Our mission is to advance just and equitable legal and social institutions by anchoring systems change in the full participation of those directly impacted by racism and mass incarceration.
Our Featured Projects & Programs
Legal Literacy at Work builds LLAW fellows’ capacity to work effectively with lawyers, policy makers, and law students. Fellows use this knowledge to enable people currently and formerly incarcerated to advocate effectively for themselves and their communities. Click here to learn more!
The Paralegal Pathways Initiative (PPI) seeks to amplify the talents and perspectives of those who have directly experienced incarceration in an effort to create economic opportunity for our participants, advance racial equity in the legal field, build knowledge of the impacts of the criminal legal system among current and future legal professionals, and expose the legal profession to an untapped wealth of legal experience and talent. Click here to learn more about this groundbreaking program.
The Theater of Change is a first-of-its kind of course and practicum, enabling participants to blend artistry, law, policy, and community engagement, to produce narratives with powerful impact in policy spaces where change can happen. The course empowers law students to tell powerful stories, both individually and in collaboration with artists and community members. They will use legal knowledge to amplify the impact of their collaborators in venues where laws are made and power is exercised.
The workshop will also help artists combine high-quality, impactful work with community stories, research, and policy advocacy. Throughout the program, participants will work with community members to amplify the power of their stories through artistry informed by legal and policy research. Focusing on criminal justice and education, the workshop will help participants create and share powerful stories about justice and injustice in spaces where they can positively influence thought leaders and policymakers. Click here to learn more about the course.
Highlights
Legal Literacy At Work (LLAW) Celebration
On Friday, April 24, LLAW fellows, leadership, collaborators, lawyers, community advocates, and supporters gathered at Columbia Law School for an inspiring evening in support of Legal Literacy At Work (LLAW).
Building Belonging: Changing the World Starts with Your Theory of Change
How do you go about changing the world? For this episode, Professor Susan Sturm shared her work on what it really takes to achieve structural, systemic, transformative change.
Step 1: Know your Is, your Ought, and your What Might Be.
Step 2: Articulate your values and keep them in clear sight at all times.
Step 3: Grow your community of stakeholders by appealing to Linked Fate.
A New Chapter for ‘A Jailhouse Lawyer’s Manual’
The Jailhouse Lawyer’s Manual, a reference handbook produced by Columbia Law School students to help people in prison learn about and exercise their rights, is—for the first time—being revised in collaboration with people who have experienced incarceration through the Legal Literacy at Work Fellowship.
