About PDC
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PDC provides 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, suing the government to release an immigrant neighbor from detention, or fighting unjust charges in criminal court.
At the PDC, we believe every case is political — because the U.S. legal system is a device created to uphold and protect white supremacy.
Our practice is guided by community needs and informed by those doing hard work on the ground. We seek to advance creative legal strategies and 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.
Each of us comes from legal backgrounds and settings where supporting clients in the search for intersectional and empathetic legal representation was coupled with a need to fill in gaps in support created by the state. Our clients often seek resources for housing, healthcare, benefits, and childcare, and while we understand the limitations of our work as attorneys, we work intentionally to maintain community ties to other grassroots efforts that provide these services. We seek every opportunity to provide our clients with channels to support all their basic needs.
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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.
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We are a small but mighty group of movement lawyers who are dedicated to representing our community members in alignment with grassroots movements and community building. As lawyers in Seattle who have seen firsthand the repression and brutalization of protestors and activists at the hands of the State and Federal governments we have observed a gap in services: quick direct representation that is not slowed down by non-profit bureaucracy.
The PDC was created out of necessity and a call to action from many community members who have shared with us a need for more movement-aligned legal services.
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. If you have input, comments, critique, or suggestions about how we can better engage in this work in alignment with the people of Seattle and King County, please reach out. We want to maintain open dialogue with the community.