Legal Advocacy as a Strategy: An Undertaking of the Atlas Learning Project

Over the last year, TCC Group has been conducting a field review into the world of legal advocacy in the nonprofit sector. Partnering with the Center for Evaluation Innovation and the Atlantic Philanthropies via the Atlas Learning Project, which aims to push advocacy in bolder and more effective directions, TCC Group has been examining how advocacy organizations use legal advocacy as a strategy and how funders can best support that work. Here, we are sharing the results of our work to help inform funders, legal advocates, non-legal advocates, and evaluators about the field of legal advocacy.

Legal advocacy – also known as advocacy through the courts – uses the judicial system to advance social change goals. This is often done through bringing forward a legal case in court that focuses on improving a situation for a particular group of disadvantaged people. Watch our short video to get a better understanding of what legal advocacy is and why it’s important.

Explore our suite of materials — to guide funders, nonprofits, and evaluators interested in legal advocacy.

• A Funder’s Guide to Legal Advocacy
• A Nonprofit’s Guide to Legal Advocacy
• Evaluating Legal Advocacy
• Toward a More Just Justice System: How Open are the Courts to Social Justice Litigation?

For more on the Atlas Learning Project, including materials on: working effectively with 501c4 organizations, advocacy to protect policy wins and ensure quality implementation, and other issues, visit the Atlas Learning Project.

Additional Resources
For those looking for more resources focused on legal advocacy, check out the sites and material below. And, if there are other resources you know about that are not listed here, email us and let us know!

• Public interest litigation and social change in South Africa: Strategies, tactics, and lessonsThis paper addresses how legal advocacy (which they call public interest litigation) has interacted with social change movements in South Africa.
  • Steven Budlender, Gilbert Marcus SC, and Nick Ferreira
• Legal Change: Lessons from America’s Social MovementsA paper on the interaction between legal advocacy and social movements.
  • Jennifer Weiss-Wolf, Jeanine Plant-Chirlin at the Brennan Center for Justice
• National Legal Aid & Defender Association’s Tools and Technical AssistanceThis site hosts a variety of tools and technical assistance for legal aid and defender organizations.
• The North Carolina Court System’s Evaluation Project (NCSEP)This site shares resources and information about their work creating an outcomes-based evaluation for the criminal justice system.
• Public Interest Legal Services in South AfricaThis research report focuses on public interest legal services in South Africa and examines what services are currently provided, the value and impact of those services, how public interest legal services can better collaborate within themselves and with the legal profession, as well as a set of recommendations for the sector.
  • SERI (Socio-Economic Rights Institute of South Africa)