THIS MOMENT ASKS LAWYERS TO THINK DIFFERENTLY ABOUT OUR WORK.
The Just Transition Lawyering Institute (JTLI) is an online 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.
Applications for the second year of the Just Transition Lawyering Institute (JTLI) will open in August 2023, and programming will begin in October 2023. 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.
The asynchronous, virtual JTLI Curriculum includes more than 15 CLE credit-eligible programs, half of which center on “blocking the bad,” or defensive strategies, and half on “building the new,” or innovative approaches to replacing current extractive systems. JTLI programs are taught by legal scholars and professors, practicing lawyers, and community organizers and leaders, and are paired with hand selected readings and additional resources.
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.