Tyre Nichols, Terrence Coleman & Reina Morales →

The images of police brutality in Memphis are harrowing. Nearly three years after George Floyd's murder, we are still living with unmitigated structural and institutionalized violence against Black people. In Boston, we are not immune. In our own backyard, we have unchecked violence and neglect affecting people of color. At Lawyers for...

Boston Police Denies Right to Counsel →

Boston Police Denies Right to Counsel to Community Group Concerned About Disappeared Latina  January 26, 2023 Since the disappearance of Reina Carolina Morales Rojas, Latinos Unidos en Massachusetts (LUMA) has been urging law enforcement officials to investigate the matter with immediacy. Reina has been missing since November 26, 2022, but...

Botched Police Investigation in East Boston Reinforces Racial Disparities →

Lawyers for Civil Rights (LCR) urges the City of Boston and the Boston Police Department (BPD) to investigate the disappearance of Reina Carolina Morales Rojas. To provide zealous police protection to all residents regardless of race, class, or national origin, the City needs to conduct an independent audit surrounding issues of diversity,...

LCR’s Civil Rights Summit →

LCR’s Civil Rights Summit November 4, 2022 Lawyers for Civil Rights held a Civil Rights Summit on November 4, 2022, convening powerful attorneys and community partners for strategic and catalytic thought partnership to advance civil rights in the current legal landscape, including changes in the composition of the Supreme Court....

Launching the Lauren Sampson Fellowship →

Lawyers for Civil Rights Launches Lauren Sampson Fellowship Lawyers for Civil Rights (LCR) is committed to honoring the memory and legacy of our colleague Lauren Sampson. We are proud to announce the creation of a legal fellowship dedicated to deepening and expanding Lauren’s impactful work from housing to climate justice and...

Federal Suit Against Police for Racially Profiling Black Man in Arlington, MA →

Arlington Police Department Racially Profiles Young Black Man Walking Home Federal Civil Rights Lawsuit Filed to Address Racial Profiling and Excessive Force Lawyers for Civil Rights (LCR) and pro bono counsel, Stephen Hall of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP, filed a federal civil rights lawsuit on behalf of Donovan Johnson, a 20-year-old Black man and a...

Race/Gender Gaps in Boston’s Municipal Workforce →

Lawyers for Civil Rights (LCR) issued an open letter to Mayor Michelle Wu outlining findings based on public records disclosures from four Boston agencies: the Boston Police Department (BPD), Boston Public Health Commission (BPHC), Boston Water and Sewer Commission (BWSC), and Boston Public Works Department (BPWD). LCR submitted public records...

Condemning Lax Sentencing in East Boston Hate Crime →

Lax Sentencing in East Boston Hate Crime Endangers Spanish-Speaking Community The East Boston District Court has failed to meaningfully sentence Stephanie Armstrong in connection with the heinous attack on a Latinx mother and minor in East Boston. This follows on the heels of the lax sentencing of another white assailant,...

Black Youth File Racial Profiling Complaint Against Medford Police Department →

Unlawful Traffic Stops Due to Race Persist in Massachusetts Lawyers for Civil Rights (LCR) filed an internal complaint with the Medford Police Department (MPD) on behalf of Jeremiah Mamousette and Hibaq Warsame, two Black college students who were illegally stopped, removed from their vehicle, searched, handcuffed and held at gunpoint in...

Ahmaud Arbery Verdict Highlights Gaps In Local Hate Crime Enforcement →

VICTIMS OF HIGH-PROFILE HATE CRIME IN BOSTON DECRY PERPETRATOR'S LENIENT SENTENCEJury Verdict Convicting Ahmaud Arbery’s Murderers of Hate Crimes Highlights Harmful Disparities In Local Hate Crime Enforcement Lawyers for Civil Rights (LCR) applauds the jury verdict that found Ahmaud Arbery’s killers – Travis and Gregory McMichael and William Bryan –...

Barnstable Sheriff’s Entanglement With Federal Immigration Officials Illegal →

Barnstable Sheriff’s Entanglement With Federal Immigration Officials Illegal, Lawsuit Says Taxpayers Ask Massachusetts’ Highest Court To Declare 287(g) Agreements Unlawful A statewide coalition of taxpayers filed a petition today directly in Massachusetts’ highest court, seeking to invalidate an agreement between the Barnstable County Sheriff’s Office and U.S. Immigration and Customs...

Statement on Fall River Police →

Statement from Lawyers for Civil Rights in Support of BLM Protestors in Fall River, MA Following the murder of George Floyd, police reform was widely recognized as an urgent need.  But almost two years later, we are now seeing how entrenched institutional forces threaten to impede progress. In Massachusetts, at the...

Applauding Boston’s Vaccine Mandate →

The Suffolk County Superior Court has allowed the City of Boston's COVID-19 vaccine mandate to take effect. Lawyers for Civil Rights (LCR) applauds the ruling. We stand with Mayor Michelle Wu in the implementation of the vaccine mandate. Through LCR’s Medical-Legal Partnership with MGH’s Community Health Center in Chelsea, we have seen firsthand how...

Colossal Failure: Qualified Immunity Commission →

STATEMENT ON THE FAILURE OF THE QUALIFIED IMMUNITY COMMISSION Lawyers for Civil Rights condemns in the strongest possible terms the shameful outcome of the Special Commission to Investigate and Study the Impact of the Qualified Immunity Doctrine, created by the Massachusetts State Legislature in the wake of George Floyd's murder. The commission was charged...

Statement on Kyle Rittenhouse →

Lawyers for Civil Rights (LCR) condemns the verdict in the trial of Kyle Rittenhouse, who fatally shot two people and injured one with an AR-15 rifle in Kenosha, Wisconsin last year. Rittenhouse was found not guilty on counts of first-degree intentional homicide, first-degree reckless homicide, first-degree attempted intentional homicide, and...

Open Letter To Boston’s Mayoral Candidates On Civil Rights Priorities →

Lawyers for Civil Rights (LCR) sent an open letter to the mayoral candidates in the City of Boston identifying urgent legal and policy issues that are currently affecting people of color and immigrants across the city. The letter identifies five critical areas for immediate action, and urges the candidates to prioritize the following: Commit to...

Barnstable County Sheriff’s Immigration Entanglement is Illegal →

Today, Lawyers for Civil Rights sent a demand letter to the Barnstable County Sheriff's Office to terminate the controversial and illegal agreement with federal immigration officials. The letter is available here:

Victory! Sheriff Ends Entanglement With Federal Immigration Officials →

Following Landmark Ruling in Taxpayer Lawsuit, Massachusetts Sheriff Announces He Will Terminate Entanglement With Federal Immigration Officials  Following an adverse ruling in a high-profile legal challenge to the ability of Massachusetts sheriffs to enforce federal immigration law, Plymouth County Sheriff Joseph McDonald announced today that he is terminating his office’s “287(g) agreement”...