Policing Cops Lures Law Firms Seeking Social Justice Cred Boost
Law firms burnishing their social justice bonafides are lining up to watchdog police departments for the Justice Department even though lawyers say it’s a typically thankless job.
Legal watchdogs are expected to be in higher demand with Attorney General Merrick Garland stepping up oversight of police department activities that President Donald Trump let wane.
Garland has already staffed the Justice Department with social justice heavy hitters like Vanita Gupta as the Associate Attorney General and Kristen Clarke as the assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights Division. He also announced in April his department would investigate policing practices in Minneapolis and Louisville, Ky., following the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor at the hands of police.
The expectation is that more police departments will agree to oversight consent decrees—court-ordered agreements requiring police departments cited for widespread civil rights and other violations to overhaul their operations. Those deals need monitors to ensure compliance, which opens the doors to law firms looking to make a name for themselves as civil rights experts.
“There’s a very public interest in helping to reform police departments, particularly in this day and age when police departments have shown themselves so vulnerable to allegations,” said Merrick Bobb, the executive director of the Police Assessment Resource Center, which consults with law enforcement on practices and address potential problems.
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You can read the full article on the Bloomberg Law web site here.