Chicago Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
A Chicago-based consortium of law firms providing pro bono legal services and advocacy in civil rights matters.
Last updated August 25, 2026
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Overview
The Chicago Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law is a nonprofit civil rights legal organization formed in Chicago in 1969. It brings together private law firms and volunteer attorneys to provide pro bono representation, impact litigation, policy advocacy, community education, and technical legal assistance in cases involving racial, economic, and other forms of discrimination. Its work is directed primarily toward communities in Chicago and Cook County, although several of its projects have broader influence across the Midwest. The organization was established during the civil rights era around the principle that legal representation is an essential condition of equal participation in public and private institutions. Its early leadership viewed access to expert legal resources as a means of enabling poor and Black communities to challenge discriminatory practices and secure equal treatment. From 1969 to 1970, David S. Tatel, who later became a federal appellate judge, served as a director. Since 1976, the Committee has operated as a separate, self-supporting, tax-exempt organization while maintaining relationships with the National Lawyers' Committee and comparable local committees around the country. The Committee's activities have covered employment, housing, education, voting, policing, hate crimes, community economic development, and access to public institutions. Its legal model combines direct representation of individuals with broader cases designed to change institutional policies. Volunteer attorneys work with staff lawyers, community organizations, public agencies, and other nonprofits. The Committee also supports attorneys assigned through federal court pro bono programs and provides public education concerning civil rights laws and enforcement procedures. Its principal program areas include educational equity, community and economic development, housing opportunity, hate-crime response, voting rights, police accountability, employment opportunity, and settlement assistance. The employment work addresses hiring, promotion, pay, termination, harassment, arrest-record discrimination, and rights connected with domestic or sexual violence. Housing work addresses discrimination based on race, national origin, disability, familial status, religion, gender, sexual orientation, source of income, and other protected characteristics. The organization also participates in regional fair-housing networks and assists tenants, homeowners, landlords, first-time buyers, and Housing Choice Voucher participants. Notable litigation has included a challenge to discriminatory listings on Craigslist, a major case concerning racial disparities in Chicago firefighter hiring, a fair-housing matter involving the refusal to accept public housing subsidies, and litigation over the segregation of Hispanic students in a gifted-education program. These matters illustrate the Committee's emphasis on structural barriers rather than only individual disputes. Its voting-rights work includes election protection, voter education, poll monitoring, litigation, redistricting advocacy, and collaboration with community groups. Its hate-crimes program combines victim representation, civil litigation, prosecution support, training, and advocacy for stronger enforcement of Illinois law. The Committee remains an active legal-services and civil rights institution. Its present role is best understood as a bridge between major law firms, volunteer lawyers, affected communities, and public-interest organizations. Rather than selling conventional legal products, it deploys professional legal capacity to pursue equal access to education, housing, employment, voting, public safety, and economic opportunity.
History
The Chicago Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law was created in 1969 by Chicago law firms seeking to contribute professional resources to the civil rights movement. Its founding premise was that formal legal rights are insufficient without access to skilled counsel capable of challenging discriminatory public and private institutions. The Committee therefore adopted a consortium model: participating firms contribute lawyers and legal capacity, while the organization identifies cases, supports community partners, coordinates litigation, and develops broader strategies for institutional change. During its first years, the Committee operated in coordination with the National Lawyers' Committee and related local committees. David S. Tatel served as a director from 1969 to 1970. In 1976, the Chicago organization became a separate, self-supporting tax-exempt entity. It nevertheless continued to cooperate with the national organization and peer committees. Over time, the original group of participating firms expanded substantially, and the Committee developed a network of staff and volunteer lawyers serving clients in Chicago, Cook County, and selected matters elsewhere in the Midwest. The organization's historical work has been organized around recurring civil rights problems. Its employment program has challenged discrimination in hiring, workplace treatment, pay, promotion, termination, harassment, and the treatment of arrest records. Its housing work has addressed racial segregation and discrimination affecting tenants, homeowners, people with disabilities, families, LGBTQ people, religious minorities, and people whose housing payments involve public assistance. The Committee has also provided legal support to low-income entrepreneurs, nonprofit organizations, and first-time homebuyers in underserved neighborhoods. Education became another major area of impact. Through its educational-equity work, the Committee has pursued racial integration, fair discipline, restorative practices, improved school quality, and efforts to reduce the school-to-prison pipeline. The McFadden litigation demonstrated this approach by challenging the placement of Hispanic gifted students in a separate program rather than the district's mainstream gifted track. The Committee's litigation portfolio has included several prominent matters. In the Craigslist case, it tested whether online housing advertisements could expose the platform to liability under the Fair Housing Act; the courts ultimately ruled for Craigslist. In the Lewis firefighter case, the Committee represented African American applicants challenging Chicago's use of a high entrance-examination cutoff. The litigation produced a district-court victory, a Supreme Court ruling for the plaintiffs, and a later appellate resolution confirming the merits victory. In the Parker and Pierce matter, the Committee supported homebuyers whose transactions were allegedly blocked because their mortgage payments would include Housing Choice Voucher subsidies. The organization has also maintained dedicated programs addressing hate crimes, voting rights, police accountability, and settlement assistance. Its hate-crimes work combines victim representation, civil litigation, community education, cooperation with prosecutors and service providers, and advocacy concerning Illinois enforcement. Its voting-rights work includes election protection, voter registration and education, poll monitoring, administrative advocacy, redistricting, and litigation. Settlement assistance connects low-income claimants with volunteer representation in federal settlement conferences and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission mediations. In its current form, the Committee functions as a public-interest legal infrastructure organization. It does not operate primarily as a conventional fee-for-service law firm. Instead, it channels donated legal work and institutional partnerships toward civil rights enforcement, community empowerment, and structural reform. Its continuing emphasis is on making legal remedies accessible to people and communities that might otherwise lack the resources to challenge discriminatory systems.
- 2013
Gifted-program discrimination ruling
[1]A federal court found that an Illinois school district discriminated against Hispanic students through the operation of its gifted program.
- 2010
Supreme Court firefighter-case ruling
[1]The Supreme Court ruled for the firefighter-case plaintiffs and returned the case for further proceedings.
- 2006
Craigslist Fair Housing Act case filed
[1]The Committee sued Craigslist over allegedly discriminatory housing advertisements posted on the platform.
- 1998
Chicago firefighter hiring lawsuit filed
[1]The Committee challenged Chicago's use of the 1995 firefighter examination cutoff as racially discriminatory.
- 1976
Becomes an independent tax-exempt organization
[1]The Committee began operating as a separate, self-supporting tax-exempt organization while retaining coordination with related lawyers' committees.
- 1973
Employment Opportunity Project begins
[1]The employment program began pursuing equal opportunity and challenging workplace discrimination.
- 1970
End of David S. Tatel's documented directorship
[1]David S. Tatel's period as a director concluded after the Committee's first year of operation.
- 1969
Committee established
[1]Chicago law firms formed the organization to provide pro bono legal services in significant civil rights cases.
Products and positioning
A private-law-firm consortium using volunteer legal capacity and impact litigation to advance civil rights and expand access to justice for underserved communities.
Civil rights employment legal services · 1973
Employment Opportunity Project
Provides litigation, referrals, attorney training, and policy advocacy concerning discrimination in hiring, pay, promotion, termination, harassment, and workplace treatment. The project also addresses the rights of people affected by domestic or sexual violence and advocates for stronger enforcement procedures in employment-discrimination systems.
Fair housing legal services
Fair Housing Project
Educates tenants, landlords, homeowners, and community members about fair-housing and fair-lending rights; investigates complaints; supports policy advocacy; and represents individuals and groups facing discrimination based on characteristics including race, national origin, disability, familial status, religion, gender, sexual orientation, or source of income.
Hate-crime legal advocacy
Hate Crimes Project
Serves as a regional resource on hate-crime prevention and response. Its activities include free legal representation, civil litigation, assistance connected with criminal prosecutions, public and professional education, community mobilization, and advocacy for improved enforcement of the Illinois Hate Crime Act.
Community economic development legal services
Law Project
Provides volunteer legal assistance to nonprofit organizations, low-income entrepreneurs, community-development initiatives, Housing Choice Voucher participants, and other first-time homebuyers in underserved Chicago communities.
Discrimination-claim settlement representation
Settlement Assistance Project
Connects low-income individuals with pro bono counsel for federal court settlement conferences and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission mediations involving potentially meritorious discrimination claims.
Voting rights legal services
Voting Rights Project
Works to reduce voting barriers affecting minority and low-income residents through election protection, voter education, poll monitoring, administrative advocacy, litigation, redistricting work, and partnerships with community organizations.
Education civil rights advocacy
Educational Equity Project
Pursues equal educational opportunity through litigation, community advocacy, school-integration efforts, fair discipline, restorative practices, early intervention, improved school quality, and initiatives intended to reduce the school-to-prison pipeline.
Police accountability advocacy
Police Accountability Project
Addresses civil rights and accountability issues involving policing in the Chicago area. The available reference material identifies the project as a major area of Committee activity but does not provide sufficient detail about particular cases or programs.
Brand decisions
2013
Challenge to segregation in gifted educationOtherBackground
The Committee challenged an Illinois school district's practice of placing gifted Hispanic students who had learned English as a second language in a separate program instead of the mainstream gifted track.
Action taken
It pursued federal litigation under the Equal Protection Clause and the Illinois Civil Rights Act.
Aftermath
The federal district court held that the district had intentionally discriminated against Hispanic students through the structure and operation of the gifted program.
2011
Source-of-income housing discrimination matterOtherBackground
Two participants in Chicago's Choose to Own program alleged that a developer refused to complete home sales after learning that public Housing Choice Voucher subsidies would help fund their mortgage payments.
Action taken
The Committee supported the purchasers' fair-housing claims before the Chicago Commission on Human Relations.
Aftermath
The Commission found that the developer violated the Chicago Fair Housing Ordinance by discriminating based on source of income.
2006
Challenge to discriminatory online housing advertisementsOtherBackground
The Committee alleged that Craigslist's publication of user-submitted discriminatory housing advertisements violated the Fair Housing Act.
Action taken
It filed federal litigation seeking to hold Craigslist responsible for the allegedly unlawful advertisements.
Aftermath
The courts ultimately ruled for Craigslist; the Seventh Circuit upheld the result in 2008.
1998
Litigation against Chicago firefighter hiring practicesStrategyBackground
African American applicants argued that Chicago's use of a high cutoff score on its 1995 firefighter entrance examination produced discriminatory results.
Action taken
The Committee brought a class action challenging the cutoff and the validity of the city's testing and hiring process.
Aftermath
The plaintiffs won at trial, prevailed in the Supreme Court in 2010, and secured a final merits victory after remand proceedings in 2011.
Recent events
- 2013
Federal court finds discrimination in Illinois gifted-education program[1]
Lawsuit
Judge Robert M. Gettleman held that an Illinois school district discriminated against Hispanic students by assigning gifted English-language learners to a separate program instead of the mainstream gifted program.
- 2011
Chicago firefighter hiring plaintiffs prevail after remand[1]
Lawsuit
The City of Chicago's argument that discrimination had not been established when hiring classes were reviewed separately was rejected, producing a final merits victory for the plaintiffs.
- 2011
Chicago human-rights agency finds source-of-income housing discrimination[1]
Lawsuit
The Chicago Commission on Human Relations found that a housing developer violated the Chicago Fair Housing Ordinance by refusing to complete sales after learning that buyers would use Housing Choice Voucher subsidies.
- 2010
Supreme Court rules for plaintiffs in Chicago firefighter hiring case[1]
Lawsuit
The United States Supreme Court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs in the litigation concerning racial discrimination in Chicago firefighter hiring and remanded the matter for further proceedings.
- 2008
Seventh Circuit upholds Craigslist ruling in housing-ad litigation[1]
Lawsuit
The Seventh Circuit affirmed a decision favorable to Craigslist, holding that the platform was not liable for the content of the challenged user-posted advertisements.
- 2006
Chicago Lawyers' Committee challenges discriminatory Craigslist housing advertisements[1]
Lawsuit
The Committee filed a Fair Housing Act lawsuit alleging that Craigslist could be held responsible for discriminatory housing advertisements posted by users.
- 2005
Federal court rules Chicago firefighter entrance-test cutoff discriminatory[1]
Lawsuit
Judge Suzanne B. Conlon Gottschall ruled for African American applicants who challenged Chicago's use of a high cutoff score on the 1995 firefighter entrance examination.
Sources2 sources
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