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Lawyers for Good Government

Website:

lawyersforgoodgovernment.org

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Lawyers for Good Government was formed in immediate reaction to the 2016 election of President Donald Trump. The morning after election night, Traci Feit Love, a Harvard Law graduate1, began “a Facebook group where those action-minded lawyers could really start making a difference.”2 Betraying the group’s ideological origins and leanings, the original Facebook group, which rose to exceed 100,000 members, was called “Lawyers of the Left.”3

Love described her group as “a legal army in the making,” of which she is the leader.4 Lawyers for Good Government (L4GG) registered as a 501(c)(3) corporation, although they considered beginning a 501(c)(4) wing upon first beginning their work.5 The organization has since established a 501(c)(4) arm under the same name, as it is listed on third-party donation platforms, however there is no reference to this on its own website.6

In practice, the efforts of the organization have been to embark upon a crusade to challenge and hinder any work which the Trump administration or conservative members of Congress set out to accomplish, which led to their self-description as “the legal arm of the resistance.”7

Rise Above Conference

During the 2017 Presidential Inauguration weekend, January 21-22, L4GG co-hosted the Rise Above Conference with another fledgling organization, RISE When We Fall, a self-proclaimed “premier watchdog organization over the Trump Administration.”8 The conference was set up to “[inaugurate] the new movement for equality, justice, freedom, and a government that works.”9

Topics covered during the conference included “Gerrymandering and Koch Money,” “Conflicts of Interest: Holding the President Accountable”, and “Staying in Government Under the Incoming Administration.”10 The group also hosted a Democratic gerrymandering expert, Mark Schauer, the senior advisor to the National Democratic Redistricting Committee. The Committee’s goal is to win more seats for Democrats using the post-2020 Census redistricting efforts.11

Human Rights in America

L4GG’s project, Human Rights in America, which runs with the byline “A Front-Line Report From Lawyers on the Eve of a New Adminstration” is “a collection of personal essays published by members of Lawyers for Good Government.”12 As of July 2017, the project had published nine essays, covering the topics of Discrimination; Immigration; Life, Liberty, and Security; and Women’s Rights.13 Individual members must submit their essays to L4GG, then they are moderated for their content. Brian Tannebaum, a lawyer and blogger, expressed his discomfort with the group after his blogpost about moving on from the election was blocked by the moderator.14

Partnership with Indivisible

L4GG has partnered with the Indivisible Project, whose mission is “to fuel a progressive grassroots network to defeat the Trump agenda.”15 L4GG is seeking to put lawyers with Indivisible’s 5,800 local groups spread out across the United States.16

Funding

L4GG has not as of yet filed any publicly disclosed documentation regarding its funding. Its website does not list any donors or sponsors of the organization.

The following organizations were sponsors of the RISE ABOVE CONFERENCE:17

Affiliations

Indivisible

RISE When We Fall

Women’s March 2017- L4GG was a sponsor of the Women’s March 2017, they used the opportunity as an avenue to meet up with other members and to provide legal advocacy for other activists at the march. They held their first conference the same day and worked their schedule around the march to allow their members to participate in the activities.18

People

Traci Feit Love is the group’s founder, president and executive director. Love is a graduate of Harvard Law and was a marketing consultant prior to forming L4GG.19 Love has been active on her personal social media since the founding of L4GG, primarily criticizing President Trump, Republican members of Congress, and other associated individuals. On May 23, 2017, Love wrote out 50 separate reasons why she believed Donald Trump should no longer be in office on her Twitter account.20

References

  1. Cheadle, Harry. “Can a Facebook Group of 120,000 Lawyers Save America from Trump?” Vice. January 15, 2017. Accessed July 07, 2017. https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/gvvxnw/can-a-facebook-group-of-120000-lawyers-save-america-from-trump.
  2. Robert Ambrogi, “This Week In Legal Tech: The Facebook Phenomenon That Is ‘Lawyers Of The Left’,” Above the Law, November 21, 2016, , accessed July 07, 2017, http://abovethelaw.com/2016/11/this-week-in-legal-tech-the-facebook-phenomenon-that-is-lawyers-of-the-left/?rf=1.
  3. Cheadle, Harry. “Can a Facebook Group of 120,000 Lawyers Save America from Trump?” Vice. January 15, 2017. Accessed July 07, 2017. https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/gvvxnw/can-a-facebook-group-of-120000-lawyers-save-america-from-trump.
  4. Cheadle, Harry. “Can a Facebook Group of 120,000 Lawyers Save America from Trump?” Vice. January 15, 2017. Accessed July 07, 2017. https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/gvvxnw/can-a-facebook-group-of-120000-lawyers-save-america-from-trump.
  5. “Lawyers for Good Government Facebook Page.” Facebook.com. Last modified December 30, 2017. https://www.facebook.com/lawyersforgoodgovernment/posts/1144053559025474
  6. “Support Lawyers for Good Government in the Fight to Protect our Democracy.” The Action Network. 2017. Accessed August 5, 2017. https://actionnetwork.org/fundraising/support-lawyers-for-good-government-in-the-fight-to-protect-our-democracy
  7. “Resisting Injustice,” Medium.com Last Modified June 21, 2017. https://medium.com/resisting-injustice
  8. “About Us.” Lawyers for Good Government. 2016. Accessed July 05, 2017. http://www.riseaboveconference.org/about-us
  9. “Rise Above Conference.” Lawyers for Good Government. 2016. Accessed July 05, 2017. http://www.riseaboveconference.org/
  10. “Rise Above Conference Program.” Lawyers for Good Government. 2016. Accessed July 05, 2017. http://www.riseaboveconference.org/program
  11. “Home Page: National Democratic Redistricting Committee.” National Democratic Redistricting Committee. 2017. https://democraticredistricting.com/
  12. “About Human Rights in America.” Lawyers for Good Government. 2016. Accessed July 05, 2017. https://www.humanrightsinamerica.org/about/
  13. “About Human Rights in America.” Lawyers for Good Government. 2016. Accessed July 05, 2017. https://www.humanrightsinamerica.org/about/
  14. Robert Ambrogi, “This Week In Legal Tech: The Facebook Phenomenon That Is ‘Lawyers Of The Left’,” Above the Law, November 21, 2016, , accessed July 07, 2017, http://abovethelaw.com/2016/11/this-week-in-legal-tech-the-facebook-phenomenon-that-is-lawyers-of-the-left/?rf=1 .
  15. “Home Page.” The Indivisible Project. 2016. Accessed July 05, 2017. https://www.indivisibleguide.com/
  16. “L4GG/Indivisible Partnership Program.” Lawyers for Good Government. 2016. Accessed August 3, 2017, http://www.lawyersforgoodgovernment.org/indivisible-lawyers 
  17. “Rise Above Conference Sponsors.” Lawyers for Good Government. 2016. Accessed July 05, 2017. http://www.riseaboveconference.org/sponsors
  18. “Rise Above Conference FAQs.” Lawyers for Good Government. 2016. Accessed July 05, 2017. http://www.riseaboveconference.org/faq
  19. “Traci Love Linkedin Profile.” Facebook.com. Last modified May 23, 2017. https://www.linkedin.com/in/tracilove/
  20. “Traci Feit Love Twitter Profile.” Twitter.com. Last Modified Jun 1, 2017. https://twitter.com/tracilove?lang=en
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