Georgetown Journal on Poverty Law & Policy
Rationing Justice: Access to Justice and the 40th Anniversary of the Legal Services Corporation
Tuesday, March 3, 2015
9:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
In 1974, President Richard Nixon signed the Legal Services Corporation Act, creating a federally funded program for providing legal services to the poor. The participants in the Georgetown Journal on Poverty Law & Policy symposium will discuss the past, present and future of legal services in the United States 40 years later.Jim Sandman, the president of Legal Services Corporation, will provide the opening keynote on the history and accomplishments of Legal Services Corporation. From the “good old days” of early impact litigation to the on-the-ground work being done by practitioners in both law firms and public interest organizations, the first panel will discuss the history and current status of access to justice. The second panel will look at the cutting edge of poverty lawyering through the lens of clinical education, community lawyering, and other innovative strategies for providing quality legal services to the poor. Chief Judge Lippman of the New York Court of Appeals will speak on his work to increase access to justice in the New York State court system in the closing keynote.
Agenda
9:00 – 9:45 a.m.
Introduction
Jim Sandman, President, Legal Services Corporation
10:00 – 10:45 a.m.
Panel: Four Decades of Legal Services: How Have Things Changed?
Lisa Dewey, Pro Bono Partner, DLA Piper
Alan Houseman, Emeritus Senior Fellow and former Executive Director, Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP)
Hannah Lieberman, Executive Director, Neighborhood Legal Services Program
11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Panel: Ensuring Justice: New Directions in Legal Strategies
Jane Aiken, Associate Dean for Experiential Education, Georgetown University Law Center
Rhonda Brownstein, Legal Director, Southern Poverty Law Center
Purvi Shah, Director, Bertha Justice Institute, Center for Constitutional Rights
Sharon Dietrich, Litigation Director, Community Legal Services
12:00 – 1:00 p.m.
Closing Remarks
Jonathan Lippman, Chief Judge, State of New York and Chief Judge, New York Court of Appeals