This is a listing of some legal organizations that I recommend following, learning more about, and potentially supporting. They all use the law to try to serve and support the common good in various ways: to protect humans and human rights, civil rights, and civil liberties; to protect animals and the rights of non-human species; and/or to protect nature, our shared environment, and the livability of our planet.
Many human/societal/commercial/industrial activities and practices that are considered “business as usual” are not only unjust, but are truly ecocidal, genocidal, and collectively suicidal, and really ought to be legally deemed (and prosecuted as) Crimes Against Humanity and the planet. Currently, only some of these existential wrongs can be addressed and enforced through legal avenues. While the law has typically focused on the rights of humans (and human entities, such as companies or organizations), efforts have been ramping up to also establish/enact and secure the Rights of Nature (including rivers, etc.) as well as Non-Human Rights for other species.
In recent years, some countries have amended their constitutions, enacted laws, or issued court decisions recognizing the legal rights of nature. Those countries include: Ecuador, New Zealand, Bolivia, Panama, Mexico, Colombia, Brazil, and Bangladesh. And recently, the UN formally declared that access to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment is a universal human right. However, this is a non-binding resolution; the hope is that it will help spur countries to improve their environmental laws and the implementation and enforcement of those laws.
Environmental law/rights
- Stop Ecocide International
- EarthRights International
- Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature (GARN)
- Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL)
- Center for Democratic and Environmental Rights (CDER)
- Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF)
- Fossil-Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty initiative
- Green Amendments for the Generations
- ClientEarth
- Earth Law Center
- Earthjustice
- Our Children’s Trust (Youth v. Gov)
- Climate Defense Project
- Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)
- Center for Biological Diversity
- Western Environmental Law Center
- WildEarth Guardians
- Ecojustice
- Environmental Law and Policy Center
Animal rights
- Nonhuman Rights Project (NhRP)
- Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF)
- ASPCA
- Note: Many of the environmental law groups listed above also work to secure protections for wildlife.
Also see: our Twitter list on Animal rights and protection; and our related post: Animal Protection, Rescue, and Advocacy Organizations
Human/civil/constitutional rights
(including voting rights, bodily autonomy, reproductive rights, etc.)
- ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union)
- Innocence Project
- Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics and Washington (CREW)
- Democracy Docket
- Democratic Attorneys General Association
- Impact Fund
- Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
- Lawyers for Good Government
- States United Democracy Center
- American Oversight
- Civil Rights Corps
- National Lawyers Guild
- Campaign Legal Center
- Protect Democracy
- Free Speech for People
- Lawyers Defending American Democracy
- American Constitution Society
- Center for Constitutional Rights
- NAACP Legal Defense Fund
- Center for Reproductive Rights
- National Women’s Law Center
- If/When/How: Lawyering for Reproductive Justice
- Legal aid groups (funded by the Legal Services Corporation)
- Equal Justice Initiative
- Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC)
- Human Rights Campaign
- We The Action: Connecting lawyers with causes
For additional organizations and legal experts, see our Twitter lists on:
Related posts: Posts related to Democracy, Elections, Voting, and Social Change
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