Summer Picnic for Freedom

Celebrating Local Defenders of Freedom and

Raising Energy for Our Struggles Ahead

Saturday July 12th 2008

Minnehaha Park Bandstand

5-8pm

Tell your friends

NLG will provide corn, hot dogs, soda, watermelons and plates/utensils

Mass Defense Attorneys Ted Dooley, Bruce Nestor, Geneva Finn, Gena Berglund, and Carla Magnuson appeared on behalf of the anti war protestors arrested at the National Guard Recruiting Office in Stadium Village in conjunction with the Year Five Anti-War March on the University of Minnesota campus.

"They were looking for an informant to show up at "vegan potlucks" throughout the Twin Cities and rub shoulders with RNC protestors." Read more here.

On Friday May 16th, over seventy people, mostly lawyers, attended a CLE entitled "Defending Dissent: Representing Acivists and Protesters at the Republican National Convention."

Carolina Lamas from the Neighborhood Justice Center offered Criminal Defense tips for beginners at the start of the day. Jordan Kushner highlighted certain concerns that may come up in reference to mass arrests that may occur during the RNC. Rachel Bengston outlined specific issues that might arise for non-citizens.

New York lawyer, Gideon Oliver shared his experience being on the street during the 2004 RNC and defending civil liberties during the legal aftermath. Los Angeles Attorney Carol Sobel told stories about the overreaction of the LA police department during the 2000 DNC.

Judge Mott, from Ramsey County Court gave a sneak preview of the court procedure during the week of the RNC. Finally, an activist panel, moderated by longtime protest lawyer Ken Tilsen, told the audience what they want from their lawyer-client relationship relative to their larger political message.

The CLE materials and a DVD of the presentations will be available for purchase. Please check back for availability or send an inquiry to info@nlgminnesota.org or use our online form here.

It was the warmest day of the year so far and the NLG-MN chapter is grateful so many concerned lawyers, law students and legal workers came to St. Thomas Law school to spend the day preparing for the Mass Defense needs in September.

by Gena Berglund, Legal Observer Program Coordinator

As Republicans meet to nominate their next candidate for president, Legal Observers and Videographers trained by the National Lawyers Guild will be “watching” as 20,000 to 60,000 protestors converge in the streets of Saint Paul. The Guild’s Legal Observer Program is training hundreds of legal observers and videographers to document, photograph and videotape civil rights and civil liberties violations during protests planned for September 1 to September 4. The next trainings will be held on Tuesday, June 17 from 7 pm to 8:30 pm, Merriam Park Library and Saturday, May 31, 10 a.m. to 12 p.m., Eau Claire Room of the L.E. Phillips Memorial Library in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Go here more information about the Guild’s Legal Observer Program.

Pictured at Left: Peter Brown (NLG); Andrea Ritchie and Ajamu Baraka (USHRN); Shawn Stuckey (St. Paul NAACP).

The International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, more commonly known as ICERD, is an international treaty designed to protect individuals from discrimination based on race, whether that discrimination is intentional, or is the result of seemingly neutral policies.

On February 22, 2008, a two person delegation from Minnesota, consisting of Peter Brown of the National Lawyers Guild and Shawn Stuckey of the St. Paul NAACP, joined a 120 member delegation organized by the US Human Rights Network to counter the report prepared by the US State Department on US compliance with CERD. The Minnesota Delegation presented the Minnesota Shadow Report, a document produced by a wide range of community organizations consisting of a Minnesota-focused, community-based critique of compliance with ICERD.

During a monthly ride sponsored by Critical Mass in Minneapolis on August 31, Minneapolis police arrested 19 people on initial charges of rioting. Guild attorneys Jordan Kushner, Peter Nikitas, and Bruce Nestor, along with Michelle Gross of the the Coalition Against Police Brutality and attorney Joe Vacek, met with the arrestees at the Hennepin County Jail on Saturday, September 1, in an attempt to have persons released prior to appearing in Court after the long holiday weekend.