the nine local Lawyers’ Committees share information about achievements, ongoing work, and future priorities in regular meetings. The Committees inform each other about work that might affect legal strategies in other areas. They form partnerships for specific litigation that spans geographic boundaries, and they work together on national and state public policy issues. The national Lawyers’ Committee works effectively with the local Committees to strengthen what is already the largest network of private lawyers in America directed primarily to civil rights issues.