THIS MOMENT ASKS LAWYERS TO THINK DIFFERENTLY ABOUT OUR WORK.
The Just Transition Lawyering Institute (JTLI) is a training and community building program for lawyers looking to align their law practice with the values and demands of just transition — the transformations we need to transition from our climate-destroying, extractive, inequitable economy into regenerative economies that equitably sustain the well-being of the earth and its peoples.
The JTLI is anchored by The Chisholm Legacy Project, working directly with Black frontline communities fighting climate crises, and Gilmore Khandhar, LLC, a solidarity economies law firm.
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The first year of the JTLI in Fall 2021 and Spring 2022 trained more than 50 lawyers, with participating lawyers from 14 different US states and Puerto Rico. Participants completed 14 weeks of coursework on “Blocking the Bad” and “Building the New,” covering themes including water rights, climate litigation, solidarity economies, and community land stewardship. Participants built relationships, shared learnings, and reflected on their experiences through weekly small group discussions, and four community forum events. Participants were eligible to receive more than 15 CLE credits through their completion of JTLI programs.
Year 2 of the JTLI was offered in Fall 2023 and Spring 2024 for another group of over 50 lawyers, using an updated format, offering the curriculum on an extended, self-paced timeline, and including live online community events to foster connection among participants without the requirement of weekly meetings.
Year 3 of the JTLI, being planned for Spring 2025, will engage a more intimate cohort in a hybrid program that will include online coursework and meetings as well as an in-person convening over 3.5 days in Houston, TX focusing on a case study of a frontline community fighting for access to water infrastructure and basic City services.
The JTLI serves to both train licensed attorneys, and support the work of building a robust community of just transition lawyers to meet the needs of frontline communities and to generate a field of just transition lawyering scholarship and practice.
Why Just Transition Lawyering?
The climate crisis is an outcome of a globalized economic system based on extraction from and exploitation of marginalized communities and the planet. Black, Indigenous, and low-income communities of color bear the brunt of climate crisis events, with negative impacts exacerbated by underinvestment and systemic racism.
At the same time, many of these communities are leading the charge with systems change solutions that are ushering in just transitions. Lawyers play integral roles in walking alongside the communities on the frontlines of these transformations.
This moment asks lawyers to find new ways to approach our cases, build partnerships, and imagine strategies. The Just Transition Lawyering Institute aims to grow cadres of lawyers who are prepared and eager to work collaboratively with frontline communities toward just transitions.
just transition framework
Communities across the country are mobilizing for just transition. Over the last decade, as a social movement framework, just transition has come to refer to the transformations we need to transition from a globalized capitalist industrial economy to linked, local, living, participatory economies that provide well-being for all.
Anchoring the JTLI
The JTLI is anchored by The Chisholm Legacy Project, working directly with Black frontline communities fighting climate crises, and Gilmore Khandhar, LLC, a solidarity economies law firm.