Securing Equal Justice for All: A Brief History of Civil Legal Assistance in the United States

Publication Date: January 2007

Publisher: Center for Law and Social Policy

Author(s): Linda E. Perle; Alan W. Houseman

Research Area: Justice; Social conditions

Type: Report

Coverage: United States

Abstract:

This document chronicles civil legal assistance for the low-income community in the United States from its privately funded beginnings, through its achievement of federal funding, and to its expansion and growth into a national program operating throughout the U.S. It also describes some of the political battles that have been fought around the legal services program and the restrictions that have come with government funding. It concludes with some brief thoughts about the future.

This is a revision of the 2003 publication which is included as a supplementary document.