The Seattle Movement Lawyering Project will elevate the voices and visions of black organizers in Seattle through local movement lawyering bootcamps aimed to deepen and strengthen analysis, skills, and relationships between community lawyers and black-led organizing efforts.

Nick Allen is the Directing Attorney of the Institutions Project at Columbia Legal Services. He started at CLS in 2010 as an Equal Justice Works Fellow working to address legal financial obligations (LFOs) in Washington State. Following the completion of his fellowship, he was hired as a staff attorney in the Institutions Project, which represents persons in Washington’s jails and prisons as well as persons returning from those institutions. At CLS, he engages in systemic advocacy, including policy work on LFOs and juvenile sentencing, and class action litigation addressing conditions of confinement for prisoners in Washington State.

Seattle, Washington

As an innovative team of community lawyers, the Detroit Justice Center will meet clients’ immediate needs and provide legal support for systemic solutions. As a fellow, Amanda will work to build an organizational culture at DJC that fosters creativity, ongoing opportunities for learning and reflection, and skill sharing across fields of law.

Amanda Alexander, founding Executive Director of the Detroit Justice Center, is a racial justice lawyer who works alongside community-based movements to end mass incarceration and build thriving and inclusive cities. Originally from Michigan, Amanda has worked at the intersection of racial justice and community development in Detroit, New York, and South Africa for more than a decade. As a 2013-2015 Soros Justice Fellow, Amanda launched the Prison & Family Justice Project at University of Michigan Law School to provide legal representation to incarcerated parents and advocate for families divided by the prison and foster care systems. Amanda is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Afro-American Studies and a Postdoctoral Scholar in Law at the University of Michigan. She is an adviser to the National Resource Center on Children and Families of the Incarcerated, has served on the national steering committee of Law for Black Lives, and is a board member of the James and Grace Lee Boggs Center to Nurture Community Leadership. Amanda received her JD from Yale Law School, her PhD in international history from Columbia University, and her BA from Harvard College.

Detroit, MI

Arch City Defenders in conjunction with St. Louis Action Counsel, Decarcerate STL, and the Bail Project with work together to build a community bail project that combines bailouts with creative organizing, participatory defense, and advocacy to build community power and develop a campaign aimed at decreasing the local jail population in St. Louis, Missouri.

Sima Atri is an Iranian-Canadian immigrant and lawyer dedicated to supporting radical community-led organizing work. She has worked in support of communities resisting against incarceration, deportation, and displacement through direct representation, litigation, and policy support and is also involved in international peace/justice work. Sima graduated from Harvard Law School and worked in support of the work of the Congress of Day Laborers and Stand with Dignity in New Orleans. Sima has now joined the Arch City Defenders’ team in St. Louis focusing on movement support, civil rights litigation, and direct representation of individuals criminalized based on their poverty.

St. Louis, MO

The Street Team Project is the mobilization arm of the Urban Cooperative Enterprise Legal Center (UCELC). Composed of local organizers from marginalized communities in both Newark and Trenton, the Street Team builds a bridge between those fighting oppressive systems and those building alternative models to these systems to better serve the economic, social, and ecological needs of Black and Brown communities.

Elizabeth Carter is the Principal Attorney for The Law Office of Elizabeth L. Carter, a community development law firm representing investors, entrepreneurs, small businesses, nonprofits, artists, and other creatives in business, real estate, and entertainment-related transactions. Prior, Elizabeth was the Assistant Legislative Director & Special Counsel for the City of Newark's Department of Economic and Housing Development where she assisted in policy development and strategy;  and reviewed, drafted and facilitated redevelopment contracts, leases, grant agreements and corresponding legislation in the areas of municipal land use, redevelopment, and planning and zoning. Most notably, she was instrumental in the drafting and passage of the city's amended tax abatement ordinance (Oct., 2017), a progressive policy designed to assist sustainable development, including cooperative development, through tax benefits; and the creation and management of the city-sponsored housing cooperative for low and moderate income artists. Lastly, Elizabeth is a Legal Fellow of the Sustainable Economies Law Center's Fellowship Program where she receives support for her role as Founding Executive Director of UCELC.

Newark, NJ

The Legal Move (TLM) is a mobile video platform for Black people to both teach and learn about the law while building strategies for an alternative legal system, rooted in our liberation and justice. TLM creates and shares short videos by lawyers, jailhouse lawyers, and law students explaining, in plain language, U.S. laws that impact our community the most. Alongside these explanations are curated short videos by members of the Black community sharing their lived experiences and lessons learned while interacting with these same laws.

Danielle Coleman, also known as Blacktavist, is passionate about the intersection of entrepreneurship, technology, black feminism, and movement lawyering throughout the Black diaspora. During and after graduating from Dartmouth College '12, Blacktavist worked in and traveled to over 15 countries, where her fluency in French and Portuguese were beneficial to her extensive organizing work in Cape Town, South Africa, and Paris. Through her wanderlust and desire to experience various fields, Blacktavist was a paralegal and SEO Law Fellow Summer Associate at two international law firms, worked as the special assistant to the chief counsel of the Democratic National Convention Committee, interned at the ACLU and Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, and worked at a NY-based venture fund. While at the University of Michigan Law School, Blacktavist plans to develop writing on queer black feminism and the law while working on issues affecting the Black community through innovative movement lawyering.

Ann Arbor, MI

The Direct Line Lawyering Project bridges the gap between radical Black lawyers and community- based criminal justice reform organizing in New York State. By providing access to legal expertise from radical Black lawyers, organizers and directly impacted community members will be more empowered, informed and prepared to take action. In this way, organizers, supported by radical Black lawyers, will also know that they are supported in their work and have access to legal representation if and when needed. Thru intentional statewide network building, radical Black lawyers will be connected with each other and infused into the movement work taking place across the state of New York. The Project also seeks to build connections across generations so that the lessons learned from senior radical Black lawyers can be shared with younger ones and thereby allow new concepts and strategies to be shaped in a historical context.

Soffiyah Elijah is the executive director of the Alliance of Families of Justice. After a powerful legal career as a criminal defense attorney and advocate for civil rights, Soffiyah became the first black woman to serve as Executive Director of the century-and-a-half old Correctional Association of New York. After five years defending human rights of those inside, Soffiyah and her dedicated community of supporters launched AFJ, her most ambitious move yet to forever alter the landscape of injustice in American courts and prisons. "Now is the most important time to get involved," she says. "Because we are right at the beginning of this great work. You can make a difference."

Harlem, NY

One of the largest direct legal services providers in the Bay Area, The East Bay Community Law Center (EBCLC) provides legal assistance to intervene in legal crises, remove barriers to education and employment, and provide pathways to greater economic opportunity and independence. Fellows will work to expand the scale, reach and depth of movement lawyering in EBCLC’s Economic Security & Opportunity Program. Lessons from the pilot expansion of movement lawyering in the ESO program will help EBCLC design and test how to scale movement lawyering across EBCLC.

Brandon L. Greene is a graduate of Boston University Law School where he was a Public Interest Scholar and Martin Luther King Social Justice Fellow. He has also held fellowships with the New Leaders Council San Francisco Chapter and with the Front Line Leaders Academy. Brandon has worked on education and civil rights issues while serving as a fellow with Education Pioneers, Education Chair for the Boston NAACP, and as the Northeastern Regional Attorney General with the National Black Law Students Association. Brandon also served as legal fellow with Public Advocates in San Francisco and as a Deputy Public Defender in Contra Costa County. Brandon writes regularly for the Huffington Post and his article Depraved Necessities: Prison Privatization, Educational Attainment and the Path to Profit was published in 2013 by SRBLSA Law Journal.

Berkeley, CA

Community Justice Project is a Miami-based movement lawyering organization focused on building the power of movements for racial justice and human rights. Having been in existence for a few years, CJP will use the Fellowship to design new organizational infrastructure to ensure that the institution they are building reflects the transformative values that underpin our work as we grow.

Alana Greer co-founded the Community Justice Project, Inc. in 2015. She was previously a staff attorney at Florida Legal Services and Advancement Project in Washington, DC, where she worked with youth and parent leaders across the nation to fighting to end the School-to-Prison Pipeline. Originally from Miami, Alana left Florida to attend Boston College and Harvard Law School, where she was a student attorney at the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau, and returned home to support youth organizing that arose after the killing of Trayvon Martin. Prior to law school, she was a member of the Jesuit Volunteer Corps and worked with the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area against the criminalization of homelessness. Alana is passionate about lifting up the voices of the community members she works with and using her legal and analytic skills to support grassroots movements seeking to dismantle structural racism and inequality. She is an Echoing Green Black Male Achievement Fellow and an advisory board member for the Dream Defenders.

Miami, FL

The Death by Incarceration Project at Amistad Law Project,  consists of research, mitigation, investigation, and litigation aimed at creating opportunities for second chances for people serving life without parole, or death by incarceration (DBI), sentences. This project aims to advance the cause of systemic reform to DBI sentencing in Pennsylvania and open up the possibility of parole eligibility for all people serving DBI in Pennsylvania.

Kris Henderson is from East Orange, New Jersey, a working-class, majority-Black community. They are a lawyer and organizer in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Kris is one of the co-founders of Amistad Law Project, an organization that provides direct legal services to incarcerated people, advocates for criminal legal policies that are just, and organizes to end mass incarceration. Kris is a founding member of the Coalition to Abolish Death By Incarceration, a grassroots organization working to end death by incarceration, or life without parole, sentencing. Kris graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 2009 with a BS in Chemical Engineering and from Temple University Beasley School of Law in 2012.

Philadelphia, PA

Community Justice Project is a Miami-based movement lawyering organization focused on building the power of movements for racial justice and human rights. Having been in existence for a few years, CJP will use the Fellowship to design new organizational infrastructure to ensure that the institution they are building reflects the transformative values that underpin our work as we grow.

Meena  Jagannath co-founded the Community Justice Project, Inc. in 2015. She is a movement lawyer with an extensive background in activism and international human rights.  Prior to coming to Miami, she worked for the Bureau des Avocats Internationaux in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, where she coordinated the Rape Accountability and Prevention Project, which combined direct legal representation with advocacy and capacity building of grassroots women’s groups.  While using her legal skills to build the power of movements locally in South Florida, she has also brought to bear her international human rights expertise in delegations to the United Nations to elevate U.S.-based human rights issues like police accountability and Stand Your Ground laws to the international level. Meena has published several articles in law journals and other media outlets, and has spoken in numerous academic and conference settings.  She received her J.D from University of Washington Law School where she was a William H. Gates Public Service Law Scholar. She also holds a Master's degree in International Affairs (human rights concentration) from the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University, and a B.A. in International Relations and Peace and Justice Studies from Tufts University.

Miami, FL

Community Justice Project is a Miami-based movement lawyering organization focused on building the power of movements for racial justice and human rights. Having been in existence for a few years, CJP will use the Fellowship to design new organizational infrastructure to ensure that the institution they are building reflects the transformative values that underpin our work as we grow.

Oscar Londoño is a Skadden Fellow at the Community Justice Project. As a community and movement lawyer, Oscar partners with community-based organizations to provide direct legal services, community education, and strategic litigation and policy support to low-wage immigrant workers organizing across South Florida, including domestic workers, day laborers, and farmworkers. Born and raised in Miami, Oscar received his J.D. from New York University School of Law, where he was a Root-Tilden-Kern Public Interest Scholar and a Derrick Bell Scholar for Public Service, and his B.A. in Sociology from Cornell University. During law school, Oscar interned with various community and movement lawyering organizations, including Make the Road New York, the Community Activism Law Alliance, and the Community Justice Project, where he participated in the Bertha Justice Institute’s Ella Baker Program.

Miami, FL

One of the largest direct legal services providers in the Bay Area, The East Bay Community Law Center (EBCLC) provides legal assistance to intervene in legal crises, remove barriers to education and employment, and provide pathways to greater economic opportunity and independence. Fellows will work to expand the scale, reach and depth of movement lawyering in EBCLC’s Economic Security & Opportunity Program. Lessons from the pilot expansion of movement lawyering in the ESO program will help EBCLC design and test how to scale movement lawyering across EBCLC.

Jassmin Poyaoan is a graduate of the UCLA School of Law, where she specialized in Critical Race Studies and was a part of the David J. Epstein Program in Public Interest Law and Policy. In 2015, she joined EBCLC’s Green-Collar Communities Clinic (now Community Economic Justice Clinic) to focus on community ownership as a response to widespread gentrification and displacement in the East Bay Area. During law school, Jassmin was awarded the Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans to support her work in developing community and worker-owned enterprises to build wealth in low-income communities of color. In her free time, Jassmin enjoys playing basketball and gardening.

Berkeley, CA

The Seattle Movement Lawyering Project will elevate the voices and visions of black organizers in Seattle through local movement lawyering bootcamps aimed to deepen and strengthen analysis, skills, and relationships between community lawyers and black-led organizing efforts.

Nikkita Oliver is a Seattle-based creative, teaching artist, attorney, and organizer. Her writing has appeared in the South Seattle Emerald, Crosscut, and the Stranger. Olivers holds a J.D. and Masters of Education from the University of Washington. She is also the case manager for Creative Justice, an arts-based alternative to incarceration, and has worked for arts organizations such as Writers in the Schools and the Arts Corp. Nikkita is the recipient of the Gender Justice Power Award (2017), Seattle King County NAACP Leadership Award (2017), Community Legal Services Imagine Justice Visionary of the Year (2017), the University of Washington Women’s Law Caucus Outstanding Achievement as a Young Lawyer Award (2017), the Seattle Office of Civil Rights Artist Human Rights Leader Award (2015), and the 2014 Seattle Poetry Slam Grand Champion. She has opened for Cornel West and Chuck D of Public Enemy and performed on The Late Night Show with Stephen Colbert.

Seattle, WA

The DC Movement Lawyer Project is creating space for movement lawyers, law students and legal workers, aspiring and otherwise, to be trained in support of the Movement 4 Black Lives DC (M4BL-DC). Currently, L4BL-DC serves as legal advisors in relationship to M4BL-DC to strengthen their influence and their legislative agenda. This project will further the development of L4BL-DC's infrastructure, membership and provision of direct legal support of the M4BL Black-led organizations.

Jennifer Ubiera is a native Miamian, attorney, actress, and activist who believes in bringing your whole self to the work that you love. She works to use the law to support the power of the people to lead progress in our world community. After the slaying of Trayvon Martin minutes from her law school campus, she became activated around using the law to further social progress through political education, mentoring and raising awareness around youth issues. Upon returning home to Miami, she joined Dream Defenders organizing in Opa-Locka, FL and is currently supporting the mission of Law 4 Black Lives DC in the Movement 4 Black Lives DC Coalition.

Washington D.C.

Upendo Legal Clinic focuses on the intersectional issues of economically and socially disadvantaged black women in New Orleans so that they may be fully informed about their options and be given a full breadth of understanding of the totally of the life impact on any decision they make related to either arm of the justice system. This clinic will be able to provide: free or low cost representation in the areas of family, criminal, domestic violence and stay away orders, and custody; create and facilitate CLE’s for attorneys and judges on specific issues concerning economically and socially disadvantaged women; provide consultation on legal issues involving education, economic equity, mental health, and women’s health.

Bio: Nia Weeks: A native of New Orleans, Nia has spent years fighting for the rights of women, children, and families. Nia received her bachelor’s degree in Communications with a minor in Women’s studies at Indiana State University, where her advocacy training began. After completing her undergraduate education, Nia worked in public relations before beginning law school. She graduated with a law degree from the Loyola School of Law in New Orleans in 2009. Nia then served as a law clerk for Southeast Louisiana Legal Services, the Housing Authority of New Orleans, the Louisiana Public Defender Board, and Essence Music Festival. After passing the Louisiana Bar, Nia served as a law clerk for the Honorable Judge Angelique Reed in First City Court in Orleans Parish and was the director of a supervised visitation center for victims of domestic violence named Harmony House. Before coming to WWAV, she served as a public defender in Orleans Parish for two years.

New Orleans, LA