This workshop will focus on ways law clinics can help dismantle systems of control & oppression and help marginalized communities build toward systemic and liberatory justice. Presenters will share about emerging needs clinics and movement lawyering strategies leveraging community partnerships. Participants will also share concrete ways their clinics are responding to societal needs. It is no secret that our democracy is in peril. The intensification and acceleration of the erosion of many democratic institutions makes this a potential period of transformative change. Law school clinics can serve important roles as sites of critical pedagogy, helping students, community partners, and clients leverage opportune moments to build towards an abolition democracy. In this workshop, we will examine emerging needs clinics, designed to give law schools flexibility in responding to urgent emerging needs in marginalized communities. CUNY Law School’s emerging needs clinic (ENC) provides students hands-on experience in how to approach lawyering during a large-scale crisis, training future leaders who will help guide the City through difficult times. The substantive areas addressed in the ENC will vary depending on what is happening in NY in real time, however the background of the clinic gives students a framework to analyze, approach, triage, and partner and intervene to be effective community-centered lawyers and problem solvers during a legal crisis. The first crisis of scale being addressed in the ENC is the refugee crisis in NYC. We will also explore how movement lawyering and working with community partners allow clinics to focus their work on the most pressing needs communities identify, using a recent marijuana justice campaign as a case study. We will then discuss strategies participants use to ensure their work is responding to current needs – and opportunities. Finally, we will share wellness practices to sustain lawyers as we do this heavy work.