Natasha M. Scruggs
For Natasha Scruggs, her interest in law came naturally. Her grandfather, after receiving his master’s degree, went to law school but did not complete it in the 70s, and those stories of a vocation unrealized left a curiosity in Scruggs about law, public service, and how the law can help both protect and transform her community.
Natasha Scruggs was born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri. Her love for words and also knack for all things legal came at an extremely early age, she speaks about her earliest childhood memories, “My grandfather made us look up words in his encyclopedia collection and develop an opinion early.” The household turned out to be a family of lawyers, “I began playing fake court with my cousin at age 5 and my grandmother was the judge. I knew I would be an attorney. After I graduated, my cousin who grew up in my childhood house and my older brother graduated from law school as well.”
Scruggs became hyper-aware of the cruelty of the state and the need for people that knew the law, on our side at a young age through personal experience. She recalls, “I always knew that I wanted to be an attorney, but two things occurred that confirmed it: When I was around 10 years old the police brutally beat my big brother in the mall. They then threatened to charge him with something false. My mother was scared, so we did not pursue anything.” The other formative experience about the failure of the police ended in even more tragedy, “When I was 17 my 29 year old uncle was killed by the police and they covered it up. This was 6 years prior to when Michael Brown was killed.” Now, in this political moment we are living in 2020, Scruggs’ service to the community is even more pronounced and needed. We are in a political moment where the people resisting need someone that doesn’t just know the law, but knows the struggles and the souls of the people they are representing. Natasha Scruggs is the answer to such cries.
“I had a specific interest in helping my community on my terms,” Scruggs says when asked about how she came to create her law firm, The Scruggs Firm. Law has been notoriously weaponized to oppress Black people, both individually and collectively. It is necessary that now, we have representation that serves us and that takes a certain amount of rebellion and innovation. She continues, “I never wanted to attempt to conform to what people believed an attorney was. Now, I feel like I want to make a larger global impact rather than representing individual clients.”
Scruggs’ stance is now aligned with pro-Black revolutionaries like Dr. Angela Davis that demanded the need of prison abolition and an implementation for a different kind of way to maintain public safety and policy, Scruggs says, “My goal in my career is to implement prison abolition in place of the current penal system that we have. My goal for my community is to educate them so that we move accordingly and become empowered in the best possible way.”
This has been the long-term goal and vision for The Scruggs Law Firm, but of course, as the deaths of Breana Taylor and George Floyd echo in our minds; the need for the work she is doing and the vision she is creating is even that much more necessary. The Scruggs Law Firm is creating a new way for people to participate in and think about law. The firm is quickly turning into one of the pioneering resources to help organizers and the public alike navigate the legal system.
One of the most vital and innovative tools created has been The Law Lab — a webinar hosted by Natasha Scruggs herself that guides high-school and college age people that desire to have a career in law. It’s a way for our future generations to truly connect with someone from their community about the good, bad, and the ugly of becoming a lawyer. This is also keeping with the firm’s roots, “My firm started as a virtual law practice. I would say our firm's technology and the ability to hire us online [is what helps us stand out from other law firms].” Another digitally based service is the webinar, Level Up Program, a motivational webinar that guides people on how to transcend the tragedies and hardships in their life and arrive at the life and accomplishments they dreamed of.
What also speaks to Scruggs’ dedication to the community is how she envisions her future, “I see myself as an owner who gives opportunities to young attorneys. I also see the firm as a facilitator of prison abolition.”
The road she has in front of her is not easy or commonly walked, but nothing truly revolutionary ever truly is, she is paving a way for the next generation of Black women that look to get us just that much closer to a free and just society. She says, “Black women have helped me every step of the way in the law. It feels like Black women understand the larger picture and the issues navigating a white, male dominated field.” Natasha Scruggs and The Scruggs Law Firm are the forces challenging that outdated paradigm and guiding us — legally — into the future.
Written by Myles Johnson
Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority Inc.
B.A. in Criminal Justice - Jackson State University
J.D. - Mississippi College School of Law
Licensed in Missouri