National Lawyers Guild, Alternative to ABA, is Organized
The National Lawyers Guild was established on this day as an alternative to American Bar Association by progressive attorneys who were dissatisfied with the conservative position of the American Bar Association on civil liberties, civil rights, and other social issues.
The NLG also was the nation’s first racially integrated bar association. The ABA at this time did not admit African-Americans (see August 27, 1943). The Guild was also involved in the civil rights movement from an early date, organizing a 1947 conference on the issue of lynching.
During the McCarthy era, the Guild was alleged by the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) to be a Communist front organization, and attacked as the Communist Party’s “legal mouthpiece” by Attorney General Herbert Brownell (August 27, 1953). Because of the attacks, it lost a large number of members and was gravely weakened. Despite the Cold War attacks, however, the National Lawyers Guild is still active today (see below).
The Justice Department added the National Lawyers Guild to the Attorney General’s List of Subversive Organizations. Unlike other listed organizations,however, the Guild fought back in the courts — and won! On September 11, 1958 the Attorney General announced it was abandoning its effort to list the Guild. The Guild may be the only organization to fight being listed and win.
Visit the National Lawyers Guild web site: www.nlg.org
Learn more: Ann Fagan Ginger and Eugene Tobin, eds., The National Lawyers Guild: From Roosevelt Through Reagan (1988)
The Guild’s History: http://www.nlg.org/about/history/
Follow a timeline of the Lawyers Guild’s history: http://www.nlg.org/about/history/anniversary