Demosprudence on Trial: Ethics for Movement Lawyers, in Ferguson and Beyond

Abstract

A complex, dynamic, and creative tension endures between law and social movements. Not only can law affect and even help from social movements, but social movements can affect and even help form law. Just as jurisprudence is the study of how judges make law, demosprudence is the study and practice of how social movements can also affect change through the law.

This Article explores how movement lawyers can use demosprudence to promote social change outside of the courtroom. It uses the civil rights movement and the Black Lives Matter movement in Ferguson as examples. By applying this framework to the movement lawyering context, movement lawyers can adapt to the void in voice created by the vanishing trial in civil litigation and still help the movement.

Keywords: Demosprudence, Mike Brown, Ferguson, Black Lives Matter, Movement Lawyers, Social Movement, Race