who we are
About US Legal Empowerment Network
Our approach
Legal empowerment shifts the paradigm of justice. It brings the power of law together with community organizing, to ensure communities have the tools to know, use, shape, and transform the laws and systems that impact their lives.
This approach is rooted in global movements—from South Africa’s fight against apartheid to people’s tribunals in the Philippines—and is gaining momentum in the US today. Legal empowerment recognizes that legal systems often privilege the voices of lawyers and “experts” while silencing those most harmed. Instead, it centers the knowledge, voices, and leadership of impacted communities to build inclusive, accountable, and resilient justice ecosystems.
Who we are
The US Legal Empowerment Network emerged from a shared belief: that communities most impacted by injustice must lead the fight to transform it. We are an intersectional, intergenerational network—organizers, students, teachers, case managers, lawyers, legal advocates, elders, formerly incarcerated leaders, and human rights workers—who play a vital role in making systems more accessible, equitable, and rooted in community.
In 2023, the inaugural Legal Empowerment Leadership Course brought together more than 50 organizers, advocates, and lawyers. We built common ground in legal empowerment principles and began putting them into action—launching new organizations, creating community paralegal programs, hosting pro se workshops for immigrants, and driving participatory research to amplify people power.
By February 2025, members gathered in Chicago and named the urgency of this moment. We recognized that resisting autocracy and building a multiracial democracy requires bold strategies—and that legal empowerment is one of the most powerful tools we have to bring people together for collective action.
That is why the Network is scaling its work with the first US Legal Empowerment National Convening—so communities across the country have the tools to mobilize, resist, and redefine justice together.
The US Legal Empowerment Network is housed at NYU Law’s Bernstein Institute for Human Rights and convened and led by members from a range of organizations and institutes. Some of these include:
How to get involved
Meet Us
Get to know the US Legal Empowerment Network.
Join Us
Apply here to join us in Chicago from February 3-5, 2026.
Support us
Donate to the US Legal Empowerment Network.