LCR’s Legal Warriors at the HNBA National Conference →

Lawyers for Civil Rights at the 2023 Hispanic National Bar Association (HNBA) convention.  LCR’s legal warriors and our community partners will be presenting on a wide range of cutting-edge civil rights and intersectional issues at the upcoming HNBA Conference in Minneapolis on September 6-8, 2023. This is where you can find...

Condemning Gun Violence →

Condemning Gun Violence Across the Commonwealth  Gun violence is a plague on the United States, and Massachusetts is far from immune. Shootings on back-to-back days this weekend disrupted Caribbean Festivals in Boston and Worcester, leaving at least ten people injured and local communities of color shaken. Meanwhile, following 21 shooting incidents in the last two months, Springfield...

New Police Discipline Database: More Transparency and Accountability →

Lawyers for Civil Rights Applauds New Police Discipline Database, Urges More Transparency and Accountability Lawyers for Civil Rights (LCR) applauds the Massachusetts Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) Commission for publishing a database showing the disciplinary records of Massachusetts police officers accused of misconduct.  Transparency is critical for holding law enforcement accountable. ...

9-Year-Old Black Student Forcibly Handcuffed in Walpole →

In a case highlighting the growing problem of over-policing Black schoolchildren, Lawyers for Civil Rights and Anderson Kreiger LLP today sent demand letters to Walpole Public Schools and the Walpole Police Department demanding change stemming from an incident where police officers handcuffed a 9-year-old Black special needs student at school, then transported him to...

Racial Profiling at the Boston Marathon →

PROTECTING BOSTON MARATHON SPECTATORS FROM RACIAL PROFILING Civil Rights Organization Takes Legal Action Against Police Department in Newton, MALawyers for Civil Rights (LCR) has received requests for legal assistance from both marathon spectators and runners who have consistently noted that police officers targeted and singled-out Black people for surveillance and aggressive...

Forward-Looking Settlement Reached in Federal Civil Rights Lawsuit →

The Town of Needham and lawyers for Mr. Marvin Henry announced that they have reached a settlement agreement with Mr. Henry, an employee of a local Needham business who was detained by local police in January 2020.  The Needham Police Department (NPD) takes seriously its responsibility to perform its duties...

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...