We introduce the concept of embedded legal activity to capture the ways in which lawyers and legal organizations can become intertwined in the ongoing activities of social movements. Embedded legal activity is characterized by diverse issues and venues and comprises legal activities that help support movement infrastructure, close coordination between movement lawyers and other activists, and responsiveness to constituent needs. Investigating a comprehensive data set on legal activity during the southern civil rights movement, we identify forms of legal activity beyond the typical focus of legal mobilization, including defense for movement participants charged with misdemeanors and other crimes, movement assistance on organization-level legal matters, and general legal aid to movement constituents. These were by far the more common types of legal activity and emerged from the embeddedness of lawyers in a mass movement. We argue that embedded legal activity is likely where movements prioritize grassroots leadership and community organizing and face significant countermobilization, hostile legal and political opportunity structures, and substantial social and economic inequality.

中文翻译：

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南方民权运动中的律师和嵌入式法律活动

我们引入了嵌入式法律活动的概念，以捕捉律师和法律组织在正在进行的社会运动活动中交织在一起的方式。嵌入式法律活动的特点是不同的问题和场所，包括有助于支持运动基础设施、运动律师和其他活动家之间的密切协调以及对选民需求的响应的法律活动。调查关于南方民权运动期间法律活动的综合数据集，我们确定了法律动员的典型重点之外的法律活动形式，包括为被控轻罪和其他犯罪的运动参与者辩护，组织层面法律事务的运动援助，以及对运动成员的一般法律援助。到目前为止，这些是更常见的法律活动类型，并且源于律师在群众运动中的嵌入。我们认为，在运动优先考虑基层领导和社区组织并面临重大反动员、敌对的法律和政治机会结构以及严重的社会和经济不平等的情况下，嵌入式法律活动很可能发生。