Who We Are

  • PDC will provide holistic legal services for addressing community needs. As movement lawyers, our mission is to support community members and activists in whatever ways they need to help sustain their livelihoods.

    We recognize that sometimes this means writing a demand letter to an abusive landlord, supporting a trans neighbor as they seek to legally change their name, or fighting unjust charges in criminal court.

    At the PDC, we believe every case is political - because the American legal system is a device created to uphold and protect white supremacy.

    We envision our practice being guided by community needs and informed by those doing hard work on the ground. We seek to advance creative legal strategies, push the envelope beyond today’s legal-norms to make arguments because they are just and righteous, regardless of whether precedent says they will win, because that is what this moment requires.

  • Our community in the PNW is experiencing increased repression, impending fascist federal takeover, police brutality of protestors, expansion of surveillance, hostility and violence against Black people and immigrant communities, sweeps of unhoused neighbors, and suppression of pro-Palestine speech.

    There is a gap in legal services within our community for movement and community aligned direct representation. We recognize the unique and privileged position we hold within existing systems and seek to use our privilege to fight these terrors and stand alongside those who share our fight.

  • We are a small but mighty group of movement lawyers who are dedicated to representing our community members in a way that is aligned with grass roots movements and community building. As lawyers in Seattle who have seen first hand the repression and brutalization of protestors and activists at the hands of the State and Federal government we have observed a gap in services: the gap being quick direct representation that is not slowed down by non-profit bureaucracy.

    The PDC is being created out of necessity and a call to action from many community members who have shared with us a need for more movement aligned lawyers.

    We are creative in our practice and welcome input from the community about how to stay accountable to our community members. We seek meaningful partnership with organizers, teachers, immigrants, students, doctors, and other community members to achieve the shared goal of collective liberation.

    • Representing protestors, organizers, and activists

    • Criminal Defense Against Political Repression

    • Habeas Corpus Litigation

    • Civil Suits to Protect pro-Palestine speech

    • Civil suits against landlords

    • Civil Suits Against police and other government actors

    • FOIA and Mandamus Litigation

    • Removal Defense, Humanitarian and Family Immigration

    • General Criminal Defense

    • General Landlord Tenant Litigation

    • General Civil Litigation