Legal help for activists - Brief Article

Ecologist, The, April, 2000

Two veteran British protesters are setting up a legal support group for activists. The Activists' Legal Project will advise peaceful protesters whose direct actions find them on the wrong side of the law.

The ALP is being set up by activists Kathryn Tulip, an experienced solicitor who is currently defending GenetiX Snowball against Monsanto, and Andrea Needham, who was acquitted in 1996 after wreaking [pounds]1.7m worth of damage to a British fighter plane being exported to Indonesia.

Although an increasing number of people are prepared to take a stand against political and corporate wrongdoing, few have the legal know-how to cope with arrest, they say. Unsuspecting campaigners can be subject to unscrupulous police bullying tactics. And there are few solicitors who have the time or sympathy to defend protesters.

The ALP will advise campaigners on all the legal aspects of activism, from bail rights to the pros and cons of representation. Through workshops, briefings and a telephone help-line, Tulip and Needham hope to empower protesters in all their dealings with the criminal justice system, as well as helping them to conduct court cases.

'We are not setting ourselves up as free solicitors,' they stress. 'What we can offer is first hand experience of the criminal and civil justice systems.'