About the Guild! The National Lawyers Guild is a non-profit federation of lawyers, legal workers, and law students. Since 1937, Guild members have been using the law to advance social justice and support progressive social movements. To learn more about the history of the Guild, see http://www.nlg.org/about/history.
The NLG is dedicated to the need for basic change in the structure of our political and economic system. We seek to unite the lawyers, law students, legal workers and jailhouse lawyers to function as an effective force in the service of the people, to the end that human rights shall be regarded as more sacred than property interests.
Our aim is to bring together all those who recognize the importance of safeguarding and extending the rights of workers, women, farmers, people with disabilities and people of color, upon whom the welfare of the entire nation depends; who seek actively to eliminate racism; who work to maintain and protect our civil rights and liberties in the face of persistent attacks upon them; and who look upon the law as an instrument for the protection of the people, rather than for their repression.
The Pittsburgh Chapter of the NLG is part of the mideast region which includes all chapters and at-large members from Buffalo, NY through Pittsburgh, PA and Cleveland, OH all the way to Detroit, MI.
To learn more about the NLG, please visit http://www.nlg.org.
Join the Guild! Membership in the National Lawyers Guild is open to attorneys, law students, jailhouse lawyers, and legal workers. Legal workers are defined as anyone who has worked in any office, collective, or other institution which has as its primary function the provision of administration of legal services, information, or education.
Dues paying members receive a subscription to “Guild Notes” – a quarterly news publication, “NLG Review” – a quarterly legal journal, the annual NLG Referral Directory, discounts on annual convention registration and national publications, as well as gain access to a wide range of multi-topic committees and listservs with network of highly respected lawyers and legal workers around the country. In addition to the personal benefits of renewing your Guild membership, your dues payment will support the Pittsburgh City Chapter as well as the work of the national organization.
To join the Guild or renew your dues online, please visit http://www.nlg.org. Dues operate on a recommendation-based sliding scale according to income, pay only what you can afford. Then, once a member of the Guild, please e-mail pittsburgh@nlg.org to be added to our local listserv.
Constitution & Bylaws! A copy of the current national NLG Constitution and Bylaws can be found here and here. For a full listing of all recently passed resolutions, please visit: http://www.nlg.org/members/constitution-resolutions.
Selected Relevant National Provisions:
Article 2.2 Chapters, Law Student Chapters, and At-Large Membership
(a) Wherever a chapter exists, membership shall be through such chapter.
Article 3.3 Definition of Chapter – Eight or more members of the National Lawyers Guild in a reasonable geographic area will be considered to be a chapter for voting purposes under the delegate system. Chapters are bound to adhere to the Constitution and By-Laws of the national organization. Disagreement about what constitutes a chapter shall be resolved by the NEC.
Article 3.5 Chapter Autonomy Subject to Constitution and Bylaws – Local chapters shall have complete autonomy, subject only to the provisions of the National Constitution and By-Laws, to the referendum decision of the national membership, and to the decisions of a National Convention, or the National Executive Committee. Notwithstanding any other provision of this constitution, each local chapter shall have complete autonomy concerning all matters as shall in its discretion be necessary to maintenance of its good standing with its respective integrated State Bar Association.
