Sugar Law

09/14/2026

It was a great night a couple weeks ago celebrating the work of our long-time unemployment insurance project's intake coordinator, Diane Kotze. Diane is retiring after years on the front lines helping to triage client calls and intakes. Diane did so much for our clients behind the scenes and was a voice of calm and reassurance to people calling at some of the most difficult times in their lives. Diane, you are missed and appreciated!!! Enjoy your retirement!

09/13/2026

Much thanks to everyone who was able to stop by our pre-Dally in the Alley BBQ. Was great just relaxing and seeing everyone!

09/11/2026

Another Summer and another great group of interns leaves us. It was really wonderful getting to know each of you, Lauren, Ruta, Nina, Charlie & Nick! Thanks for all your help. You have great futures ahead of you!

09/11/2026

SLC's Liz Jacob, her partner Mitch from AFT Michigan and friends representing at Detroit's Labor Day Parade!

09/10/2026

Late summer has seen us a little slow in getting our posts up. This was a movement t-shirt day with a great group of summer interns. We have Jacob supporting the office's union NOLSW, UAW Local 2320; Charlie in classic AFL-CIO Solidarity attire; Nick in a timeless NLG S**U shirt, John wearing a St. Pauli FC anti-facist shirt; Lauren supporting the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center; Nina urging us all to embrace the world and save the planet; Ruta lifting up autonomous communities; and Liz in gear to defend DACA/abolish ICE. Woot!

08/20/2026

Jacob Fallman representing and to recognize the hard work of this year's award recipients at the Breakfast of Champions for the MI Coalition Against Homelessness!

08/13/2026

On this day in 1891, the UAW's first General Counsel, Maurice Sugar, was born in Brimley, Michigan.

Sugar was one of the first American lawyers to become what is now known as a "Labor Lawyer." Before he was made general counsel, a post he held between 1937 and 1948, he had practiced as a labor lawyer and defender of the poor since 1914.

As the UAW's top lawyer, Sugar wrote the union's constitution in 1939, a model of democratic thinking. He represented executive board members (including Walter Reuther) whom then-president Homer Martin unsuccessfully tried to expel in 1938. The Flint sit-down strike and the union organization of Ford were other important episodes of UAW history in which he participated.

After leaving the UAW in 1948, Sugar continued in private practice, and with his civil rights interests, and his life-long pleasure in writing songs until and even after his retirement. He died at age eighty-two in 1974.

📸 Walter P. Reuther Library, Archives of Labor & Urban Affairs

07/16/2026

Liz Jacob, lead staff attorney at the Sugar Law Center for Economic and Social Justice, said the brief pause [in ICE traffic pursuits] could have prevented injuries suffered by some of the organization’s clients.

“I want to underscore that if a policy like this had been in place even a few weeks ago, our clients here at the Sugar Law Center , the communities that we’re representing in Detroit and Michigan, would be safer,” Jacob said.

Jacob ‘s law firm represented Detroit residents Yerlys Moreno López and Mohamd Salim Abdessamed, both of whom were involved in encounters with ICE that escalated into vehicle pursuits. She said her agency fought for each client’s civil rights in court.

A brief pause on certain traffic stops by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has sparked debate after President Donald Trump called on the agency to continue using the tactic despite recent fatal and serious crashes tied to ICE pursuits.

07/11/2026

BREAKING: Michigan’s labor movement, including the Michigan AFL-CIO, UAW International Union and the Michigan Education Association , issued the following joint statement on Governor Whitmer’s veto of the stalled bills: