Peoples' Counsel

WHO WE ARE

Peoples' Counsel is an abolitionist, Black-led movement lawyering shop in Houston, TX, fighting for a world free of police and ICE violence. We recognize that the carceral system was built to rebrand the abuse of Black people as "justice," and it must be dismantled. We believe that care is the antidote to violence, and care demands tactics as varied as the needs of the people we serve. 

We run the only free, open civil rights hotline of its kind in the country. When litigation fits, we go to court. When it doesn't, we connect survivors with other support. Outside the courtroom, we stand shoulder-to-shoulder with communities under attack: backing movement with legal expertise and training community members on safety, strategy, and their rights. 

Every effort serves one purpose: showing up for people the system has thrown away, regardless of identity, finances, status or record: because every survivor of police violence deserves an advocate.

WHY HOUSTON

Houston is one of the most heavily policed cities in the country. Over 60 policing entities operate across Harris County, and police in Houston are 77% more likely to use deadly force during an arrest than their counterparts in every other large city in the country. From 2013 to 2023, Black person in Houston was 5.6x as likely to be killed by police as a white person, based on population share.  And yet, civil rights suits are ten times more likely to be filed in Philadelphia than in Houston. Legal advocates are sorely needed and sorely missing. We have positioned ourselves to fill this gap. We are those advocates.

WHAT WE DO

We fight police violence on four fronts: 

1) we run the only open civil rights intake hotline in the country where any survivor can call and get help; 

2) we litigate in federal court to hold police accountable and secure reparations for survivors; 

3) we offer political and legal education to community members fighting for a reimagined vision of public safety; and 

4) we provide movement builders (organizers, coalitions, and base-builders) with the legal expertise, research, and strategy they need to win.

Our vision of success is a Houston, and eventually a Texas, where communities most harmed by state violence are informed, organized, legally resourced, and powerful enough to transform the systems that harm them. Success looks like survivors who feel heard and supported, police practices changed through litigation and coalition pressure, and a movement ecosystem in Texas that is stronger because Peoples' Counsel is in it.