MLFA’s attorneys recently joined in signing a letter to Northwestern University’s Pritzker School of Law calling for just and fair treatment of Professor Sheila Bedi, and the legal Community Justice and Civil Rights Clinic she leads. This Clinic recently became the target of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, due to perceived “left-wing political activism” and use of “resources to engage in progressive-left political advocacy.” The Community Justice and Civil Rights Clinic provides support for, among other issues, protections for free speech under the First Amendment. In one lawsuit, and as described in the attached [I will send it to you once I have it] letter, two defendants secured early dismissals from the case after sending letters to the plaintiffs that the defendants intended to seek sanctions against the plaintiffs, for filing an unjustifiable lawsuit with no legal basis. Instead of risk losing a motion like that before the judge on the case, the plaintiffs chose instead to completely dismiss those two (now former) defendants voluntarily.
That type of work trains law students. It encourages free speech and critical thinking. And, as noted in the attached letter, it drives home the practical application of the rule of law, and attorneys’ obligations under our legal system to ensure that everyone has access to full and fair representation. Students also learn through their work the important foundational legal concept that “punishing lawyers for representing clients who use their speech to oppose our own or other governments, or for taking on controversial causes, undermines our entire legal system.”
At MLFA, we support the rule of law.
We support full and fair legal representation for all.
And we support the work of Professor Sheila Bedi and the Pritzker School of Law’s Community Justice and Civil Rights Clinic.
