Midnight Special Legal Collective A close look at the group that represented thousands of a16 protesters by Rachel Wallis Most of the people returning home from DC bore the mark of the Midnight Special Legal Collective, in the form of their telephone number written in marker on various body parts. Those of us who made it to prison learned to be especially grateful for the tireless team of volunteers who worked their asses off for us, but many people don’t know much about one of the raddest group of lawyers on the planet. WHO THEY ARE Midnight Special Law Collective is a group of around eight people (one lawyer, several paralegals and assorted other folks) who formed out of the Direct Action Legal Team in Seattle. They come from any number of activist backgrounds, and hope to work long term providing legal training and support for major political events. Natalie, one of the current members of the collective, recalled deciding to join after being arrested in Seattle. Katya Komisarek, the lawyer and quasi-leader of Midnight Special, appeared outside of a bus where the police were holding Natalie and other prisoners. Unable to get in to speak to them, Katya spend the whole night outside of the bus, shouting in legal advice and updates to the prisoners. WHAT THEY DID Midnight Special set up shop several months before the DC event to begin legal trainings with activists and members of the National Lawyers Guild in preparation for the protests. During the week of a16, they collected forms with names, affinity groups and contact information from thousands of activists who were risking arrest. Once the arrests began, they worked round the clock, trying to get in and speak to prisoners, attending the arraignments, and presenting the prisoners’ solidarity demands to the district attorneys. The solidarity agreement resulted in a plea bargain that was entirely unprecedented in the history of DC law. A large group of volunteers also manned phones in the legal office, calling contacts, getting prisoners’ information and trying to keep track of the location and status of hundreds of people. Not only did they accomplish this using nothing more sophisticated than three phones and hundreds of scraps of paper, but they also found time to feed and take care of dozens of activists (including myself) who found themselves out of jail with no money and nowhere to go. WHAT NEXT? While many of the volunteers have gone home, the core staff is remaining in DC until the rest of the litigation has been dealt with. They’re still working on about twenty-five cases that didn’t fall under the plea-bargain, including five felony assaults, several arrests for possession of lockboxes, and one person charged with possession of a Molotov cocktail. When the DC cases are cleared up, they are moving on to LA for the Democratic National Convention, where they will start training and begin again. In the future, they see themselves working with around four or five major political events a year, and eventually settling down at a permanent base in San Francisco. HOW YOU CAN HELP Right now, Midnight Special is working without a budget, funded almost entirely on peoples’ credit cards. All of the long distance calls to parents and contacts of those in jail were made on private cell phones. We’re talking about serious debt here. If you’re grateful that your friends are back here and not rotting in jail, a great way to show your appreciation would be to send them some money. Checks should be made out to Midnight Special Law Collective and sent to PMB 1016 710 6th Ave. South Seattle WA 98104 Or,if you want your donation to be tax deductible, make a check out to Media Island International, with Midnight Special in the memo line, and send them to Marie Poland C/O Media Island International PO Box 7204 Olympia WA 98507