Minnesota Law Disorientation Guide

Call for attorneys to support Black Lives Matter protesters!

“The first thing I lost in law school was the reason that I came.”

Perspectives: Is a Social Justice Law School Experience Possible? | Law at the Margins

Ever wonder why law school tuition is so high? Check out this analysis done by students at UC-Davis.

NLG Radical Law Student Project | National Lawyers Guild Announcing the NLG's Radical Law Student Project! It has become a truism that many are drawn to law school initially to further social justice, only to end up working in areas of the law that have little potential to serve these ideals. Every year, thousands of students who intend to enter public i…

Statements on the Ferguson grand jury decision:
ACLU - https://www.aclu.org/criminal-law-reform-free-speech-racial-justice/aclu-comment-ferguson-grand-jury-decision
NLG - http://www.nlg.org/news/releases/nlg-stands-people-ferguson-condemns-systematic-police-violence-communities-color
NAACP - http://www.naacp.org/news/entry/naacp-is-deeply-disappointed-a-missouri-grand-jury-opted-not-to-indict-offi
CCR - http://www.ccrjustice.org/newsroom/press-releases/ccr-supports-community-resistance-ferguson%2C-condemns-grand-jury-failure-indict-police-officer-michae
SPLC - http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/news/ferguson-mistrust-in-criminal-justice-system-formed-by-long-history-of-discriminat

ACLU Comment on Ferguson Grand Jury Decision FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: 212-549-2666, [email protected] ST. LOUIS, Mo. — The grand jury in Ferguson, Mo., has declined to indict Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson on charges in the Aug. 9 shooting death of Michael Brown. The following is reaction from Jeffrey Mittman, exe...

Welcome new students! Have a successful orientation week!

"I also think that part of it is starting from where you are. Whatever you’re calling it, you’re part of a community. Whether it’s a digital community, whether it’s a community on your college campus, whether it’s a community of where you work, whether it’s your family. Whatever it is, you’re starting the work where you are. I think there’s also this white, middle-class/upper-class mentality–like we have to go to this special other place, these other communities, to do the work. No, anybody could be radical, anybody could do the work wherever they are." - Mia Mingus

"Please remember that you are inheriting a violently unequal world and despite what your textbooks may have taught you, we are to blame for it. Our education was about systematically numbing us to the negative impact of our 'success.' Our education was about thinking about issues like 'poverty' and 'racism' as abstractions and not as structural relations that we perpetuate every day. We're not interested in your fancy new job, don't really care about your salary, we're more interested in what you're going to do to use your degree and all of its privileges to undo your damage. We're more interested in how you are going to maintain an unwavering commitment to social and economic justice for all despite your entire social circles and discourse being shaped to make you the 1%. We're more interested in how we're going to continue to hold each other accountable for not selling out (even further than we have) and happily perpetuating rampant capitalism -- a system which requires displacement, exploitation, poverty, and genocide to continue. If you really think you're innovative then use your education to fix a system that isn't broken. . . . We got to do better. We are worth more than this. Reclaim change for your heart and not just for your pockets. What happened to our dreams of a better world?" - Darkmatter

In a recent lecture on human right, UMNLS professor John Borrows suggested that love could be given the same intrinsic legal value that life, liberty, and equality do and that it could have an impact on everything from environmental law to treaty interpretation. To hear a selection from the talk, follow this link:
http://www.cbc.ca/player/Radio/Ideas/ID/2440345608/

Fragile Freedoms - John Borrows, First Nations and human rights John Borrows is an Anishinabe scholar and expert in Indigenous law. He presents a lecture on the connections between First Nations and human rights.

Did you enjoy the articles in last year's Disorientation Guide? Are you interested in sharing your experiences and helping gather submissions for next year's guide? Send us a message! We are looking to hand over the page/guide to rising second or third year students!

Congratulations graduates! Enjoy your weekend of celebration!

"Indeed as we celebrate today, we do so because others have sacrificed and resisted. Let's celebrate with that on our minds, with our eyes on freedom, with love in the center of everything we do, with the common commitment to keep fighting for justice."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5nPLtIlqrY

Beth E. Richie - 2013 Honorary Degree Beth E. Richie Introduced by the Honorable Maria Arias Beth E. Richie is Professor of Criminology, Law, and Justice and African American Studies and Director...

"Why do racist words bring more accountability than racist practices?"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhhKQ0P9x9A

Some Quick Thoughts on Donald Sterling http://www.twitter.com/jsmooth995 Pardon the sound quality, my mic was messing up.