This course will consider lawyers who choose clients and projects to advance their own political commitments. We will examine the definition of "cause lawyer" and its relationship to traditional understandings of lawyers' roles. We also will consider: practice conditions that facilitate or interfere with serving causes; relationships between clients and causes; and similarities and differences among lawyers for various causes in terms of social backgrounds, practice sites, career tracks, strategies, participation in social movements, and connection to lawyer networks. Roughly the first half of the course will focus on issues of professional responsibility that are particularly salient for cause lawyers. The second half will examine how lawyers in various practice settings manage their opportunities and obligations. The course materials will draw on publications from a broad range of disciplines, including law, sociology, history, and political science, as well as from accounts in the legal and popular press. Practicing lawyers who serve causes of the political left and right will be invited to discuss their experiences and views about these topics.