CALA at RebLaw Conference

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CALA PRESENTS AT REBLAW: "Beyond Boundaries: How Lawyers, Activists, and Communities Can Effectively Create Social Change Together" 

CALA was honored to organize and present at the Rebellious Lawyering Conference last month at Yale Law School, even more so as we were able to do it with one of our community activist partners, Lulu Martinez of Enlace.  RebLaw is the nation's largest student-run public interest conference. Every year the conference brings together practitioners, law students, and community activists from around the country to discuss innovative, progressive approaches to law and social change. Read more about the conference here.

Our panel, "Beyond Boundaries: How Lawyers, Activists, and Communities Can Effectively Create Social Change Together, also featured Melissa Sontag Broudo and Kate D'Adamo from the Sex Workers Project of the Urban Justice Center (the first legal clinic in the country dedicated to serving sex workers). It focused on the strategies, benefits, and challenges of lawyer-activist collaborations, with perspectives from both sides of these partnerships.

You can watch a video of our presentation at:

https://capturecast.yale.edu:8443/ess/echo/presentation/4981b5ab-d272-4b2b-aaac-d5302ed29dc1?ec=true

 

CALA's Sex Workers Activism Law Clinic Offering Online Screening

CALA's Sex Workers Activism Law Clinic, operated with SWOP-Chicago (Sex Workers Rights Project) will immediately start offering online screening for clients. 

In order to offer an effective, convenient method for sex workers to access free legal services, individuals can obtain, or be referred for, consultations about their legal issues, and follow-up appointments, by completing CALA-SWOP's online screening form: 

http://www.calachicago.org/swop-clinic-online-screening

A CALA attorney will respond to the form submission and offer information and advice, and/or arrange an in-person appointment at CALA's SWOP Activism Law Clinic, when additional services may be provided, including free representation. 

CALA's SWOP Community Activism Law Clinic is a free, full-service legal clinic for individuals involved in/affected by sex work, or have experienced sexual exploitation. The clinic is open for intakes of new cases, twice a month, with follow-up appointments as well as trainings and workshops occurring in between intakes sessions. It provides a wide-range of services from advice and community legal education to full representation. As always, all legal services, including full representation, are completely free of charge to clients.

The next clinics are March 15th (3-6pm) and March 16th (6-9pm) at 1700 S Loomis. 

http://www.calachicago.org/swop-clinic-online-screening

 

 

TOUCHING WORDS FROM A FORMER CLIENT

THANK YOU LETTER FROM A CLIENT:

Our Inspiration and Motivation 
 

CALA recently received a moving thank you letter from one of our former clients. She offered some very kind thanks that reminded us of why we do our work, and for which we are extremely grateful. 

Here is the letter, from an undocumented immigrant whose work authorization renewal was delayed. We helped her to negotiate successfully with her employer, and she's happily at work at a great job!

Thank you so much for sharing your experience and generous sentiments with us: 

Editor's Note: CALA attorneys routinely stay past scheduled hours to ensure that all clients visiting our intake clinic hours are served. 






CALA to Provide Free Workshops for Expanded DACA/DAPA Applicants

CALA to Host Series of Free Workshops In February and March to Help Eligible Undocumented Immigrants to Apply for Expanded DACA, and to Get Documents Ready for DAPA Applications.

This Wednesday (February 18, 2015), the US government will begin accepting applications for the expanded Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program authorized by President Obama's executive actions on immigration. The program provides a temporary reprieve from deportation, along with work authorization, for eligible immigrants who came to the United States before age 16.

Created by the Obama administration in 2012, the eligibility requirements for DACA were expanded by the President last November. At that time, the President also created a comparable “deferred action” program for the parents of citizens and permanent residents: Deferred Action for Parental Accountability (DAPA). The government is expected to start accepting DAPA applications in May.

As part of CALA’s commitment to providing support for community organizing and activism, CALA will hold free DACA & DAPA workshops, in collaboration with three of its partners, as part of their respective campaigns on immigration.

CALA’s DACA/DAPA workshop series schedule:

February 18, 2015, 4-8PM (as part of Enlace-Chicago’s IL is Ready Campaign)

            Assistance to complete and file DACA applications (initial and renewals)

            Please contact Enlace at 773.542.9233 for location and to schedule an appointment

March 19, 2015, 4-8PM (as part of Enlace-Chicago’s IL is Ready Campaign)

            Assistance to complete and file DACA applications (initial and renewals)

            Please contact Enlace at 773.542.9233 for location and to schedule an appointment

March 20, 2015, 4-9PM (as part of Centro de Trabajadores Unidos: Immigrant Workers Project’s (CTU) Executive Actions on Immigration Outreach Campaign)

Assistance to complete and file DACA applications (initial and renewals)

            Eligibility review and materials preparation for prospective DAPA applicants

Please contact Raymundo Valdez at 773-349-2806 or rvaldez@ctu-iwp.org for location and to schedule an appointment

March 21, 2015, 9AM-12PM (as part of Centro de Trabajadores Unidos: Immigrant Workers Project’s (CTU) Executive Actions on Immigration Outreach Campaign)

Assistance to complete and file DACA applications (initial and renewals)

            Eligibility review and materials preparation for prospective DAPA applicants

Please contact Raymundo Valdez at 773-349-2806 or rvaldez@ctu-iwp.org for location and to schedule an appointment

April 17, 2015, 4-8PM (as part of Enlace-Chicago’s IL is Ready Campaign) 

            Assistance to complete and file DACA applications (initial and renewals)

            Please contact Enlace at 773.542.9233 for location and to schedule an appointment

April 29, 2015, 4-8PM (as part of Enlace-Chicago’s IL is Ready Campaign) 

            Assistance to complete and file DACA applications (initial and renewals)

            Please contact Enlace at 773.542.9233 for location and to schedule an appointment

For individuals who are not eligible for DACA or DAPA, CALA will provide legal support for workshops hosted by the Organized Communities Against Deportation. For more information about these workshops, get in touch with OCAD: https://www.facebook.com/OCADIL

Stay tuned…once DAPA applications are available, CALA will release our DAPA application completion/submission workshops schedule. 

 

CALLING ALL ACTIVIST-LAWYERS! CALA Is Hiring...

COMMUNITY ACTIVISM LAW ALLIANCE JOB OPENINGS:

STAFF ATTORNEY & TEMPORARY ATTORNEY

The Community Activism Law Alliance (“CALA”) is a new legal services organization in Chicago that uses a “community activism lawyering” philosophy. Our unique model brings free legal services directly into underserved communities by establishing “community activism law clinics” with activist community organizations. Each clinic is developed and operated collaboratively with a partner organization, and supports the organization’s efforts to make systemic changes. Our current clinic partners are Enlace Chicago, Immigrant Youth Justice League/Organized Communities Against Deportations, and Sex Worker Outreach Project (SWOP) – Chicago. In addition, we offer community legal education and limited legal support to other activist organizations. CALA is looking for two highly motivated attorneys with genuine interest in community lawyering, connecting the law with grassroots activism, and being part of a new legal services model to be a part of our early development.

The attorneys will work directly in communities on the south and west sides of Chicago in need of legal assistance; all client interactions take place in the offices of our community partners. CALA’s clinics provide legal services in several areas of law, including immigration, housing, family, criminal records, labor/employment, and education. Selected candidates will be expected to handle cases in at least two areas and be able to quickly learn basic knowledge of additional areas.  They must also be prepared to work non-traditional hours—some evenings and the occasional weekend day—and in non-traditional, multiple locations; in exchange, they are afforded great flexibility in work schedule.

Preference may be given to applicants who are fluent in Spanish, have experience in immigration law, and/or have experience in community lawyering.

As CALA is a new organization, the starting salary for the staff attorney will be $28,000-$35,000, depending on experience. However, we hope to offer quick salary increases, as it is a fundraising priority for the organization. The salary for the temporary attorney will be determined based upon experience and qualifications, and the position will be for a minimum of six months.

CALA is an equal opportunity workplace and is committed to working closely and effectively with the communities that we serve. Individuals self-identifying as people of color, LGBTQI, working-class or poor, persons with a disability, or as otherwise having backgrounds and experiences underrepresented in the legal profession are highly encouraged to apply.

To apply, send a cover letter, resume, writing sample, and salary history to hiring@calachicago.org.

LOOK AT WHAT CALA HAS DONE IN ITS FIRST THREE MONTHS

It’s been an amazing three months for CALA; for a brand-new organization, what we’ve been able to achieve has far surpassed our expectations. Our new volunteer development associate, Theresa Nguyen, put together a 3 month scrapbook to capture CALA's achievements in its first three months. 

 

CHECK OUT THE SCRAPBOOK HERE!

 

We’ve opened three clinics.

Since October 14th, the opening of our Enlace Community Activism Law Clinic, we’ve created three free clinics for undocumented immigrants, day laborers, and sex workers (which just opened mid-December).

We’ve already helped over 200 families.

In slightly over 2 months, CALA has helped over a 100 families. We have provided free legal services to approximately 90 clients through our 3 clinics, and many more through our workshops and trainings.

We’ve developed an amazing board.

With the recent addition of Anthony Borich of Jenner & Block, CALA’s board now has 8 dedicated, passionate members with diverse skills and talents. They’ve put together a development plan for CALA that we’ll be implementing in 2015.

We’ve supported numerous organizations through our recently launched community legal education and activism support initiatives.  

In addition to the cases we have helped through our clinics, we’ve supported Chicago’s most disadvantaged communities through several legal rights education events. We also took on some organizational cases to help improve the activism capacities of our community partners, as well as a few other activist organizations.

Our success could not have happened without your support. Thank you! Thank you!

CALA has several exciting projects planned for 2015, and we are hopeful that we’ll be able to sustain and build upon our initial success.

 

CALA one of four organizations for Harvard Law's Spring Break Pro Bono Trip

Harvard Law Students  Coming to Chicago to Help CALA with DACA/DAPA workshops during their Spring Break

CALA is honored to be one of the four organizations hosting Harvard Law students as part of HLS' Spring Break Trips 2015. Sponsored by the law school's Office of Clinical and Pro Bono Programs, the trips provides opportunities for students to use their spring breaks to do important pro bono work in Chicago, Alabama, the Mississippi Delta, and South Texas. The trips run from March 14-22, 2015.

Students coming to Chicago will prepare, conduct outreach for, and deliver at least two legal assistance workshops for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) applications and renewals, along with Deferred Action for Parental Accountability (DAPA) preparation in Little Village and South Chicago. Using CALA's community activism lawyering model, the students will collaborate with community activist organizations, including Enlace-Chicago and Centro de Trabajadores Unidos-Immigrant Workers Project. In addition, the students will be able to observe and explore community activism lawyering in action at CALA's clinics, in court, and at other community organizing activities. 

Click here for more information about HLS' Spring Break Trips 2015.

 

 

 

 

SWOP-Chicago Community Activism Clinic Launched

To commemorate the International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers, CALA opened its clinic for sex workers--only the second of its kind in the country--in partnership with SWOP-Chicago. 

CALA launched its third community activism law clinic in partnership with SWOP (Sex Workers Outreach Project)-Chicago on December 14th.  Launched as part of SWOP's week-long commemoration of the International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers, it is only the second clinic dedicated to the legal needs of sex workers in the country. The International Day was started in 2003 as a memorial and vigil for the victims of the Green River Killer in Seattle. Since then, the day, December 17th, has empowered people from cities around the world to come together and organize against discrimination and remember victims of violence. In addition to launching the clinic, CALA also participated in SWOP's march and vigil. Learn more about SWOP's commemoration events here. 

CALA's SWOP Community Activism Clinic is a free, full-service legal clinic for individuals involved in/affected by sex work, or have experienced sexual exploitation. The clinic is open for intakes of new cases, twice a month, with follow-up appointments as well as trainings and workshops occurring in between intakes sessions. It provides a wide-range of services from advice and community legal education to full representation. As always, all legal services, including full representation, are completely free of charge to clients.

The Inspiring Entry to our SWOP Community Activism Law Clinic

The Inspiring Entry to our SWOP Community Activism Law Clinic

Thomas Alaan, one of our board members, was among the CALA representatives at SWOP's march and vigil.

A New Board Member for the New Year: Anthony Borich

Jenner & Block LLP's Anthony Borich Joins CALA Board

 

CALA is thrilled to start the new year--and CALA's first full year--with our newest board member, Anthony B. Borich. In addition to his commercial litigation skills, he brings with him firsthand experience and knowledge of CALA's unique model: community activism lawyering.  

Anthony is an associate in the Chicago office of Jenner & Block LLP.  Tony represents clients in litigation, mediation, and through corporate counseling.  Tony’s work focuses on contract and fraud litigation, with a focus on outsourcing disputes, licensing disputes, and other technology and services disputes.  Tony also represents clients in patent infringement litigation.  Tony maintains an active pro bono practice, including civil rights litigation, habeas petitions, landlord-tenant disputes, and Clean Water Act cases.

Prior to joining Jenner, Tony served as a Public Interest Law Initiative Fellow at the Lawyers’ Committee for Better Housing in Chicago.  In law school, Tony worked with community organizers and legal services organizations in Boston implementing the community activism lawyering model.   

Tony graduated cum laude from Harvard Law School in 2009.  In 2006, He graduated with Honors and Distinction and Phi Beta Kappa from Iowa State University, where he was awarded the Wallace E. Barron All-University Senior Award.

CALA Seeking Spring and Summer Law Student Interns

Spring & Summer 2015 Law Student Internships with the Community Activism Law Alliance

Community Activism Law Alliance (“CALA”) is a new legal services organization in Chicago that uses a “community activism lawyering” philosophy. Our unique model brings free legal services directly into underserved communities by establishing clinics with activist community organizations. Each clinic is developed and operated collaboratively with a partner organization, and supports the organization’s efforts to make systemic changes to unjust conditions and empower those directly affected by those conditions. Our current clinic partners are Enlace Chicago, Immigrant Youth Justice League/Organized Communities Against Deportations, and Sex Worker Outreach Project (SWOP) – Chicago. In addition, we offer community legal education and limited legal support to other activist organizations.

CALA is looking for highly motivated and independent law students (2 for the spring, and 3 for the summer) interested in community lawyering to be our interns in the  spring and summer of 2015. Students will participate in all aspects of the community activism legal clinics, including client intake and screening, advising clients, assisting clients to complete legal forms, and legal research. Interns with 711 licenses may appear in court and/or draft pleadings on behalf of clients. Students will be exposed to all areas of civil poverty law, including immigration, housing, criminal records, employment, education, and family law.

Interns will also design and present community legal education workshops, working closely with community partners to assess their needs and provide accessible legal expertise. Interns will also have the unique opportunity to work closely with a large coalition of immigrants’ rights groups to both educate communities on the new administrative relief options available to them and to directly assist clients applying for relief in the Chicagoland area.

Our law students will work directly in the communities most in need of legal assistance in Chicago and must be willing to travel around the city (though a car is not required) and to work non-traditional hours such as evenings and weekends. Multilingual students are especially invited to apply. All client interactions take place in the offices of our community partners. Volunteers should commit to a minimum of 10 hours for spring, 35 hours per week for summer, with flexible scheduling available.

CALA is an equal opportunity workplace and is committed to working closely and effectively with the communities that we serve. Individuals self-identifying as people of color, LGBTQI, working-class or poor, persons with a disability, or as otherwise having backgrounds and experiences underrepresented in the legal profession are highly encouraged to apply.

To apply, interested students should send a resume, writing sample, and letter of interest to: Sharlyn@CALAChicago.org.

CALA Opening 3rd Clinic for Sex Workers on December 4th

CALA is excited to announce the launch of 3rd community activism law clinic for sex workers, in partnership with SWOP-Chicago. 

The SWOP Community Activism Law Clinic will be a free, full-service legal clinic for individuals involved in/affected by sex work. It provides a wide-range of services from advice and community legal education to full representation.  All legal services, including full representation, are completely free of charge to clients. 

Additional details to follow. 

Initial Flyer (front page) for the SWOP Community Activism Law Clinic


CALA Stops Deportation in Flight!

CALA received a referral from a community activist for a mother whose son was recently detained, after ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) officers came to his home and took him away. We promised to look into the case, once the family sent us information and documents about the case.

Before we were able to investigate the case, we received a panicked call from the family, who had been refused entry into the detention center where the son was placed because "he's no longer there and on the bus." They were desperately afraid that the “bus” referred to the bus that took detainees to the airport for deportation, despite not having had any hearings or other opportunity to defend himself.

Worried that he had been coerced into signing a stipulation of removal or voluntary departure, we spent the next over two hours trying to locate him, as well as develop an extensive record revoking any "agreement" he may have signed. Eventually, we discovered through the Mexican consulate that not only was he on the list of deportees for that day, but that his flight had already taken off for Mexico.

Lam Ho, our executive director, and one of our volunteer translators immediately went to the immigration court to see if we could obtain some sort of injunctive relief or stay that would at least keep him in the US, so he would have the opportunity to defend himself with legal assistance. However, the immigration court would not even hear his case, confirming that he had been removed through administrative removal (a process which does not require that the detainee have a hearing or judicial involvement). Consequently, the court refused jurisdiction of the deportation.

At this point, there were only a few hours left before the client would be out of the US, and the only recourse--an appeal to the Seventh Circuit of the administrative removal order--futile due to time. Without any other choice, out of sheer desperation, we went to the Chicago ICE office. We basically threw the kitchen sink, and the sofa, of arguments for why our client should be returned to Chicago, at ICE and hoped that something would work! We were eventually able to persuade ICE to stop his deportation and protect his right to due process.

CALA Presents at "Democratize Education! Democratize Chicago!"

On Saturday, November 22, CALA held its first Community Legal Education workshop at the Teachers for Social Justice Curriculum Fair “Democratize Education! Democratize Chicago!” Staff attorney Sharlyn Grace partnered with Monica Trinidad from the anti-police brutality organization We Charge Genocide to host a know your rights and cop watch training for educators and school staff. The workshop provided teachers and education students with information about both students’ rights in schools and their own rights when witnessing student-police interactions. The workshop also provided space to discuss tools and strategies to avoid criminalizing students as an adult in a position of authority. Participants also broke into small groups to discuss future ideas for action, including: brainstorming preventative measures and alternatives to involving police when problem behavior occurs; developing a teachers’ action plan to challenge policing in schools; and the role of parents and community in challenging the punitive culture of schools.

More Community Legal Education workshops are on the immediate horizon! Working with our partner organization, Enlace Chicago, CALA will be hosting informational sessions about President Obama’s administrative relief plan at various venues in Little Village in December and January. Though applications will likely not be accepted until May 2015, helping community members understand whether they qualify and what steps they can take in anticipation of applying will be an important part of preparing for the actual application process. In addition, providing free, reliable information as quickly as possible following the President’s announcement decreases the likelihood that individuals will turn to costly (and sometimes fraudulent) for-profit immigration services providers.

Additional community legal education events being planned include several immigration know-your-rights trainings in suburban communities, a training on bail and bonds, and a training for public defenders on he needs of transgender youth in the juvenile justice system.

For more information about CALA's Community Legal Education programs (or to request a program for your organization), please check out the Community Legal Education section of our website.

Read CALA's Take on Access to Justice and the Community Activism Lawyering Model

CALA recently wrote a guest article for Legal Productivity: Survival guide for the 21st century law firm, on our vision and its relationship to access to justice. Read it below, or at Legal Productivity.

Access to Justice and the Community Activism Lawyering Model

Funding for legal aid to disadvantaged populations has dropped by 60 percent in the last decade, even as the number of people living in poverty has increased. Recent studies estimate that 80 percent of the legal needs of low-income people go unmet as a result of insufficient funding. To offset this funding reduction, many legal aid organizations across the country have shuttered their neighborhood offices and consolidated in professional, affluent downtown areas. Consequently, those with the greatest need, living overwhelmingly elsewhere, become the ones least able to access justice. The harsh reality of centralization, particularly in racially segregated cities like mine—Chicago, is that 9-5 downtown offices means many communities are underserved, not only because the offices are inaccessible geographically but also because attorneys lose those crucial connections with the circumstances, the lives, of those they are serving.

For example, here in Chicago, there are approximately 40 legal services organizations, less than 5 organizations are on the west and south sides combined, which have the largest concentration and highest rates of poverty and violence. Having worked for many years on the west side of Chicago, I’ve encountered many clients who have never even been downtown in their entire lives. For these clients and communities, the need is both overwhelming and desperate, and yet they cannot access the legal aid they desperately need.

Given this increasingly complex web of challenges: massive cuts in funding for legal services, the reactionary centralization of organizations, and its adverse impact on access to justice; it is clear that legal aid organizations cannot continue to operate in the same way. My organization, the Community Activism Law Alliance (“CALA”), is exploring a new approach that we believe may address these challenges but also push the boundaries of what lawyers can achieve: community activism lawyering.

Community activism lawyering is model of lawyering that pushes attorneys to explore beyond traditional law conventions for strategies, practices, and goals with which to serve, and more importantly empower, disadvantaged communities. It combines community lawyering, which emphasizes lawyers going into and integrating legal services within the communities they serve, and activism/social cause lawyering, which calls for lawyers to join social justice movements.

At CALA, we implement the community lawyering model by partnering with grassroots activist organizations in communities facing the greatest challenges accessing legal aid. For each partnership, our partners identify the legal needs of their communities, and we collaboratively create a legal clinic to address those needs. Each clinic is located in the office space of the partner organization, in the community served, and staffed with community volunteers. Just as importantly, we, as community activist lawyers, also provide legal services to the partner organizations themselves and their organizing efforts, including research, policy advocacy, impact litigation on behalf of the organization, legal education, and technical assistance on campaigns. Thereby, we maximize both legal and community resources; by supporting our partners’ activism efforts, our work has the potential to produce greater, empowered, and more durable impact than what lawyers alone can achieve.

We chose community activism lawyering as the best model to meet the needs of underserved communities in Chicago, but also for its cost-effectiveness. Indeed, the model brings access to justice for clients overlooked or rejected by other organizations, in locations geographically convenient to them; increases the capacity of the systematic activism already occurring in their communities; and significantly reduces operational costs. We eliminate nearly all need for (expensive, downtown) real estate by using free, existing space, and our operation expenses are significantly decreased through staffing and administrative support provided by the organizations and community volunteers. Not only does this ensure that the legal clinics are within the communities they serve—accessible and familiar—but it also creates a sense of ownership and investment for the community, all the while creating more funding to be used directly for serving clients.

 

CALA Opens Clinic for Undocumented Immigrants Thursday with IYJL & OCAD

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CALA Opens New Community Activism Clinic for Undocumented Immigrants on November 6, 2014 with Immigrant Youth Justice League and Organized Communities Against Deportation

 

“This opportunity comes at a time when we are getting more and more cases, and when the number of deportations being carried out by the US government continue to hold steady at an all record high. The sooner we can work on a model that fuses organizing led by the people in  removal proceedings and their families and lawyer support, the better we will be prepared for the continuing deportations that threaten our communities every day. This is an exciting opportunity for us and we know we can refine a model of collaboration between us, [CALA], and other community partners that revolutionizes the way undocumented communities, people in deportation proceedings, community organizations, and lawyers work together to create real tangible change in the present lives of families and in the future ways in which undocumented immigrants/ people in removal proceedings relate to the laws that hurt us.”

 -Organized Communities Against Deportation Coordinators

 

The Community Activism Law Alliance is pleased to announce that our second community activism law clinic will open on November 6, 2014 in partnership with the Immigrant Youth Justice League (IYJL) and the Organized Communities Against Deportation (OCAD). The “community activism law clinic” will provide legal services to undocumented immigrants and support the activism work of IYJL and OCAD. Through the activism law clinic, CALA, IYJL, and OCAD will add legal representation in removal proceedings to the extensive, different organizing strategies that IYJL and OCAD have successfully used to stop deportations of immigrant families in Chicago and nearby suburbs.

CALA’s legal services will enhance our partners’ campaigns, in a manner that is collaborative and compatible to their unique, powerful community-driven responses to the record-high number of deportations in the past few years. The community activism law clinic will intake new cases from IYJL and OCAD at least twice a month on Thursday evenings, with additional discretionary intake appointments during the month. The clinic will be jointly staffed by CALA attorneys and IYJL/OCAD members; and CALA, IYJL, and OCAD will combine their resources and expertise to address our clients’ cases through multiple approaches. Through this unique activist-lawyer partnership model, we believe that we can maximize our clients’ likelihood of success, while empowering immigrant families and communities to participate in the larger struggle for immigration reform.   


The Immigrant Youth Justice League (IYJL) is a Chicago-based organization led by undocumented organizers working towards full recognition of the rights and contributions of all immigrants through education, leadership development, policy advocacy, resource gathering, and mobilization. IYJL was founded in 2009 by a group of undocumented students who came together to stop the deportation of the organization’s co-founder. During the campaign, the group of mostly undocumented immigrant youth realized that there was no organization in the Chicagoland area seeking to advance the rights of undocumented people, where undocumented people were at the forefront. As part of the campaign, undocumented organizers began to disclose their status publicly and sharing their story, saying that any one of them could be placed in deportation, and that there needed to be a group that fought against the deportation of any member of the community. This is how IYJL members began to “come out,” take risks, and strategize on how to use their stories to influence the immigration debate. For more info, visit: http://www.iyjl.org.

Organized Communities Against Deportations (OCAD) seeks to stop deportations in immigrant communities through mobilization, advocacy and education. Since December 2012, OCAD has led public campaigns to stop deportations in the state of Illinois and has helped families to fight deportations of loved ones by connecting them to the proper legal venues and information that can make the difference between staying in this country or getting deported. OCAD is part of a larger network across Illinois and collaborate with country-wide organizations like the National Day Laborer Organizing Network. Its founding members also come from the experience of organizing against deportations particularly around people that potentially qualify for the DREAM Act (Development Relief and Education of Alien Minors Act). OCAD works with people of all ages.  Learn about OCAD at: https://www.facebook.com/OCADIL.

For further information about the IYJL/OCAD Community Activism Law Clinic, please contact us at cala@calachicago.org or 312-999-0056.


CALA's ED speaks of inspiration for CALA for Harvard Law's Pro Bono Week Celebration

Lam Ho, CALA's Executive Director, was recently interviewed by the Clinical and Pro Bono Programs Office at Harvard Law School for its celebration of National Pro Bono Week. Lam spoke about the experiences and inspiration that led him to found CALA. Read the interview here: http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/clinicalprobono/2014/10/21/interview-with-andrew-l-kaufman-pro-bono-service-award-winner-lam-ho/.

Read the entire National Pro Bono Week newsletter here: {C}http://issuu.com/clinicalandprobonoprograms/docs/pro_bono_newsletter.

 

Marianna Chapleau is CALA's Newest Boardmember

CALA is honored and thrilled to have Marianna Chapleau join our board of directors. Marianna  is an associate in the Chicago office of Kirkland & Ellis LLP where she represents clients in a wide range of trial and appellate proceedings, including litigation related to securities fraud, breach of contract, corporate governance, consumer fraud, and contested matters in bankruptcy court.  Marianna has also argued in front of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in her representation of pro bono clients in civil rights litigation.

Before joining Kirkland, Marianna served as a law clerk at the Office of the Solicitor General of Texas and as a law clerk for the Honorable Jacques L. Wiener, Jr. of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans, Louisiana.  Marianna worked with clients as a member of the Exoneration Project during law school. Marianna graduated from the University of Chicago Law School, where she served as Managing Editor of The University of Chicago Law Review.  She graduated with distinction from Yale University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and Spanish.

She brings to the board a unique, valuable perspective and a particular interest in helping CALA establish its initial clinics. CALA is enormously grateful for Marianna's support. 

Sharlyn Grace Joins CALA as Staff Attorney and Coordinator of Community Legal Education

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Sharlyn Grace is CALA's new staff attorney and Coordinator of Community Legal Education

CALA is extremely pleased to introduce Sharlyn Grace as its new staff attorney. Sharlyn is passionate about using the law to support movements for social change and working with community partners to make legal services more impactful and relevant. At CALA, one of Sharlyn's roles will be coordinating our community legal education initiatives. Prior to joining CALA, she was an Americorps VISTA attorney at LAF (formerly Legal Assistance Foundation), where she coordinated the Juvenile Expungement Help Desk at the Cook County Juvenile Center. In that position, she developed a model of hosting pro bono expungement clinics for CPS students in alternative high schools. During her year at LAF, she presented more than 100 community member and service provider trainings. Sharlyn currently sits on the Board of Directors of the National Lawyers Guild of Chicago. She is a proud graduate of Northeastern University School of Law in Boston, where she participated in both the Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Clinic and the Prisoners' Rights Clinic.

In Sharlyn's own words: 

1.      Tell us a little about yourself. I am a new attorney who is passionate about using the law to support movements for social change and working with community partners to make legal services more impactful and relevant. 

2.      What does community activism lawyering mean to you? Why is it important? Community activism lawyering is a blend of community lawyering (bringing legal services into neighborhoods and making them responsive to community needs) and movement lawyering, which directly supports social change initiatives. It's important because traditional legal services alone cannot address the source of legal problems--only activism can do that. Keeping an individual in their home is vital work, but it doesn't stop their neighbor from being evicted the following week.

3.      What do you most look forward to as an attorney at CALA?  I am very excited about working with our organizational partners and implementing their ideas on how to provide better legal services to their communities. 

4.      What do you think are the most pressing issues facing attorneys in Chicago today? Cuts to legal services funding are hard, and funder emphasis on quantity of cases and traditional litigation outcomes often leaves less space for creative solutions.

5.      Facing activists? Likewise, I think lack of resources is always a problem, especially for grassroots efforts; however, I am very inspired by all the organizing against privatization, exclusion, and criminalization happening here in Chicago.

6.      What is one thing you want everyone to know about you? That I am really committed to this model, and am extremely open to feedback or suggestions on how I/we can do better. New projects can always benefit from dialogue.

7.      One unique/unusual tidbit about you? I have four chickens in my backyard, and I'm a bicycle mechanic.

8.      Final thought? Feel free to reach out to me at sharlyn@calachicago.org!

CALA is extremely fortunate to have someone as committed to community activism lawyering join its staff.