Law and Society

The law and legal tools are powerful instruments to advance systemic change. Strategic litigation can directly impact laws, policies and practices through judicial rulings or enforceable settlements. Litigation can open up new opportunities for marginalized groups to achieve voice and influence, creating opportunities to lift up issues and stories; affirming factual narratives that have long been denied or concealed; generating new avenues for advocacy victories; disclosing evidence about rights violations; and bolstering the power of those most affected by the problem.
Yet legal action is not a simple tool for either social change movements or lawyers. The law and legal tools must be applied thoughtfully, with awareness of the limits of the law, legal institutions and culture. This requires centering power-building; involving priorities, processes, and expertise that is distinct from traditional legal action and foreign to many legal professionals. It involves cooperative development of legal strategies and true collaboration between lawyers, community stakeholders and movements based on insight into and sensitivity towards power dynamics.
Legal education, practice and culture do not prepare lawyers for such an approach, nor do they equip them to question the impacts of law, legal procedures, and legal expertise on power-building efforts. People affected by systemic discrimination, grassroots groups, organizations and movements are similarly ill-equipped to use legal strategies to grow their collective organizing efforts and advance systemic change.
Those of us seeking to use law and legal tools in this way are experimenting. We are making new paths for change as we walk them, learning along the way. (RE)Claim believes it is crucial to reflect on this journey, share our challenges and solutions, support each other, and learn together.