Feature
Occupy Wall Street Commands Outpouring of Legal Support By Rebecca E. Neely According to the October 20th nydailynews.com article, “Occupy Wall St. protesters’ rights in good hands as legal minds step up to offer their support”, lawyers all over the country are volunteering to help those demonstrating in the “Occupy Wall St.” movement with their legal issues.
Per the article, the National Lawyers Guild is reporting that scores of lawyers, law students and other legal experts are offering their talents in order to protect Occupy protesters’ rights, and estimates that it is one of the biggest “legal support efforts for protesters since the end of the Vietnam War.” Legal experts have been sent to over fifty cities by the group. Those supporting the “Occupy” movement wear bright green hats at rallies and record the names of people arrested by the NYPD during confrontations. Gideon Oliver, of the National Lawyers Guild’s New York City Chapter was quoted as saying: “…we’ve been able to provide lawyers for anyone who has been arrested and appeared in court.” Also contributing to the effort is the New York City chapter of the Lawyers Guild, which has an estimated dozen pro bono lawyers on cases. Perhaps fifty more are on deck if case numbers start to climb. Even some unions have offered the talents of their in-house counsel to the movement, which the article calls “unprecedented.”
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According to information at the organization’s website, Occupy Wall Street is a movement fueled by people, in an attempt to fight back against the “corrosive power of major banks and multinational corporations over the democratic process, and the role of Wall Street in creating an economic collapse that has caused the greatest recession in generations”. Launched on September 17, 2011 in Liberty Square in Manhattan’s Financial District, the movement has been taken up in over 100 cities in the United States, and in over 1,500 cities globally. Individuals from all backgrounds, races, genders and beliefs are invited to attend the organization’s daily assemblies. According to the October 20th myfoxmemphis.com article, “Celebrities That Have Visited Occupy Wall Street”, celebrities spotted amongst the ranks of the “99%” include Susan Sarandon, Tim Robbins, Michael Moore, Penn Badgley, Yoko Ono, Mike Meyers, Alec Baldwin, and musicians Kanye West, Lupe Fiasco, Jay-Z and Ted Leo.
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