Stabilization and Expansion
1974
The Legal Services Corporation Act of 1974 is signed into law on July 25 by President Nixon, just days before he resigns. It provides for an independent federal corporation, outside the executive branch, governed by 11 board members appointed by the president but subject to confirmation by the Senate.
The New Jersey project directors group becomes the New Jersey Legal Services Association, adding staff representatives, and is headed first by Jim Ventantonio and then De Miller.
At the end of the year, the Association votes to fund the dormant LSNJ to hire a staff coordinator, making possible the publication of a monthly newsletter. The funding comes entirely from local program contributions. The staff coordinator, Dominique Rouvet, is succeeded in 1975 by Sue Perger.
The New Jersey Department of Human Services awards $1.4 million of federal social services money to New Jersey Legal Services programs.
1975
President Ford’s nominees to the board of the Legal Services Corporation are confirmed by the Senate, with Roger Cramton, Dean of Cornell Law School, as chair; on July 14, 1975, they are sworn in, hold their first meeting, and are addressed by Justice Lewis Powell, whose ABA leadership a decade earlier helped bring about the Legal Services program.
Thomas Ehrlich, dean of Stanford Law School, is selected as the first president (staff director) of the corporation, and E. Clinton Bamberger, Jr., dean of Catholic University Law School, as its executive vice president.
LSNJ receives its first grant from the Legal Services Corporation; three staff attorneys are hired: Felipe Chavana, Regina Little, and Phyllis Warren. De Miller serves as president (executive director) of LSNJ while remaining director of Middlesex Legal Services.
1976
LSC begins its progression toward considerably increased funding and expansion into all 50 states. Funding rises from $71.5 million in 1971, to $92.3 million in 1976, to $321.3 million in 1981. At its birth, the LSC had 258 programs staffed by 3,300 attorneys and 100 paralegals. By 1981, there are 325 programs, with 1,450 offices, in all 50 states, D.C., Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Micronesia, and Guam. These programs employ 6,200 attorneys and 3,000 paralegals.
With staff, LSNJ expands the monthly Report, which is sent to every Legal Services staff member in the state. LSNJ also conducts training, revitalizes substantive task forces, and prepares to hold its first statewide Legal Services Conference in January 1977.
New Jersey Governor Brendan Byrne appoints the Legal Services Advisory Council, chaired by Dickinson R. Debevoise, to receive complaints and monitor the Legal Services program, pursuant to the LSC Act.
LSC launches what will become a $15 million “Delivery Systems Study” (DSS), mandated by Congress, to compare staff programs with judicare, prepaid legal services, clinics, contracts with law firms, and a voucher system.
By the end of 1976, Hunterdon and Warren Legal Services programs have been created, and the Legal Aid Society of Morris County receives an LSC grant, extending Legal Services coverage to all 21 counties in New Jersey.
1977–1979
Key characteristics of the LSC approach are implemented across the country:
(1) Almost all grants are territorial, covering a specific geographical area, rather than targeting specific populations. Exceptions are grants to 46 migrant programs or components, and 11 Native American grantees.
(2) National support centers (the new name for backup centers) are gradually strengthened, with increasingly specific work programs. In 1978, the LSC carries out an extensive study of support and training.
(3) As a result of the impetus gained from the 1978 support study, state support centers (of which LSNJ was one) are strongly encouraged, with many new grants issued.
(4) LSC develops a national training program and emphasis, centered in the LSC’s Office of Program Support, which designs national skills training packages for attorneys and other advocates, conducts training events all over the country, and encourages additional training at the state and local levels through a grants program. Indeed, starting in 1979, and as a result of the 1978 support study, the LSC begins a gradual process of “decentralizing” training, encouraging replication of national designs at the local level.
(5) Through its Research Institute, the LSC carries out national level in depth research and strategy development on a multitude of substantive legal issues and other topics pertinent to the poor.
(6) LSC engages in systematic monitoring and evaluation of all of its grantees.
In 1977, Congress passes a reauthorization of the Legal Services Corporation, eliminating a number of the restrictions contained in the 1974 Act. This authorization expires in 1980 and is the last authorization of Legal Services approved by Congress and signed into law. The program has continued since 1980 because each annual appropriation is treated as an implicit authorization.
LSNJ hires Renee Ensley [Mickens] as a secretary in 1977. As of this commemorative year, Renee Mickens is the longest serving employee of LSNJ.
In January 1978, De Miller moves to LSNJ as full time President, and LSNJ substantially expands its activities. LSNJ’s second statewide Legal Services Conference is held in Cape May during September 1978.
In January 1978, President Carter appoints five new LSC board members, and four more are added in early 1979. Dan Bradley replaces Thomas Ehrlich as President of the LSC in June 1979, without any major changes in LSC policy.
1980
LSC completes the Delivery Systems Study, which, while generally inconclusive, found that inclusion of staff was essential to cost, efficiency, quality, and significant impact. The DSS report ultimately suggests that the search for a perfect national delivery model should be abandoned, because there is no single best approach, and that efforts should instead be directed toward funding the most effective and creative local delivery systems.
LSC sets aside $500,000 for new pro bono demonstration projects.
Ronald Reagan is elected President in November.
In December, the 1980 LSC reauthorization is pulled from Congressional calendars without passage in order to avoid a host of restrictive amendments.
LSNJ’s third statewide Conference is held in East Brunswick; New Jersey Supreme Court Chief Justice Wilentz addresses the entire assembly.
LSNJ publishes a broad, multi year advocacy plan to guide Legal Services efforts for the coming years.