Practice Areas

Civil

People’s Law Office has extensive experience in suing police and other law enforcement officers who violate people’s rights. These lawsuits include:

• Excessive Force

  These cases have included representing clients who have been tortured, beaten, struck, punched, kicked, tasered and subjected to other injuries. For the past 20 years, the office has represented numerous victims tortured by former Commander Jon Burge and other police Detectives at Area 2 and 3 Police Headquarters.

• False Arrest

  Cases of false arrest involve situations where, without probable cause, an individual is detained or not able to freely move. For decades, our office has successfully represented clients in civil lawsuits against police officers for unlawful and false arrests.

• Grand Jury Defense

  Attorneys from our office have represented witnesses before federal grand juries, particularly in cases where the grand jury has been used to investigate and suppress political dissent.

• Jail Suicide

  Responding to the high rate of suicide by people in detention, we have represented the families of people who took their own lives while in custody, generally as a result of the jailers’ refusal to provide them with needed treatment.

• Police Shootings

  We have been involved in numerous cases where police officers have shot unarmed citizens, many times leading to the victim’s death. Our first case, the 1969 assassination of Black Panther Party leaders Fred Hampton and Mark Clark, led to a long history of handling such cases.

• Prison conditions and Parole

  Our office has been involved in many cases against state and federal prison and county jail officials for unjust conditions and treatment. We have filed lawsuits on behalf of inmates who have been brutalized by guards or put in a position that leads to physical injury. For decades we have represented prisoners in their efforts to be released on parole.

• Representing political activists

  For almost forty years, People’s Law Office has represented social justice activists who have been charged criminally for protests or other political activity. This work has included diverse groups of citizens acting for progressive social change, including anti-war activists, Black Panthers, LGBT groups acting against homophobia, disability rights activists, members of the Puerto Rican independence movement, feminist activists and many others. Currently, the office is representing approximately 800 people who were falsely detained, arrested and/or charged by the Chicago Police at a protest opposing the Iraq War on March 20, 2003.

• Strip Searches

  From the early 1980’s we have successfully represented men and women who have been illegally strip searched, whether it be by police on the street, by jail guards in police lockups, or by prison officials in prison.

• Wrongful Convictions

  We have represented a substantial number of innocent people who were imprisoned for crimes they did not commit. Recently, our office won a $9,000,000 jury verdict against the City of Hammond on behalf of a man wrongly convicted for rape. Previously, the office represented Kenny Adams, one of the plaintiffs wrongfully convicted in the Ford Height Four Case, that case on behalf of the four men settled against the County of Cook for $36 million.

Criminal

People’s Law Office has extensive experience defending people facing federal and state criminal charges and those convicted and sentenced to the death penalty.

• Capital Defense Litigation

  Our office has often represented clients facing the death penalty, including representation in the trial, appellate and post-conviction stages. People’s Law Office was active in the movement that led to the Illinois moratorium on the death penalty in 2000.

• Federal Criminal Defense

  Attorneys from our office have defended clients in major federal criminal cases, particularly situations where the government indicts individuals involved in political activity. Most recently, our office successfully defended Palestinian American Muhammad Salah against false charges of terrorism.

• Misdemeanor Criminal Defense

  Often, in situations of excessive force, the police arrest individuals and charge them with misdemeanor crimes, such as disorderly conduct, battery or resisting arrest. We have successfully defended against these charges and pursuing a civil rights case upon acquittal. We have also represented activists and protesters arrested and criminally charged while demonstrating and or engaged in political actions.