#leadersfromlaw — Public Fediverse posts

#LeadersFromLaw fundraising update, 7/13/2024: We are at $10,586, all raised here on #mastodon. Thank you for the boosts and contributions. This show of support for training progressive law students and lawyers to seek political and judicial office has been galvanizing.
Original fundraising thread for this round is here: https://mastodon.social/@heidilifeldman/112685610831584961
More information about #LFL is here: https://www.leadersfromlaw.com/

Jaylin McClinton ran for the Cook County Commission. Here’s news coverage of his candidacy: https://www.hfchronicle.com/2022/05/24/mcclinton-aims-to-bring-a-fresh-face-a-new-voice-and-a-new-perspective-to-cook-countys-5th/. For over a year now, he has been Advance Lead at #Biden for President. #LeadersFromLaw 8/

Brooke Pinto is a sitting District of Columbia Councilor. Her website: https://www.brookepintodc.com/. She chairs the Committee on the Judiciary and Public Safety. #LeadersFromLaw 7/

Ashwin Ramaswami is currently running for state senate in Georgia. His campaign site: https://ashwinforgeorgia.com/. Some press coverage of his candidacy is here, https://www.cnbctv18.com/world/ashwin-ramaswami-the-first-indian-american-to-run-for-us-state-legislature-19436315.htm, and here, https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2024/05/27/gen-z-candidate-georgia-trump-fake-elector-ashwin-ramaswami/73785678007/. #LeadersFromLaw 6/

I founded #LeadersFromLaw to strengthen the pipeline of progressive lawyers running for state and local office. More about that organization at https://www.leadersfromlaw.com/. Here are some alums of #LFL who have already run for or are now running for municipal and state office…5/

#LeadersFromLaw fundraising update: We have crossed the $10,000 mark! As of now, we are at $10,085.98, all raised here on #mastodon. I’m profoundly grateful for all the boosts and contributions.
Original fundraising thread for this round is here: https://mastodon.social/@heidilifeldman/112685610831584961
More information about #LFL is here: https://www.leadersfromlaw.com/

The fearless team from #AmericanConstitutionSociety has fixed the donation button for #LeadersFromLaw! As of July 3, our tally stood at $7670.18. More about the program, which equips and orients progressive law students and early career lawyers to seek office at https://www.leadersfromlaw.com.

I’ll close this thread with this thought: if I can raise money to fund #LeadersFromLaw with the help of the #Mastodon crowd, I believe we can - eventually and with hard work - prevail in the broader fight for rule of law and constitutional democracy. LET’S GO! 6/6

I will be working on new and additional programming for #LeadersFromLaw training events over the course of the summer. We must have sessions on how to confront authoritarian opponents and how to win the votes and trust to win. We need progressive lawyers on school boards, town councils, county commissions and in key state offices, especially state secretary of state and state attorney general. We need progressive lawyers to run for elected judgeships and to seek appointment to the bench. 5/

Then came yesterday’s chilling Supreme Court decree in the #Trump #immunity case. Like anybody who fears dictatorship, particularly one with a white Christian patriarchal agenda, I reeled. As somebody who has known this Supreme Court went rogue a while back, I thought that #LeadersFromLaw is more crucial than ever. To have had success in fundraising for #LFL over the past 24 hours is a ray of hope. 4/

#LeadersFromLaw is nonprofit with a mission for the public good, to train and orient progressive rising law students and lawyers to run for office and to seek appointed offices. But I wasn’t sure how my fundraising would be received. Nevertheless, because I am certain that we in the US can only salvage constitutional democracy and rule of law if progressive lawyers hold state and local office, I started to fundraise. 3/

On June 26, I posted a thread that began here, https://mastodon.social/@heidilifeldman/112685610831584961. I noted that I was nervous about fundraising for #LeadersFromLaw here on #Mastodon, a very different place than the bird site, where I had had some big fundraising successes. (For more about one of these, https://www.bustle.com/p/this-gofundme-for-christine-blasey-ford-has-raised-more-than-100000-in-under-24-hours-11975595). Raising money for an organization I founded and operate on this non-commercial platform felt like it might be too much. 2/

Earlier today, I posted a brief update on my #LeadersFromLaw fundraising effort. Then, it stood at about $2400 toward a $5000 goal.

Well, something amazing has happened: we have surpassed the goal, with a current total of $7,517.81, all raised through the #Mastodon community. The people I work with at #AmericanConstitutionSociety are impressed and inspired. Me too. With immense and heartfelt gratitude, I offer some reflections in the rest of this thread. https://www.leadersfromlaw.com/ 1/

Good news (and we need it) on the #LeadersFromLaw fundraising effort. Yesterday I made my second ask here on #mastodon. Since then we have raised roughly another $500, going from $1900 to $2400. Goal remains $5000. Yesterday’s ask at https://mastodon.social/@heidilifeldman/112713628023757103. Donations can be made at the #LFL site: https://www.leadersfromlaw.com/home. I’m profoundly grateful for the donations and the boosts. Many hands…light work.

Because we won't get through this without the occasional lighter moment, let me share with you a big difference between Mastodon and other sites. I just sent a round of thank-you emails to donors to #LeadersFromLaw. I receive a spreadsheet with email addresses. The addresses of the Mastodon folks are very different from more "mainstream" sites. 😆

I promised before not to clutter the feed with excessive fundraising for #LeadersFromLaw, so I'll keep this thread fairly short. I do want you to know that our alums have run for and won office.
DC Council Member Brooke Pinto is an alum of #LeadersFromLaw. So is Ashwin Ramiswami, currently running for Georgia State Senate. Jay McClinton is another alum, who ran for Cook County Commissioner and now is an advance lead for Biden for President. 7/

Young lawyers and law students who want to hold office need to understand how to deal with those who are what I faux lawyers and faux judges - people who cloak themselves in the trappings of the law but only to undermine the American legal and political commitments to secular constitutional democracy and equal justice under the law. #LeadersFromLaw workshops tackle this challenge directly. They help future progressive candidates to clearly distinguish themselves from faux lawyers and judges. 6/

If we are ever going to restore -- and improve -- constitutional democracy and the rule of law in the U.S. -- we need our officeholders to be progressives who are educated about the law, state and federal; about state constitutions; and about the federal constitution. Rule of law is a venerable feature of American law but it is not self-executing. This principle will animate upcoming #LeadersFromLaw workshops. This is why I'm fundraising, to finance them. 5/

I founded #LeadersFromLaw because, too often, progressives arrive at law school interested in politics but depart without any guidance about state and local government and how to seek and win office at those level. This is an enormous problem. Most Americans are most affected by laws made by state and municipal governments, including school boards and library boards. Plus, most federal office holders start in state or local office. 4/ #LeadersFromLaw

I do need to keep up the effort to meet the $5000 target to fund workshops over the next four to five years. I'll explain a bit in this thread what the themes will be, especially in light of a rogue U.S. Supreme Court. The need for progressive lawyers in U.S. politics is vast and unprecedented. Here's the link to donate to #LeadersFromLaw via our fiscal sponsor, #AmericanConstitutionSociety: 3/ https://donorbox.org/2023leadersfromlawproject

I have a small bit of good news, especially for #Mastodon folks who helped with my first fundraising ask for #LeadersFromLaw. Last week, I posted this, https://mastodon.social/@heidilifeldman/112685610831584961, explaining Leaders From Law, a small nonprofit I founded in 2017, to train progressive law students and lawyers to run for office. I now have the honor and pleasure of reporting that we have raised $1917 of the $5000 I am aiming for. 1/ https://www.leadersfromlaw.com/home

DC Council Member Brooke Pinto is an alum of #LeadersFromLaw. So is Ashwin Ramiswami currently running for Georgia State Senate. Jay McClinton is another alum, who ran for Cook County Commissioner and now is an advance lead for Biden for President. And here’s an essay another alum, Bobby Larsen, wrote about his experience at the Denver workshop. https://web.archive.org/web/20230207021146/https://law.unl.edu/node/1801/ 5/

My own experiences fundraising have made me effective at coaching others on how to do it. One of the key sessions in the #LeadersFromLaw workshops is devoted to this. (See pinned toot for link to #LeadersFromLaw.) 5/5

Just fyi, I can’t check donations received in real time. But if you want to let me know you’ve kicked in a few bucks - and believe me, every few dollars helps - feel free to say so in the comments or via DM. #LeadersFromLaw 4/

Wow, thanks to everybody who has so quickly boosted the effort to fundraise for #LeadersFromLaw (https://www.leadersfromlaw.com/home). I plan to regularly update our fundraising progress, both here on #Mastodon and on the #LeadersFromLaw website. I’m hoping this goes well enough so that I don’t have to use Bluesky. I really don’t want to be active on a privately owned platform. I promise not to overload the feed with donation asks! 3/

I raise money for #LeadersFromLaw through #AmericanConstitutionSociety (#ACS), our fiscal sponsor and itself a great organization. All donations made at this link are tax deductible to the extent permitted by law. 2/ https://donorbox.org/2023leadersfromlawproject

I’m in the midst of leading a day and half long #LeadersFromLaw workshop for rising progressive lawyers and law students interested in public office. We are gathered at #TempleUniversity in #Philadelphia. The range of experience and talent these young lawyers and law students have and will bring to politics is exciting and uplifting. #LawFedi