Legal Support

Providing movements with the legal tools, analysis, and support they need to shift power

Whether we’re Black or white, native or newcomer, we all deserve protection under the law. When we come together to make our communities or workplaces better or speak out against injustice, our rights should be honored and the law should work for us.

The Challenge

Corporations and their lawyers use the law and legal tools to exploit working people and strip power from our communities.

Rather than abiding by basic norms for how we treat each other, too many corporations would rather mark up our social contract so they can reap even greater profits. They offload cost and risk onto working people, residents, or small businesses. They stifle people’s ability to seek relief when they or their communities are harmed. They block the ability of cities and towns to protect their own residents, damaging our democracy in the process.
What’s more, corporations and their abetters in government too often use legal tools to keep problems out of the light or excuse their failure to work with the community to make things better.

Our Approach

We work with organizers and campaigners across the country to enable them to exercise their full power to win real change.

We help them understand the legal landscape and challenge or avoid laws that stifle their power to win protective policies in their home communities.
We work with them to map and exercise legal leverage.
We co-design legal tools like policies or contracts that are both accessible to communities and deliver meaningful results.
We support them in implementing solutions, including through co-enforcement and co-governance.

Internship Opportunities

PowerSwitch Action and our Community Benefits Law Center trains law students interested in community economic development and related fields, and maintains an active program of law student internships. Legal interns with PowerSwitch Action and the CBLC have the opportunity to work with affiliates and partners around the country on a wide variety of legal projects. We emphasize direct client contact where possible, development of legal research and writing skills, and understanding of professional roles and responsibilities with regard to clients’ campaigns and decisions. Our exceptional network of client organizations allows law students exposure to all aspects of effective community-based advocacy regarding economic development. We will consider applicants for both summer and school-year internships, either full-time or part-time. We will also consider supporting postgraduate public interest fellowship applications. PowerSwitch Action and the CBLC work with a diverse array of community and labor leaders committed to justice and equality. Women, people of color, and members of the LGBT community are strongly encouraged to apply for internship positions. For additional information, please contact Ben Beach, Legal Director, at ben@powerswitchaction.org.