On January 20, 2017 Donald Trump will be sworn in as president of the United States of America. There’s a lot of work to be done before then.
Your involvement doesn’t have to fall in one political camp or another. But as we slowly tally up the remaining votes and the dust on the election settles, it’s clear that we need to work between bridging the divide one way or another. And if we’re taking Trump literally not seriously, there’s going to be a lot for lawyers specifically to get involved with. Here are three to get you started.
1) Prepare for business
If Trump makes good on even half of what he promised on the campaign trail, lawyers should be steeled for a sea of changes in laws, and an increase of business from companies and individuals. Immigration lawyers are certainly already scrambling with anxious clients post-election, even though answers as to what the future of U.S. immigration policy will look like are nowhere to be found.
Obama hasn’t issued an absurd number of executive orders and actions, but the things he did do—fromestablish paid sick leave, to numerous moves on cybersecurity, to closing up loopholes for who can acquire a gun and how—touch on many areas of the law. If Trump were to go through and repeal some of these, it could drastically change policies in workplaces and corporations across the country. No one’s quite sure where Trump stands on marijuana, but he could, theoretically, disregard the Obama Administration’s decision that theywould not challenge laws as long as states were responsible about their decriminalization. As for agencies likethe SEC or the CFPB, who knows?
One thing we can count on, is that many will finds themselves in need of a good lawyer. Which brings us to the next point…
2) Volunteer your time
Again, whether you voted for Trump or Clinton or a third-party doesn’t need to come into play here. Trump’s president-elect status is throwing a lot of people into crisis mode, and that’s something lawyers can definitely help with.
Famed media defense lawyer Floyd Abrams called “greatest threat to the First Amendment since the passage of the Sedition Act of 1798” to a room full of lawyers—so how do those lawyers plan on helping champion the First Amendment? Some folks are getting really in the weeds by offering Trump accusers free legal help. But the truth is there are a lot of ways to get involved with organizations that might be straining under the new administration without getting that high profile.
You could lend a helping hand to Lambda Legal, who continue to amass an attorney referral list to help LGBTQ people with legal issues. They’re indiscriminate in terms of practice area or location; if you’re willing to help all you have to do is add your info to the list. You can also check out #TransLawHelpwhich helps lawyers connect with trans folks who are looking for pro bono services like name changes and identification documents. The ACLU also accepts lawyers to volunteer for cases with them. KIND and the American Immigration Council both call for lawyers to partner with them and help protect immigrants in the U.S.
If you can’t volunteer your professional time as much, be sure you’re still making your voice heard byvolunteering outside of work for organizations, orcontacting your local representatives to ensure that whichever way you voted your opinion is at the front of your to do list.
And that’s not all—there’s ways you can get involved without even leaving your couch. Donating to organizations you believe in, sure, but also…
3) Get on social media
You get this all the time: Lawyers are more likely to get hired if they’re on social media; it’s a great way to establish trust with people while making legal information and services more accessible. But it also seems a bit more vital moving forward.
Perhaps the reports that social media’s place in the election—the “echo chamber” effect coupled with the fact that fake news outperformed real news on Facebook—have reached your feeds. At the very least getting involved on social media will help broaden horizons; sure, maybe no minds will walk away changed, but maybe starting off with a bit of exposure therapy is what many need. It is, after all, where most Americans are getting their news from these days.
At best, though, the results could be much more powerful. Many people will need legal advice that you can’t give over social media, but stepping in and making sure people know that maybe that article going around about Obama forcing Merrick Garland’s nomination through during a recess is a pipe dream, or that Obama will not simply be handing Trump a list of 1.4 million DACA applicants’ names and addresses? That’s important work too. As Kevin O’Keefe has noted, that engagement on social media can lead to a lot of business.
“Imagine you as a lawyer building a network of friends, colleagues and business associates on Facebook. When you share news items or blog posts on Facebook you would then be truly engaging people. People would get to know you and to trust you,” wrote O’Keefe in a blog post back in June. “And know that it’s only a very small step from being a trust source of information and commentary to getting a call or a referral when someone is need of a lawyer.”
But in today’s “post-truth” kind of world, that information can also illuminate, it can even inspire. It’ll come as no surprise that lawyers wield a lot more information and insight than the average layperson—that’s why there’s blogging right? Engaging with folks on social media, sharing that unique perspective on the letter of the law, could make a world of difference. And all you need to do is log on.
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