Lawyers' Committee For Civil Rights Under Law

On the first day of school, Danielle was 15 cents short for lunch at University High School in Florida. The cafeteria worker took her lunch away and threw it in the garbage. No student deserves to suffer this humiliation or go hungry merely because of their inability to pay.

At the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, we are fighting school districts that maintain policies that penalize students and their families because of their poverty. Donate today to help support students in need and to help us fight school districts that maintain punitive , inhumane and harsh "No Charge" policies.

The bottom line -- No student should go hungry.

We are living in unprecedented and unsettling times. Even amid a pandemic, too many individuals are being treated inequitably or violently  based on the color of their skin. The call for police reform is at an all-time high and our nation feels broken. And as we look forward to a pivotal election, many states are making it more difficult and less safe to vote.  We cannot be silent bystanders any longer.

But the deaths of Rayshard Brooks, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and those before them need not be in vain.  We  should honor them,  as our generation’s call to preserve the constitutional rights of all people and to end institutional and governmental racial discrimination. 

As members of the legal community, we have a duty to ensure that activists, the underserved, protestors, and even bystanders are afforded every legal right and protection under our state and federal constitutions.  Black lives matter and  deserve greater protections when their rights are placed in jeopardy.  This should not be a controversial issue; this is a matter of basic human rights and dignity.  These are our country’s cherished freedoms.

Friends, colleagues, associates – please join  us in the Billable Hour Project.  The idea is simple: contribute the dollar equivalent of one billable hour to protect civil rights and justice for all.  All funds raised will go to the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law to protect civil rights and defend our democracy. 

“The Lawyers’ Committee, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization, was formed in 1963 at the request of President John F. Kennedy to involve the private bar in providing legal services to address racial discrimination. The principal mission of the Lawyers’ Committee is to secure, through the rule of law, equal justice under law.”

We encourage each of you to give the dollar equivalent of ONE billable hour toward the fight for racial justice.  Please pass this along to your colleagues, partners, associates and adversaries.  It is our hope that the legal community will come together to raise $500,000  to end racial discrimination in New York State and in the United States of America.   

                                                Donate to the Billable Hour Project 

 Thank you

Sophie Jacobi-Parisi

Kimberly Lau

Maxwell Breed

Eric Wrubel

(Four Partners at Warshaw Burstein, LLP)