The National Legal Services Program Emerges
A. Seeds (1961–1965)
1961–1964
The Ford Foundation, the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW), and others begin to support and experiment with local neighborhood legal offices located within anti poverty agencies or multi service centers, building upon a National Lawyers Guild concept of “store front” lawyers begun in the 1930s. Edgar and Jean Cahn launch New Haven Legal Assistance, a prototype, in 1964.
1964
A new national Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO) is created to spearhead Lyndon Johnson’s War on Poverty. A HEW-sponsored national conference on “The Extension of Legal Services to the Poor” is held in November.
1965
The American Bar Association House of Delegates, through the leadership of President Lewis Powell, adopts a resolution supporting the expansion of legal services to “indigents and persons of low income through cooperation with OEO and other appropriate groups,” in February.
U.S. Attorney General Nicholas Katzenbach and Sargent Shriver, Director of OEO, sponsor a National Conference on Law and Poverty in June.
A Legal Services Program is created within OEO, with E. Clinton Bamberger, Jr. as its first Director. Governor Richard J. Hughes forms the New Jersey Governor’s Committee on Law and Poverty. The New Jersey State Bar Association also creates a Committee on Law and Poverty.
B. First Growth Period and Creation of Legal Services Programs in New Jersey (1966-1969)
1966–1967
Between 1966 and 1967, New Jersey programs include the city of Newark and county offices in Essex, Middlesex, Ocean, Hudson, Mercer, Passaic, Camden, Cape-Atlantic, Monmouth, Bergen, Somerset, and Union. The State Office of Legal Services (SOLS) is also created in 1967 within the Department of Community Affairs. Funding comes principally from OEO, which funds 300 new agencies nationally by the end of 1977.
Summer riots and civil disturbances take place in Newark, Plainfield, New Brunswick, and other cities across the country.
The first Murphy Amendment is introduced and defeated in Congress; it would have prevented Legal Services programs from suing any government agency.
1968
Internally, OEO struggles over control of the Legal Services program. At the national level, debates ensue over whether the Legal Services program would be created under the Community Action Program or maintained independently (a substantial degree of independence was the outcome). More locally, debates address the degree of control to be exercised by private lawyers, program staff, and clients.
National “backup centers,” mostly placed in law schools, are funded to focus on systemic poverty law issues; some state backup centers are also funded.
1969
The Camden farmworkers office opens; there are now 131 attorneys in New Jersey Legal Services programs. The New Jersey Supreme Court approves putting notice of availability of Legal Services on summons.
Governor Hughes and the New Jersey State Bar Association oppose the second Murphy amendment, which would have permitted a conclusive gubernatorial veto of any program; the amendment does not pass.
Across the country, adversaries increase attacks on and criticism of Legal Services programs. In Missouri, for example, Governor Warren Hearns vetoes a Community Action grant to a St. Louis program (although the veto was later overridden).
The New Jersey State Office of Legal Services (SOLS), an agency within the Department of Community Affairs, begins to provide some backup information, support, and coordination for local Legal Services programs.