Law collective

In the 1970s, there were many law collectives, crosses between a law firm and a worker-run cooperative. Employees were all paid the same, regardless of lawyer or non-lawyer status. At some law collectives, workers supporting families were paid more.

As of 2004, some law collectives organized along those lines still exist. There is a growing movement of activist law collectives. These groups are usually non-lawyer centered, run along anarchist principles (even if they do not identify as anarchist), and work as part of the movement for social justice. These law collectives are made up mostly or entirely of non-lawyers. They are located in cities including Philadelphia, PA; Washington, DC; New York, NY; Madison, WI; Portland, OR; Oakland, CA; and Montreal, Ottawa, and Toronto, Canada.

This new generation of law collective works to empower people to provide their own legal support. They give "trainer trainings" so people can give "Know Your Rights" and other trainings to their communities; teach people to run mini-legal offices for their affinity groups; and demystify the law in general and their work in particular.

Law collectives have been central in the successful defense of thousands of activists from criminal prosecution in such protests including the Seattle WTO protests in November 1999; the "A16" World Bank and IMF protests in 2000; the Republican and Democratic convention protests, also in 2000; the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) protests in 2001 and 2004; ongoing protests by the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP); and in the mass protests around the US against the war in Iraq in 2003.

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