Sugar Law Center for Economic and Social Justice

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The Sugar Law Center for Economic and Social Justice was founded in 1991 in Detroit as a national nonprofit public-interest law center, built on an endowment left by labor lawyers Maurice and Jane Sugar for work advancing the rights of low-income people and their communities. Maurice Sugar had been a prominent Detroit labor attorney for the United Auto Workers earlier in the twentieth century, and the center that bears his and his wife's name carries that legacy into contemporary worker and civil rights litigation. Rashida Tlaib, later the first Palestinian-American woman elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, worked at the Sugar Law Center from 2015 to 2018 representing workers after she left the Michigan House of Representatives. The organization remains headquartered on Cass Avenue in Midtown Detroit, continuing to litigate and advocate on issues including labor rights, civil rights and economic justice across the country.

1. Founded in 1991 with an endowment from Maurice and Jane Sugar
2. Named for labor lawyer Maurice Sugar, a UAW attorney
3. Rashida Tlaib worked here representing workers, 2015–2018
4. Headquartered on Cass Avenue in Midtown Detroit