- Chicago Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
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The Chicago Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, Inc. is a consortium of Chicago Law firms that provides legal services in civil rights cases, with a focus on four major projects: the Employment Opportunity Project, the Law Project (previously the Community Economic Development Law Project), the Fair Housing Project, and the Hate Crimes Project. Recent activity has explored avenues to promote and protect civil rights in the greater Chicago metropolitan area through education, healthcare delivery, the environment, and voting rights.
Contents
General information
The Chicago Lawyers' Committee For Civil Rights Under Law (CLCCRUL), www.clccrul.org, was established in 1969 as a public interest consortium of Chicago law firms to provide pro bono legal services in significant civil rights cases. In 2011 the Chicago Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law includes forty seven law firms who donate annually over $6 million worth of professional legal services to poor communities, women, and people of color, in substantive areas such as housing discrimination, hate crime, employment discrimination, and community economic development.
The mission of the Chicago Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights is to promote and protect civil rights, particularly the civil rights of poor, minority and disadvantaged people in order to facilitate their participation in the social, economic and political systems of our nation. The Committee's direction is community driven: that is, the agenda and priorities are determined in consultation with the myriad community-based organizations in Chicago that have been addressing the results of virulent poverty, entrenched segregation, insufficient public services, and other barriers to opportunity faced by communities of color in Chicago.
The Chicago Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights functions through five civil rights programs staffed by ten lawyers with expertise in specific practice areas within civil rights law. Over 1,000 Chicago lawyers accept pro bono legal work from the staff attorneys every year, contributing almost 15,000 hours of professional legal services, with an estimated value of approximately $6 million. In 2005, the Committee represented almost 1,500 individual clients, and in twelve class-action lawsuits, another 670,000 persons state-wide were class members. Transactional legal services, involving tax, corporate, and real estate law, were provided to 230 nonprofit community-based organizations. Staff and pro bono lawyers also were deeply involved in training, fair housing testing, numerous amicus briefs, and legislative and policy advocacy.
The Chicago Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights maintains a focus in a broad range of civil rights and economic justice matters, including: hate crime prevention and response; employment discrimination litigation; affordable housing development efforts, fair housing complaints and fair mortgage-lending advocacy and litigation; and support for a broad range of economic development activity in Chicago, including free legal services to individuals using small businesses/micro-enterprises as strategies to achieve self-sufficiency. The Chicago Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights is also deeply involved in public policy research and advocacy, and has explored avenues to promote and protect civil rights through education, healthcare, the environment, and voting rights.
The Chicago Lawyers' Committee’s membership includes the most prestigious firms in the City, ranging from small boutique firms to many of the largest firms. The Committee is governed by a Board of Directors composed of member representatives. The Board's decision making and planning are informed by several program Advisory Committees, made up of representatives of the affected populations, Board members, and volunteering attorneys.
Significant Cases
The Kerner Commission’s 1968 report, concluding that the nation was “moving toward two societies, one black, one white – separate and unequal, ” made a series of recommendations to promote racial integration and large-scale improvement in the quality of life of African-Americans. The Chicago Lawyers’ Committee was founded in 1969, as a cooperative effort of Chicago's leading law firms to provide pro bono legal assistance to and protect the civil rights of the poor and minorities, in order to facilitate their participation in the social, economic and political systems of our nation. Following is an overview of efforts to support the goals of the Kerner Commissions in Chicago.
[1].
craigslist Controversy
Case Overview
Chicago Lawyers' Committee For Civil Rights Under Law v. Craigslist, is a case involving allegedly discriminatory on-line advertising that was recently filed against craigslist, Inc., the company behind the website craigslist.org. The lawsuit alleges that since July 2005, craigslist, Inc. has published and continues to publish housing ads from the metropolitan Chicago-area that are discriminatory on the basis of race, sex, national origin, religion, color and familial status in violation of the federal Fair Housing Act.[2].
On November 14, 2006 the case was dismissed by the U. S. District Court in Chicago. On January 10, 2007 the District Court denied CLC's Motion to Reconsider. On January 11, 2007 CLC appealed the District Court's decision to the United States Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals.
Advertisements in Question
A sampling of the complaints included in the legal brief are included below:[3]
- “Neighborhood is predominantly Caucasian, Polish and Hispanic.”
- “All in a vibrant southwest Hispanic neighborhood offering great classical Mexican culture, restaurants and businesses.”
- “Requirements: Clean Godly Christian Male.”
- “Owner lives on the first floor, so tenant must be respectful of the situation, preferably not 2 guys in their mid twenties who throw parties all the time.”
- “Walk to shopping, restaurants, coffee shops, synagogue.”
- “The entire building is filled with interesting and fun people. Mostly Loyola Students. . . . . Church immediately across from building.”
- “Accessible to transportation, church ST Margareth.”
- “Catholic Church, and beautiful Buddhist Temple within one block.”
- “Walk to shopping, restaurants, coffee shops, synagogue.”
- “Perfect for 4 Med students.”
- “absolutely ideal for a young professional and socialite!”
- “Apartment is situated on 8th floor of building teeming with young people. It is unfurnished but ideal for a student or young single professional.”
Lewis Firefighter Case
The Chicago Lawyers’ Committee filed a lawsuit in 1998 which argued that the Chicago Fire Department's use of a very high cut score on the 1995 firefighter entrance exam discriminated against African Americans. They filed the case on behalf of African Americans who scored between 65 and 89 on the test. There are nearly 7,000 African Americans in the plaintiff class.
In 2005, Judge Gottschall ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, and found that the city’s use of the 89 cutoff score on the test was discriminatory, on several counts. The plaintiffs alleged that the very high cutoff score of 89, as compared to the 65 cutoff score that had previously been stated, had a disparate impact to discriminate against African Americans, since 78% of candidates above the cutoff were white. In the ruling, Judge Gottschall held that the City had not shown that the test effectively measured the skills it was supposed to measure, like the ability to learn from demonstration. Consequently, performance on the 1995 test did not predict performance in the Fire Academy or on the job.
This case has continued to be appealed, eventually reaching the Supreme Court[4], who ruled in favor of the plaintiffs in May 2010. The case was then sent to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, where the City argued that plaintiffs failed to prove race discrimination when each hiring class is reviewed separately. During May of 2011, the City’s argument was rejected, representing a final victory for the plaintiffs on the merits of the case.
Ultimately, 111 class members will be hired as firefighters. [5] Seniority will be awarded to these new hires, dating back to 1995, as well as back pension contributions. Class members who are not hired as a result of this ruling will be compensated for this discrimination at least $5,000 per person. In total, the City of Chicago is liable for up to $50 million in reparations, as well as an additional $500,000 in lost wages for every additional month that legal activity continues.
Projects
Employment Opportunity Project
Discrimination in hiring, pay, and promotion unfairly disadvantages minorities and women from earning a reasonable wage with which to sustain their families. Since 1998, the Employment Opportunity Project has pursued equality in the workplace through a variety of avenues:
Litigation. The Chicago Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights litigates cases both in hiring and after a candidate has been hired, including sexual and racial harassment cases, discrimination in pay, promotion, and termination. The Employment Opportunity Project also provides pro bono representation to low income workers with meritorious discrimination claims in federal court settlement conferences and in US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission mediations. Our litigation extends to assisting and training attorneys assigned under the United States District Court for the Northern District’s Pro Bono Program.
Combatting Domestic Violence Stigma in the Workplace. The Employment Opportunity Project represents and advocates on behalf of victims of domestic/sexual violence who are experiencing workplace discrimination under an Illinois law, the Victims Economic Security & Safety Act (VESSA). VESSA requires that employers with 50 or more workers provide unpaid leave and accommodate workers who are experiencing domestic or sexual violence.
Advocacy. The Employment Opportunity Project also works with the federal and state agencies which enforce the employment discrimination laws to improve their procedures and enforcement efforts. For example, in 2006 the Employment Opportunity Project persuaded the Illinois Department of Human Rights to redact the names of workers who sue for arrest record discrimination from the IDHR’s published opinions. The IDHR’s publication of the workers’ names and the details of their arrests had deterred workers from complaining of arrest record discrimination.
The Fair Housing Project
Substandard segregated housing in minority communities amplifies the effect of economic, political, and educational differences, and leads to inequality of many kinds of opportunities, with far-reaching impact on quality of life. By contrast, fair, integrated housing leads directly to equality of environment, healthcare, and education, and strongly assists equality of employment opportunities through access to jobs. Therefore, the Fair Housing Project champions integration by educating people in minority communities about their rights under the fair housing and fair lending laws, investigating complaints of fair housing discrimination, and providing or securing pro bono legal services to individuals and groups who wish to exercise their fair housing rights and secure equal housing opportunities. We accept cases involving discrimination in rental, sales, mortgage lending, homeowners' insurance and advertising. Our work challenges discrimination in rental and private markets as well as in public and assisted housing.
The Chicago Lawyers' Committee is part of an area-wide network of fair housing organizations called CAFHA (Chicago Area Fair Housing Alliance).
Hate Crimes Project
The Chicago Lawyers' Committee's Hate Crimes Project is the only comprehensive resource center on hate crime prevention and response in the Midwestern United States. The Project advocates for strong criminal prosecutions of perpetrators of bias violence, litigates civil cases for hate crime victims, mobilizes community support for them, educates community residents and professionals about applicable laws, and advocates for improved enforcement of the Illinois Hate Crime Act. A city-wide Advisory Board, consisting of attorneys who have represented victims and community activists representing diverse neighborhoods and constituents, provides guidance and assistance.
The Project helps to organize community response to bias violence, training both the general public and prosecutors on the Illinois Hate Crime Act, the importance of reporting, and the rights and needs of victims. Public forums and educational presentations are made in high-risk neighborhoods, utilizing the in-kind participation of police officers, community-based agency staff, private attorneys, clergy, community leaders, and health and social service professionals. Presentations are orally translated as needed, and hate crime information materials have been printed in 14 languages. Project staff and volunteers work with community-based coalitions long term to improve human relations when the need and capacity exist.
The Hate Crimes Project also provides free legal representation to victims of hate crime, both in criminal prosecutions of offenders and in civil suits.
The Law Project
The Law Project links lawyers to community groups and individual clients involved in developing and maintaining healthy inner-city communities. Attorneys and neighborhood groups assist people in accessing low income housing, employment opportunities and job training programs, community loan funds, and other beneficial projects.
Settlement Assistance Project
The Pro Se Litigants’ Settlement Assistance Program (SAP), which began in 2006, provides volunteer attorneys to help pro se litigants settle discrimination cases filed in the Federal District Court in Chicago. The Settlement Assistance Project relieves the burden on the federal courts by early settlement of what could be protracted litigation; assists the litigants to vindicate their rights in a system that confuses and intimidates many of them; and adds to the ability of the private bar to serve the public in a meaningful way. Since its inception, Settlement Assistance Project volunteers have settled nearly 75% of about 200 cases. If the cases do not settle, the District Court allows the volunteer attorneys to withdraw from representation.
References
External links
Categories:- Legal defense organizations in the United States
- Legal organizations in Chicago, Illinois
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