ACAT: A Trauma-Informed, Anti-Racist Approach to Legal Advocacy
Training and CLE
by Lorilei Williams, lorilei@lorilei.info
Fee: NLG-NYC Rate: $30. through Brown Paper Tickets: http//bit.ly/34ljUk9
Course Description:
Burnout, capacity, vicarious trauma, and structural racism continue to be pressing issues for legal advocates, especially during a pandemic and in the wake of a civil rights uprising. This training will help you rethink your approach to legal advocacy entirely that will result in increased sustainability for you as the advocate, holistic care for the people you serve, and outcomes that disrupt unjust systems. We will begin by providing a basic introduction to concepts relating to trauma and race, leading up to a four-part model that guides legal advocates to engage in a trauma-informed, anti-racist approach to legal advocacy informed. This training is designed to be a very small taste for everything that can be learned, developed, and strengthened to make the work better for ourselves as agents of change and the directly impacted individuals and communities we serve as legal workers, advocates, and organizers.
Timed Agenda:
3:00 - 3:30 pm Awareness: Intro to concepts regarding trauma and race
3:30- 4:00 pm Collaboration: Intro to community-driven advocacy
4:00 - 4:30 pm Adapt Strategically: Using systems thinking in advocacy
4:30- 5:00 pm Transform the Trauma Response: Designing systems of resilience
A Continuing Legal Education (CLE) Course: 2.0 CLE Credits
1 Skills credit – non-transitional/transitional (attorneys admitted less than two years) and 1 Diversity, Inclusion and Elimination of Bias credit – non-transitional only
Under CLE regulations, credit will be offered only to those attorneys completing the entire program; attorneys attending only part of the program are not eligible for CLE credit. Certificates will be sent upon receipt of completed affirmation of attendance forms following the program.
The New York City Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild has been certified by the New York State Continuing Legal Education Board as an Accredited Provider of Continuing Legal Education in New York State
Reading Materials:
● Katz, Sarah and Haldar, Deeya, The Pedagogy of Trauma-Informed Lawyering (April 21, 2016). 22 Clinical L. Rev. 359 (2016); Temple University Legal Studies Research Paper No. 2016-29. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2768218.
● This Vice News segment featuring Resmaa Menakem, author of My Grandmother's Hands, on how our bodies carry racial trauma: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmENK5Fb_nU&ab_channel=VICENews
● "Behind the Cliff," a TedEx talk by Laura van Dernoot Lipsky, author of Trauma Stewardship, on trauma exposure and its impact on trauma workers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOzDGrcvmus&ab_channel=TEDxTalks
Presenter Bio:
Lorilei (they/them) is a queer, trans Korean-American abolitionist, artist, and attorney dedicated to teaching legal advocates on how to engage in trauma-informed and antiracist advocacy in their individual capacities and collectively as movement advocates. Lorilei's expertise is informed by over a decade of professional experiences ranging from volunteer to director at numerous nonprofit organizations, including the Shriver Center on Poverty Law, the Southern Poverty Law Center, Legal Services NYC, and various Catholic Charities organizations. Lorilei has been a strategic accomplice to migrants across the nation, including in rural farms in Upstate NY, migrant camps in Tijuana, and multiple detention settings, from unaccompanied minors shelters to rural for-profit mass incarceration facilities in the Deep South. Lorilei currently serves as co-faculty for the 2021-22 New York Law School Asylum Clinic and as an expert consultant, coach, and trainer for legal services providers across the nation.
Lorilei is admitted to the state bars of New York and Texas, the US Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit, and the Southern and Eastern Federal District Courts of New York. They are a graduate of Washington University in St. Louis School of Law and the University of Maryland.