Includes bibliographical references and index.

Retrenchment...and resurgence? mapping the changing context of movement lawyering in the United States / Michael McCann and Jeffrey Dudas -- The profession, the grassroots & the elite : cause lawyering for civil rights and freedom in the direct action era / Thomas Hilbink -- Cause lawyers in the first wave of same sex marriage litigation / Scott Barclay and Shauna Fisher -- Cause lawyering and political advocacy : moving law on behalf of Central American refugees / Susan Bilder Coutin -- Consumer cause lawyering in the United States : lawyers for the movement or a movement unto themselves? / Stephen Meili -- To lead with law : reassessing the influence of legal advocacy organizations in social movements / Sandra R. Levitsky -- Social movement strategies and the participatory potential of litigation / Anna-Maria Marshall -- The haves come out ahead : how cause lawyers frame the legal system for movements / Lynn Jones -- In legal culture, but not of it : the role of cause lawyers in evangelical legal mobilization / Kevin R. Den Dulk.

This book is a scholarly collection that explores how cause lawyers—legal professionals who engage in social justice or political advocacy—interact with and influence social movements. It brings together empirical studies and theoretical analysis to examine the dynamic, and sometimes uneasy, relationship between law, lawyers, and activism.