The Movement Law Lab (MLL) is a legal advocacy group that trains and organizes lawyers to promote left-of-center causes. ¹ It grew out of the Law for Black Lives (L4BL) political organization with the support of the Open Society Foundations, and operates as a fiscally sponsored project of NEO Philanthropy. ^{2 3 4}

Overview

The Movement Law Lab uses the law and legal systems to promote left-of-center societal change and oppose what it characterizes as a “conservative capture of US legal institutions” and “right-wing takeover of the U.S. judiciary.” ^{5 6}

It trains lawyers, law students and others to engage in what it calls “movement lawyering,” which its founder and executive director Purvi Shah described as the idea that “there is no inherent logic or truth to law.” It claims that the legal system can be used to advance left-wing causes and “change culture, systems, and power.” ⁵

MLL grew out of the  Law for Black Lives (L4BL) political organization, which Shah had co-founded in conjunction with the Black Lives Matter movement while a director at the Center for Constitutional Rights, a prominent left-of-center legal advocacy group. ^{4 3} MLL continues to work closely with L4BL, including through a joint fellowship program for leaders of left-of-center legal and policy organizations. ⁷

Shah launched MLL in 2017 after receiving a Soros Equality Fellowship from billionaire financier and left-of-center philanthropist George Soros’s Open Society Foundations to “create a hub to promote collaboration, coalition-building and experimentation among lawyers working on racial justice issues.” ⁸

Training Programs

The Movement Law Lab claims to have trained more than 15,000 lawyers, legal workers, students, and others since its founding in 2017. ⁷

In 2020, MLL offered a five-session course titled “Build Power Fight Power” that trained a reported 4,000 left-of-center lawyers and law students. ^{9 7}

MLL works with the American Bar Association to ensure that many of its courses and training sessions provide Continuing Legal Education (CLE) credits that are required for ongoing attorney licensure by state bar associations. ¹⁰ In West Virginia, for instance, MLL offers a three-part course on “Negotiating with Power for Social Justice Lawyers” that provides 11.5 hours of CLE attendance credits towards the state bar’s requirement of 24 hours every two years. ^{11 12}

Funding

The Movement Law Lab operates as a fiscally sponsored program of NEO Philanthropy, a nonprofit that pools and redistributes funds from major left-of-center donors. As such, MLL does not report or publish details about its budgets or donors. ¹

Donors that have announced grants to MLL include the Democracy Fund and the Libra Foundation, and the Ford Foundation has made $2 million in grants to NEO Philanthropy in support of Movement Law Lab. ^{13 14 15 16}

1. “Movement Law Lab.” Movement Law Lab. Accessed December 2, 2024. https://www.movementlawlab.org/.
2. “Movement Law Lab.” Democracy Fund. Accessed December 2, 2024. https://democracyfund.org/grant/movement-law-lab-4/.
3. Deardorff, Julie. “Alumna Purvi Shah: Using Law to Create Social Change.” School of Education and Social Policy – Northwestern University, November 23, 2020. https://sesp.northwestern.edu/news-events/sesp-news/2020/alumna-purvi-shah-using-law-to-create-social-change.html.
4. “Purvi Shah – Founder & Executive Director – Movement Law Lab.” LinkedIn. Accessed December 2, 2024. https://www.linkedin.com/in/purvi-shah-55a72641/.
5. “Dispatches On Democracy.” Convergence Magazine, December 21, 2023. https://convergencemag.com/convergence-series/dispatches-on-democracy/.
6. Buitekant, Ruby-Beth, Lisa Graves, and Alex Aronson. “A Brief History of the Right-Wing Takeover of the US Judiciary.” Convergence Magazine, August 16, 2024. https://convergencemag.com/articles/a-brief-history-of-the-right-wing-takeover-of-the-us-judiciary.
7. “About Us – Our Impact.” Movement Law Lab. Accessed December 2, 2024. https://www.movementlawlab.org/about/purpose-1.
8. “Open Society Foundations Announce 2017 Soros Equality Fellows.” Open Society Foundations, March 20, 2017. https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/newsroom/open-society-foundations-announce-2017-soros-equality-fellows.
9. “Build Power Fight Power: A 5-Part Course on Movement Lawyering.” Detroit Justice Center, July 2020. https://detroitjustice.org/event/build-power-fight-power-a-5-part-course-on-movement-lawyering/.
10. “Negotiations Training 2024.” Movement Law Lab. Accessed December 2, 2024. https://www.movementlawlab.org/negotiations.
11. “West Virginia Approved Continuing Legal Education Courses – Teaching Credit.” The West Virginia State Bar Membership Portal. Accessed December 2, 2024. https://mywvbar.org/mcle-approved-teaching-courses?display_name=movement%2Blaw%2Blab&title=&nid=&field_course_date_value=&field_course_type_target_id=All.
12. “West Virginia CLE Requirements for Attorneys.” Lawline. Accessed December 2, 2024. https://www.lawline.com/requirements/cle/west-virginia.
13. “Strengthening Democracy by Supporting a Just and Inclusive Society.” Democracy Fund, April 16, 2018. https://democracyfund.org/idea/strengthening-democracy-by-supporting-a-just-and-inclusive-society/.
14. “The Libra Foundation Approves $10.2 Million in Grants for Social Justice Organizations.” Libra Foundation, July 23, 2021. https://www.thelibrafoundation.org/news/the-libra-foundation-approves-10215000-million-in-grants-for-social-justice-organizations.
15. “139261 – Neo Philanthropy, Inc..” Ford Foundation, August 2021. https://www.fordfoundation.org/work/our-grants/awarded-grants/grants-database/neo-philanthropy-inc-139261/.
16. “134991 – Neo Philanthropy, Inc..” Ford Foundation, November 2020. https://www.fordfoundation.org/work/our-grants/awarded-grants/grants-database/neo-philanthropy-inc-134991/.