Emeritus Legacy History Project

“History may not repeat itself,” American writer Mark Twain once said. “But it rhymes.”

Founded in 1982 to further law in the public interest and fight back against the Reagan Revolution and corporate collusion to roll back civil rights, women’s rights, workers’ rights and the consumer and environmental rights movements, Public Justice today is wielding innovative, cutting-edge impact litigation to strategically protect and defend the powerless and ensure access to justice under a threatened Constitutional democracy.  

“Turning a blind eye to what’s happening at this very moment in our own country is not an option,” says former Public Justice Executive Director Paul Bland. “What is required now, in the heat of this battle over who we are as a people, and as a country, is courageous service to justice. And that’s what Public Justice – and the Public Justice family of members and supporters – is all about.”

Armed with insightful, nuanced knowledge of federal and state laws, savvy communications and coalition-minded organizing strategies, Public Justice is committed to fighting for equity and equality and ending systemic oppression.

Public Justice has evolved over its four-decades-plus history to better reflect the country’s diversity and the needs of women, people of color, people with disabilities, and LGBTQ people. But the board and staff are also mindful that this nonprofit legal advocacy organization was built on the shoulders of conscientious trial lawyers dedicated to the public interest.

The proud history of Public Justice reflects an oft-forgotten chronicle of progressive American history.