Learning Objectives: Identify when (and when not) to ask for assistance from an attorney in a tobacco control policy campaign. Evaluate how attorney input compares with other political and strategic concerns in a tobacco control policy campaign. Identify where to look for assistance from an attorney.
Abstract: Tobacco control policy campaigns are often jeopardized by threatened legal action. The industry has threatened (and filed) lawsuits challenging local laws ranging from limiting secondhand smoke exposure to limiting tobacco advertising. Community organizers can benefit from the input of attorneys, who can advise advocates regarding legal risks associated with a proposed policy and ways to minimize such risks. However, lawyers are only one voice for community organizers to consider in moving forward a campaign. Successful policy change often results when organizers continue to advocate for tobacco control policies despite legal barriers such as threatened litigation.
This panel will address important strategic questions of how and when to make use of lawyers, as well as where to find legal assistance. Panelists reflect the perspectives of both community organizers and tobacco control attorneys, and will provide advocates with examples from actual policy campaigns. Key points include: (1) Lawyers can provide valuable information to help shape a policy prior to introduction and assist if a policy is challenged after passage. (2) Lawyers are only one component of a successful policy campaign. Community organizers should balance legal advice with other political factors in moving a campaign forward. (3) Input from lawyers can help prepare advocates for potential challenges; however, advocates need to be prepared to move ahead despite threatened legal action. (4) Lawyers should be brought in strategically: learn when to ask (and not to ask) for advice from a lawyer and how to find an attorney who might be sympathetic to the cause.
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