v.1. part I. The charitably funded era (1876-1964) -- "And to promote measures for their protection" -- Two men and a book -- The limits of private charity -- Remaking legal aid -- The Dream goes national -- part II. The OEO legal services program and the war on poverty era (1965-1971) -- The "Scandinavian Boy Scout" at the helm -- Leveling the legal landscape -- "Germs Don't Make Political Donations, but Losing Litigants Do" -- Wall street lawyers for the poor -- Can small cases make big law? -- 1968: a bright present, but an uncertain future -- The transition from Shriver's dream to Rumsfeld's regime -- Early mixed messages, then a united front -- Into the political quicksand -- Reagan versus CRLA. v.2. part III. Rescuing legal services from the wreckage of the war on poverty -- The rocky road to a legal services corporation: I-II. Report from the field -- A look back -- part IV. The legal services corporation and the access to justice era begin and nearly end -- Not so easy after all -- The Hillary Clinton years -- Reagan's first year -- A missed opportunity -- The senator and the president -- Reagan's second term -- Back from the brink. v.3 -- part V. Access to justice narrows for the nation's poor -- Gingrich's "Contract" cancels Clinton's "Hope" -- Coping with the compromise -- A time of respite and risk -- part VI. The future of civil legal aid in the United States -- How far we have come, how far yet to go -- Removing the blinders, viewing some possibilities from elsewhere in the world -- Establishing justice for all: possibilities and prospects.
Summary:
"American statesman Sargent Shriver called the Legal Services Program the "most important" of all the War on Poverty programs he started; American Bar Association president Edward Kuhn said its creation was the most important development in the history of the legal profession. Earl Johnson Jr., a former director of the War on Poverty's Legal Services Program, provides a vivid account of the entire history of civil legal aid from its inception in 1876 to the current day. The first to capture the full story of the dramatic, ongoing struggle to bring equal justice to those unable to afford a lawyer, this monumental three-volume work covers the personalities and events leading to a national legal aid movement - and decades later, the federal government's entry into the field, and its creation of a unique institution, an independent Legal Services Corporation, to run the program. The narrative also covers the landmark court victories the attorneys won and the political controversies those cases generated, along with the heated congressional battles over the shape and survival of the Legal Services Corporation. In the final chapters, the author assesses the current state of civil legal aid and its future prospects in the United States."--pub. desc.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.