Students will research how to deploy legal strategies to seek relief for the scores of Black people and others harmed by narcotic-related convictions, focusing on state laws that provide opportunities for expungement, clemency, and other post-conviction remedies that have the potential to help address the racialized impact of the War on Drugs. Students will work alone or in pairs to conduct research on the relevant laws of 1 to 3 states. Students will work with the Mithoff Program Director and lawyers with Law For Black Lives and the People’s Law Firm, and will have opportunities to participate in educational activities as part of Law For Black Lives’ nationwide clinical cohort.
Organization
Law For Black Lives
Law For Black Lives is a national network of radical lawyers, law students, and legal workers of color committed to building the power of the Black Lives Matter Movement. Formed out of the uprisings in Ferguson and Baltimore, L4BL uses the law to embolden, defend, and protect the growing movement for Black liberation. The Drug Conviction Relief Research Project is a collaboration between L4BL, the Mithoff Program, and the People’s Law Firm.
Project Details
- Website
- http://www.law4blacklives.org
- Project Start Date
September 2019
- Approximate hours of work requested
- 25 hours total over the course of the semester
- Training
- Training will be provided on an ongoing basis: students also will have access to materials included in L4BL’s decriminalization curriculum
- Skills used
- Legal research/writing
- Project location
- Students will work with Prof. Andrea Marsh at the law school and with L4BL’s supervising attorney via online collaboration
- Number of student volunteers requested
- 12
- Class year preference
- 1L, 2L, 3L, LLM
- Required skills
- Strong research and writing skills required; students with an interest in movement lawyering and/or criminal legal reform are strongly encouraged to apply
- To Apply
- Submit email with the subject line “L4BL volunteer interest” to Sarah Sedgwick at ssedgwick@law.utexas.edu