National Lawyers Guild
Chicago Chapter

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637 South Dearborn Street, Third Floor
Chicago, Illinois 60605
Ph: 312-913-0039
Fax: 312-913-0045
contact@nlgchicago.org
www.nlgchicago.org

"...to the end that human rights shall be regarded as more sacred than property interests."

The National Lawyers Guild is dedicated to the need for basic and progressive change in the structure of our political and economic system. Through its members -- lawyers, law students, jailhouse lawyers, and legal workers united in chapters and committees -- the Guild works locally, nationally and internationally as an effective political and social force in the service of the people.

Our aims:
. to eliminate racism;
. to safeguard and strengthen the rights of workers, women, farmers and minority groups, upon whom the welfare of the entire nation depends;
. to maintain and protect our civil rights and liberties in the face of persistent attacks upon them;
. to use the law as an instrument for the protection of the people, rather than for their repression.



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Ernest Goodman
A National Lawyers Guild Luminary


  • Graduate, Wayne State University Law School
  • Co-founder of the first interracial law firm in the U.S., Goodman, Crockett, Eden, & Robb.
  • Founding member of the National Lawyers Guild, 1937.
  • President of the Guild, 1964-1967
  • Portrayed by Alan Alda in Showtime's 2001 production The Killing Yard, about Goodman's defense of Attica brother Shango. Goodman worked with the Attica Brothers Legal Defense Committee to acquit prisoners falsely accused of murdering guards during the 1971 rebellion in Attica prison. Evidence proved that New York State Troopers firing sniper rifles from the walls were responsible for all of the guards' and inmates' deaths.
  • Helped set up the Guild's Southeast Asia Military Law Project, which represented service members in the Vietnam theater.
  • Wrote the Guild's amicus brief in Dombrowski v. Pfister, 380 U.S. 479 (1965)
  • Honored with a Mock Trial Tournament in his name at Detroit Mercy Law School.
  • Honored with an annual award in his name, given by the Guild.
  • Wayne State University Law School's on-line archive related to Judge Damon Keith is soliciting material related to Goodman.