Pathways: Charlotte Noss ’10

"Organizing is my passion. With a law degree, I'll have the tools to create more effective change." — Charlotte Noss ’10

“I’ve been an organizer for years, and to the low-wage and immigrant laborers I work with, the law can seem very disempowering − as though it was deliberately made technical and opaque to discourage people from using it. But the more organizing campaigns I worked on, the more I began to see what the law brought to the table. In one instance, we pressured employers to recognize their employees’ unions by filing multiple complaints for labor law violations. And I began to wonder what I might do − whether as a lawyer or a more legally savvy organizer − to demystify the law and put it work in the organizing world.

NUSL has let me tailor my legal education to that goal. All of my co-ops have been at nonprofit organizations, law firms and international NGOs at the heart of labor and immigration issues. As a research project, a classmate and I interviewed labor lawyers and advocates from around the country. Then, we assembled a best-practices guide for combining law and organizing. Other classes at NUSL are already using it as a resource. So I’m doing what I want to do, while learning a lot — and making professional contacts — in the process.”

Charlotte’s Pathway