Our Services
Community lawyering is central to our legal advocacy at the Great Lakes Environmental Law Center. Through community lawyering, we seek to utilize our services to empower community residents, environmental advocates, and policymakers throughout Michigan to create effective, multi-faceted strategies to address environmental issues that are impacting Michigan residents and create systemic change. We strive to provide high quality legal services to all organizations and individuals seeking to address environmental issues of all kinds. Whether it’s a massive environmental catastrophe impacting thousands of people or an environmental issue that’s uniquely impacting yourself or your community, we’re here to help.
Issues
We work on any environmental issues that are impacting the health or well-being of Michigan’s communities of color and low-income. Here are some examples of issues we’ve worked on recently:
Clean Air - We work to ensure every Michigander has clean air to breathe by working with impacted communities to identify threats to air quality and working with residents to develop strategies to address those threats.
Clean, Affordable Drinking Water - Drinking water is essential for any healthy, vibrant community. We work with frontline water affordability advocates to build a right to affordable drinking water and to ensure that all communities have safe drinking water, with a specific focus on lead contamination.
Clean Water - Michigan is the Great Lakes State but too often our most treasured natural resources are threatened by irresponsible polluters. We work with impacted communities to identify threats to Michigan’s water resources and work with residents to develop strategies to address those threats.
Hazardous Waste Management - Michigan is the worst state in the nation regarding the discriminatory siting of hazardous waste facilities in communities of color. We work with impacted communities to put an end to Michigan’s toxic legacy of targeting communities of color to be the dumping grounds for hazardous waste from across the country.
Urban Farming and Other Urban Land-Based Projects - We work to support innovative individuals and organizations that are creatively utilizing urban land to build urban farms, renewable energy, green spaces, and more, in order to create an environmentally just future for communities that have been subject to racial and economic discrimination.
Nonprofit Law For Environmental Justice Organizations - Building strong movements requires strong organizations. We help environmental justice organizations build a solid foundation by providing legal counseling on a variety of nonprofit law topics, including how to incorporate a nonprofit, how to file for tax-exempt status, and assistance in drafting bylaws.
Services
We provide a wide variety of services to help Michigan communities develop multi-faceted strategies to address environmental issues. These include the following:
Community Education
Give presentations to all different types of audiences large and small regarding environmental issues and how the law may used to address such issues.
Provide research and writing services to draft reports on environmental issues impacting Michigan’s communities.
Prepare informational materials, such as fact sheets and talking points, and host training sessions to help residents meaningfully participate in public hearings and public comment periods.
Draft and submit Freedom of Information Act requests to obtain public records regarding a wide variety of environmental issues in Michigan.
Legal Services
Filing lawsuits to challenge local, state, or federal government decisions in court.
Filing lawsuits against private corporations for failing to comply with environmental laws and regulations.
Drafting and submitting comments regarding local, state, or federal government decisions subject to public notice and comment.
Ensuring state and local government compliance with civil rights laws and regulations through administrative complaints and litigation.
Policy Services
Work with coalitions to draft model laws and regulations regarding environmental issues impacting Michigan communities.
Provide policy research support to identify best practices regarding policy solutions.
Transactional Legal Services
Work with environmental justice focused organizations, including environmental nonprofits, urban farming organizations and many others, to assist them with a wide variety of real property related issues, including real property acquisitions, review of real estate contracts, legal counseling regarding loans and grants, and zoning compliance.
Work with environmental justice focused organizations to assist them with nonprofit law issues, including forming a nonprofit corporation, filing for tax exempt status and complying with IRS regulations for tax-exempt organizations, and drafting bylaws.
Costs For Our Services
We strive to help people and organizations that otherwise may not be able to afford to hire an environmental lawyer by providing no-cost or low-cost legal services. The costs of our services are determined based on our client’s ability to pay and existing resources from charitable contributions and grants. Initial consultations are always free and we encourage you to get in touch to discuss how we can help you.
Work With Us
As the only environmental justice legal organization based in Michigan, our small team of lawyers relies on dedicated law students and recent graduates to assist us in pursuing this vital work.