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110:, which launched the war on poverty and mandated federal funds to be allocated for the first time to fund legal services to the poor. However, this law did not specifically provide for legal services and it took many years and attempts to finally devise a federal construct to support legal aid for the low-income community. After years of research and advocacy, the
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In recent years, the NLADA has honored individuals and organizations with a variety of awards at its annual conferences. Awards range from the Mary Ellen
Hamilton award, which recognizes a client of a legal aid or defender organization, to the Clara Shortridge Foltz Award, which honors organizations
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Over the years legal aid has evolved into a comprehensive program that provides legal assistance to low-income people regardless of race, ethnicity or gender. NLADA is the only national membership organization devoted exclusively to ensuring legal representation for individuals who cannot afford an
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created the
Special Committee on Legal Aid Work. By the middle of the 20th century, virtually every major metropolitan area had some kind of legal aid program. However, the system established was not suffice in meeting the needs of the poor and in the early 1960s a new model for legal services
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in 1919. Smith challenged the legal profession to consider it an obligation to see that access to justice was available to all, without regard to ability to pay. "Without equal access to the law," he wrote, "the system not only robs the poor of their only protection, but places in the hands of
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The first legal aid society, The German
Society of New York, was founded in 1876 to protect German immigrants from exploitation. Subsequently, the agency's protection was extended to others and in 1890 it became the Legal Aid Society of New York. In 1888, the Ethical Culture Society of Chicago
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established by the Bureau of
Justice was the first agency to offer legal assistance to individuals regardless of nationality, race or gender. Other municipalities followed suit, and in the first decades of the 20th century most major cities had opened legal aid societies.
64:. Beginning in the late 1800s and throughout the early years of the 20th century, the American legal profession expressed its commitment to the concept of free legal assistance for poor people in the form of
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and legislative debates on the many issues affecting the equal justice community. NLADA also serves as a resource for those seeking more information on equal justice in the United States.
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298:." Cambridge, Massachusetts: Afro-Latin American Research Institute at the Hutchins Center, Harvard University, December 2019 (retrieved online August 1, 2023).
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programs emerged. This new model was based on the philosophy that legal services should be a component of an overall anti-poverty effort. The
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of New York was the first president of the organization that became the
National Legal Aid & Defender Association (NLADA) in 1949.
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that have pioneered important innovations in the field. Notable recipients of NLADA awards include former
Attorney General
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NLADA serves the equal justice community in two major ways: providing products and services and as a national voice in
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253:"Ethical Culture and the Ongoing Quest for Social Justice," The Ethical Culture Society of Bergen County, NJ,
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The concept of free legal assistance for the poor was promoted by the publication of
Reginald Heber Smith's
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In 1911, legal aid societies joined together to form the
National Alliance of Legal Aid Societies.
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their oppressors the most powerful and ruthless weapon ever invented.
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The ALARI First
Continental Conference on Afro-Latin American Studies
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membership organization devoted to advocating equal justice for all
234:"The History of the Legal Aid Society," The Legal Aid Society,
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Fourteenth
Amendment to the United States Constitution
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societies and bar association legal aid committees.
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http://www.legal-aid.org/en/aboutus/ourhistory.aspx
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106:Subsequently, in 1964 came the passage of the
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377:Criminal justice reform in the United States
347:1911 establishments in the United States
309:http://www.nlada.org/About/About_Awards
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29:) is the oldest and largest national,
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37:and was established in 1911.
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112:Legal Services Corporation
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108:Economic Opportunity Act
96:American Bar Association
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207:"Legal Aid Societies,"
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62:equal justice under law
58:Equal Protection Clause
314:July 17, 2012, at the
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283:Justice and the Poor
88:Justice and the Poor
270:The New York Times
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35:Americans
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