An estimated 50,000 people will be in Milwaukee as the Republican National Convention gets underway next week. That number includes protesters and law enforcement. The Coalition to March on the RNC plans a large event on Monday, and there’s the potential for additional demonstrations as the week continues.
To prepare for interactions between police and protesters, dozens of attorneys have volunteered to act as legal observers. If an incident occurs, the legal observer will monitor how it plays out, including watching for the orders that police give, and the equipment they use. Susan Lund is a civil legal aid attorney and she shares how the Milwaukee chapter of the National Lawyers Guild is preparing for the RNC.
This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Can you describe what is the role of a legal observer and about how many observers will attend the RNC?
My work is part of the National Lawyers Guild Mass Defense Program, which has a variety of different things that it does. It's protester legal support which connects activists to a bigger support infrastructure that includes arrest hotlines, jail support teams, community bail funds, legal defense funds, legal observers and attorney referral networks. I will just say that my understanding of legal observers is that they are people who are trained, share the relevant values and are capable of performing certain tasks at public events.
They are kind of the eyes and ears of the legal team, so they document events that can later be used in for instance defense cases or public statements or litigation which aims to hold law enforcement agencies accountable. Sometimes just the presence of legal observers can have a deescalating effect or can deter police misconduct. The NLG regularly does full legal observer trainings and they've been holding a number of them in preparation for the RNC, but I don't know the exact numbers of people who are prepared to observe at the upcoming event.
Can you speak to what those training sessions consist of and how that's used to prepare for the event?
Well, I will say for legal observing, I think the general thrust of it is you want to be identifiable, right? So, the National Lawyers Guild typically wear these bright yellow, fluorescent hats that say National Lawyers Guild legal observer. You want to have the capability of documenting events, notepads, perhaps recording devices. You get trained in safety planning and things like that, so there could be situations where perhaps they say we're not sending any less than two or three people out and they just get trained in certain things to look out for like: what are things that might be relevant in court cases, what are things that might be relevant as far as public messaging, what are things that might be relevant as far as future planning for legal observing.
What I've been doing and working with others to do in order to recruit attorneys is we do expect that there could be a number of citations, municipal court citations issued as a result of some of the events coming up. In municipal court you're not entitled to an attorney and so you wouldn't have any representation unless you could afford to hire an attorney to represent you in the municipal court.
What we did, the National Lawyers Guild Milwaukee chapter partnered with the ACLU of Wisconsin, and we did a free CLE training to train a number of attorneys to take these cases or a refresher on how to take these cases, especially with an eye towards taking cases in Milwaukee Municipal Court, where we would expect the bulk of these to be heard. As a result of that we are building up a referral network of attorneys who are interested in taking some of these cases should citations be issued. Although we don't train in criminal defense attorneys have expressed interest in doing free or reduced cost criminal defense work as well for some folks who might have criminal charges filed against them. Basically, what that does is it just builds up the referral network for folks who do call and want legal support.
The Coalition to March on the RNC is a group that plans to demonstrate on the first day of the event. They're disappointed with the city's proposed protest march route, which the coalition says is not within sight and sound of Fiserv Forum. The route that they would like to demonstrate would have them enter the hard perimeter, where the Secret Service requires credentials for entry. With this being a possible point of contention between demonstrators and law enforcement, what is it that legal observers will watch for?
Well, I would say that generally speaking, legal observers might record what happens if the police issue a dispersal order or something like that and say, OK, did they allow people to disperse or if there is some sort of clash and arrest, they could record whether there was unlawful use of force. They could basically just document any interactions between police and demonstrators that might later become relevant. I'm not sure as to how they would prepare for this particular disagreement. I mostly focus on if a bunch of those folks did receive citations and people wanted an attorney to assist them. In that case, what would be a way to get access to an attorney, and what would be some strategies for providing a defense.
What are some ways that people can get involved?
I think a lot of people are concerned about how the RNC is going to play out and are not sure what to do. I would encourage folks to get involved with the Milwaukee chapter of the National Lawyers Guild. I would emphasize that you absolutely don't need to be an attorney to do so. Lawyers who are interested in taking citations or criminal cases could certainly reach out to me to be added to the referral list. For people who are interested in getting involved as street medics to make sure that people are safe in the streets and are not passing out from heat stroke or dehydration and things like that. Finally, I'd encourage people to support Milwaukee Freedom Fund, which is Milwaukee's bail fund. So, there are a lot of ways for people to get involved that are helpful and that kind of speak to their particular interests and skills.
