I once heard a law school classmate describe the role lawyers as "defending the trenches." They weren't talking about the mundane practice of law, where attorneys facilitate civil society with work like structuring business transactions, interacting with the government, or appearing in court for routine matters. Rather, they were describing the function of lawyers in movements. The idea brings to mind a battlefield with two sides locked in conflict over territory. The trenches on the backlines represent the space that one side has a hold over. When a movement advances, so does its trenches.
Lawyers, then, defend these trenches -- the rights a movement has "won". For example, we might think about the long civil rights movement culminating in the Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act and the crucial role of lawyers in following through on the promise of those statutes in courts across the country. Or sometimes, lawyers will fight tooth and nail to prevent the dismantling of a movement's gains. Without this trench defense, a movement can backslide and lose the fruits of its labor.
I'll note that I do think that lawyers can play a more holistic role in movements than simply defending its trenches. As a profession, lawyers have working knowledge about what works and what doesn't inside the systems that affect our lives and movements can use these insights for both leveraging powerful critiques of the status quo as well as offering up visions of the future. However, the integration of lawyers with movements presents its problems and like most professions, lawyers have taken on an increasingly narrow view of their expertise and contribution.
I can't shake this feeling that there is an urgent need to move the trenches up. I know that things have changed in my lifetime. Same-sex marriage comes to mind: the larger cultural movement and its corresponding legal battle was no small win. But in a larger sense, I can't help but feel like that the trenches have sat, unmoving, for far too long. We need a collective movement that will advance deeper into the battlefield. We need lawyers to defend the promises of new trenches that reflect the needs of today.