Talk:Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law

Reminder regarding use of LCCRUL text
I just wanted to leave a reminder here that even though Wikipedia has been given permission to use the text at the LCCRUL website, the text still needs to be checked for a WP:POV. In its pure form (verbatim from the website), it may be suitable for an encyclopedia but almost may not be. So far, it's cutting it close, in my opinion. I'll keep an eye on the text and make changes or more likely, discuss changes here on the talk page.  Ol Yeller21 Talktome  17:33, 16 November 2011 (UTC)


 * The "Staff" section with its promotional bio of LCCRUL's executive director is completely unwarranted and I've removed it. Typically articles on organizations just list the key members in the infobox and maybe briefly describe in the text when they took their positions, which this already article does.  If she's really notable, create a separate article on her and see if it survives AfD.  The "Projects" section might be worthy of existing, but the content as added is too long, too promotional, and sourced only to LCCRUL itself.  Unless suitably altered it should go too.  In my view, an article like LatinoJustice PRLDEF (currently up for GA) is the right way to treat this kind of organization, and can be a model for what this article should look like.  Wasted Time R (talk) 02:13, 17 November 2011 (UTC)


 * I've whittled the "Projects" section down somewhat. Wasted Time R (talk) 13:10, 26 November 2011 (UTC)

External links modified
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 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20120421030725/http://www.weil.com/en-US/practiceareas/TransactionDetail.aspx?experience=14487&service=2464 to http://www.weil.com/en-US/practiceareas/TransactionDetail.aspx?experience=14487&service=2464
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 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20111021205626/http://www.lawyerscommittee.org/about?id=0003 to http://www.lawyerscommittee.org/about?id=0003
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Several items requiring community input from editors
A reader wrote to Wikimedia ticket:2019040710000757 expressing a concern about this article. While looking at the article, I came across a number of items that I think deserve attention from the editing community.

Notable cases
Editors often use the word "notable" in a casual sense, identifying something as important. However, it is often used in a subject heading (as here) or as an opening sentence leading to some form of list. Generally speaking, lists of things described as notable ought to use the term "notable" in the Wikipedia sense, viz. meaning that there is a blue link article about the entry.

I don't see any indication that any of these cases have standalone articles. These cases may well be important in the context of the article subject, but I think we should use a different term to avoid the confusion with the Wikipedia term. Perhaps "important cases", although that feels a little casual.

Case referencing
In some of these cases, the citation is to a primary document rather than secondary documents discussing the case. There may well be valid reasons for including a link to a primary document nothing other than useful information for the reader, the primary documents should not be the sole citation. If these truly are important cases, there must be coverage, almost certainly substantial coverage, in published, secondary sources. I think we as a community need to search these out and add these and if they cannot be found, seriously question whether the specific case deserves inclusion.

Civil versus criminal
The term "hate crime" has the word crime right in it so one might naturally think a hate crime is a criminal act. However, as explained in Hate crime, while the term "generally refers to criminal acts", the article goes on to identify "laws creating a distinct civil cause of action for hate crimes..." This mean some of these acts can give rise to civil, not just criminal action. One of the items in the "notable cases" section is "Taylor Dumpson v. Brian Andrew Ade et al". The suggestion has been made that it would be helpful to clarify this as a civil action rather than a criminal action. This is an example of a case where the only citation is to a primary document so it would be especially helpful to track down secondary articles which might well make this point.

Notable Alumni
The term "alumni" is often used in connection with attendance at an educational institution, but as noted at Alumnus, it can also "include a former employee of an organization". For that reason, I think it's fine that this section includes people who were employees of this organization. I'm happy to note that they are all blue links. Some editors feel that entries in such a list need their own citations. I've taken the view that if the linked article supports the claim with a citation that this is sufficient (although I appreciate the argument that perhaps those citations ought to be carried over to the list article). However, while John F. Kennedy played a role in the formation of the organization, I don't see anything in the article about him suggesting that he was an employee of the organization. I think he should be removed. Arguably, the section can be modified to be broader but he is already mentioned in the lead so I don't see the need to artificially expand the criteria simply to include him in the list.-- S Philbrick (Talk)  16:17, 11 May 2019 (UTC)