Alumni News
1998 Reggie Reunion
Charter Class of Reginald Heber Smith Fellows at University of Pennsylvania,
1967
National Equal Justice Library Seeks Oral Histories and Papers
Clinton
Bamberger on the 1998 Reunion
Photographs of the Reunion
A
"Reggie" Reminisces
1998 Reggie
Reunion
As part of its Reggie Alumni program, in
November, 1998, the National Equal Justice Library in collaboration with the
Legal Services Corporation held a "Reggie Reunion" at the Library's
host institution, American University's Washington College of Law. This
Reunion attracted over 150 former "Reggies" to a two-day program of
panel discussions, reminiscences, receptions, hallway conversations, many
laughs and a closing banquet. This "Reggie
Reunion" is described below. The Library videotaped all the sessions
and retains those videos in its modest but growing Media Center. Each
year's class also gathered together for an hour or two of collective reminiscing
about their joint experiences during training and their individual experiences
after they were assigned to local legal services agencies. The Library
audio-taped these conversations and they, too, are available in the NEJL's
Media Center
On November
13 & 14, 1998, one hundred and fifty Reginald Heber Smith Community Lawyer
Fellows gathered at the National Equal Justice Library located at American
University in Washington, D.C. to relive their heady days as legal services
lawyers.They were
“early revolutionaries” in the words of Glenn Carr, a 1967 Fellow
and the director of the program in the 1970s. From 1967 until 1985 about 2,300
bright young lawyers committed to the creative use of the law to aid the poor
were granted Fellowships to work for a year or two in legal services offices.
The competition was stiff. Law
Professor David Filvaroff of the University of Buffalo who was in charge in
1969 saw his challenge as “... choosing the best 250 ....”
Many are still leading lawyers for the poor, in legal
services and in private practice.
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Charter
Class of Reginald Heber Smith Fellows at University of Pennsylvania, 1967
The program began in the Office of Economic
Opportunity, President Johnson’s War on Poverty, and was continued by the
Legal Services Corporation which along with the National Equal Justice Library
co-sponsored the reunion event. Reginald Heber Smith is the father of modern
legal aid in the United States. Straight out of law school in 1916 he took
over as director of the fledgling Boston Legal Aid Society. Smith’s monumental
study of legal aid published in 1919 is the foundation of the national legal
aid movement that led to the establishment of the National Legal Aid and
Defender Association and eventually the federal government’s support for legal
aid.
The cutting edge legal work of the “Reggies,” as they came to be
called, is an important part of the history of legal services. Consistent with
the Library’s mission of preserving that history, the staff and board of the
Library undertook to find the Reggies and their stories.
The Library now has current addresses for about half of these legal
services pioneers and the search continues.
The Fellows are now legal services lawyers, private practitioners and
public leaders.
Among them are Executive Directors and board members of legal
services programs and support centers; at least two current governors, Angus
King of Maine and William Janklow of South Dakota; members of Congress like
Earl Hilliard a leader of the Black Caucus, at least one Ambassador and one
former Cabinet Member, George Bruno of New Hampshire and Frederic Pena of
Colorado, a score of appellate and trial judges, a dozen present or former law
school deans and scores of professors. They
are outstanding lawyers, in small towns and large, in large firms and small.
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National Equal Justice Library Seeks Papers and Oral Histories
The National Equal Justice Library
encourages all Reggies to send unpublished materials (correspondence, memos,
reports, significant case documents, etc.) and oral reminiscences (either
written or on tape) related to their experiences as "Reggies" to the
National Equal Justice Library for inclusion in the NEJL Archives.
Please use the following address -- Robert Forman, Archivist, National Equal
Justice Library, Washington College of Law, 4801 Massachusetts Ave. N.W.,
Washington D.C. 20016. If you have questions, you can reach Mr.
Forman at (202 274-4320 or by fax at (202)274-4365 or by e-mail at nejl@wcl.american.edu.
One Reggie alumnus, Larry Fox, wrote a reminiscence and reflection on
Reggie experience we found so interesting we have included excerpts
below under the heading "A
Reggie Reminisces".
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Clinton Bamberger,
Reunion of Reginald Heber Smith Fellows
n November 13 & 14, 1998 at the National Equal
Justice Library at American University in Washington, D.C. one hundred and
fifty Reginald Heber Smith Community Lawyer Fellows relived their heady days
as legal services lawyers.
They were "early revolutionaries" in
the words of Glenn Carr, a 1967 Fellow and the director of the program in the
1970s. (For possible use as you edit - Glenn is now the Director of Personnel
of the City of Chicago.) From 1967 until 1985 about 2,300 bright young lawyers
committed to the creative use of the law to aid the poor were granted
Fellowships to work for a year or two in legal services offices. The
competition was stiff. Law Professor David Filvaroff of the University of
Buffalo who was in charge in 1969 saw his challenge as "... choosing the best
250 ...". Many are still leading lawyers for the poor, in legal services and
in private practice. The program began in the Office of Economic Opportunity,
President Johnson's War on Poverty, and was continued by the Legal Services
Corporation. Reginald Heber Smith is the father of modern legal aid in the
United States.
A partner in Ropes and Gray, a prestigious Boston law firm,
Smith's monumental study of legal aid in 1919 is the foundation of the
national legal aid movement that led to the establishment of the National
Legal Aid and Defender Association and the federal government's support for
legal aid. The cutting edge legal work of the "Reggies", as they
came to be called, is an important part of the history of legal services.
Consistent with the Library's mission of preserving that history, the staff
and board of the Library undertook to find them and their stories. The
Library now has current addresses for about half of these legal services
pioneers and the search continues. The Fellows are legal services lawyers,
private practitioners and public leaders. Among them are Executive Directors
and board members of legal services programs and support centers; at least two
current governors, Angus King of Maine and William Janklow of South Dakota; at
least one Ambassador and one Cabinet Member, George Bruno of New Hampshire and
Frederic Pena of Colorado, respectively. They are law professors and deans;
judges and outstanding lawyers, in small towns and large, in large firms and
small firms. Commitment to the noblest principles of the legal aid
and defender movement brought these men and women to legal services when they
were fresh law school graduates. Glenn Carr, in a message read at the
reunion, said that were "people looking for a cause." A 1980 Fellow, Baldwin Moy, now with CRLA, said that "the Reggies practiced law loud."
The
conversations at the reunion proved the strength and endurance of that
commitment. They have not lost the idealism that carried them to what many
described as the best years of their lives in the law. Their rebellious
spirits have not diminished, at least not much. Dave Filvaroff moaned at the
reunion "that thirty years later they are still complaining about where they
were assigned!" The Fellows comforted Dave by telling him that the training
they received was "dazzling", said Guy Saperstein, a 1969 Fellow and a
successful lawyer in San Francisco, and "summer camp and Marxism with the most
intensive legal training - more than she learned in law school", was the
description by Marcia Robinson Lowry, another 1969 Reggie and now the Director
of Children's Rights in Manhattan.
In the Library Fellows found displays pictures,
memoranda, judicial opinions, articles and books, even an aged Reggie tee
shirt, that recalled great days and brought smiles and good memories of
clients, hard work, triumphs and defeats.
The Library recorded oral histories
and Reggies donated materials for the Library's collection that will preserve
this significant chapter in the history of legal services to the poor.
The memories and spirit of the reunion were captured in
four discussions. The first topic spoke of the initial vision for the program
and the Fellow.
Next, Clint Lyons, after declaring that he was "destined to
be a Reggie in 1971, stirred the Fellows to talk of why they became Reggies,
what they did and how their lives were enriched. Henry Freedman of the
Welfare Law Center was among those who led the discussion of what the Reggies
took with them and what they are doing now. Martha Bergmark and Alan
Houseman, Reggies in ‘73 and 68, were on a panel that led a discussion of the
present and future of legal services.
At the closing banquet, the Library conferred the first
annual Reginald Heber Smith Book Awards on two publications on equal access to
justice. The first winner is a classic social science study; "Lawyers and the
Pursuit of Legal Rights" by Joel Handler of UCLA and Elizabeth Jane Hollander
and Howard Erlanger of the University of Wisconsin. The other winner is
"Praying for Sheetrock" by Melissa Fay Greene, a wonderful story about clients
and poverty lawyers successfully challenging corruption. Melissa was a
paralegal in the office she wrote about. She read excepts from her book that
brought remarks of recognition and howls of laughter from the Reggies who
remembered similar situations in their years as legal services lawyers.
Earl
Johnson, the Director of OEO Legal Services who began the Community Lawyer
Fellowship program, also announced that the book award committee conferred a
special award on Lawyering Process by Bea Moulton and Gary Bellow. The
Library is considering reunions in on the west and east coasts when this award
is presented to Professors Moulton and Bellow.
The day ended on a memorable high note as Sargent
Shriver, the Director of OEO when the Reggie program began, stirred the
memories, minds and hearts of the Fellows with recollections of what moved the
Nation, the President and Mr. Shriver to help and support the least fortunate
in a rich nation. He praised the Reggies for having done more to provide
equal access to justice for poor people than at any other time in our nation's
history.
In the following week, Baldwin Moy wrote: As Reggies we have a special duty to hold on to the
vision and the courage that made us want to be advocates for equal justice,
because it is that vision, that strength and that courage that this society
must have if we are ever to become a just society. ... Perhaps the greatness
of the Reggie program lies not in what it was and the fact that it can still
make us feel special, but what it can be and that it can still inspire and
bring out the best in all of us. ... I went to work today with both renewed
energy and sense of purpose."
The reunion was a success!
Recalling the Reggie Experience
Commitment to the noblest principles of the legal aid and defender
movement brought these men and women to legal services when they were fresh
law school graduates.Glenn Carr, in a message read at the reunion, said they were
“people looking for a cause.”
A
1980 Fellow, Baldwin Moy, now with CRLA, said “the Reggies practiced law
loud.”
The conversations at the reunion proved the strength and endurance of
that commitment. They have not
lost the idealism that carried them to what many described as the best years
of their lives in the law.Their
rebellious spirits have not diminished, at least not much.Professor Dave Filvaroff, who was the Reggie Program director in 1969,
moaned at the reunion that “thirty years later they are still complaining
about where they were assigned!”
The Fellows comforted Filvaroff by what they said about the training
program he designed.
“Dazzling,” was the way Guy Saperstein, a 1969 Fellow and
now California’s most successful employment discrimination lawyer described
the education he experienced that summer.
“Summer camp with the most intensive legal training - more than she
learned in law school,” was the description given by Marcia Robinson Lowry,
another 1969 Reggie and now the Director of Children’s Rights in Manhattan.
While at the reunion, many Fellows toured the National Equal Library on
the first floor of the law building. They found historical displays, photos,
memoranda, judicial opinions, articles and books, even an aged
Reggie tee shirt, that recalled great days and brought smiles and good
memories of clients, hard work, triumphs and defeats.During the reunion, the Library recorded oral histories andback to top
Panel
discussions
and Photographs
The
memories and spirit of the reunion were captured in four discussions.
At the first panel moderated by Larry Fox (’69) Clint Bamberger and
Earl Johnson, the first and second directors of OEO-LSP spoke of their initial
vision for the Reggie program. Three directors
of that program Howard Lesnick,
David Filvaroff, and John Davis explained how they implemented and expanded
that vision.
Martha Bergmark and Alan
Houseman, Reggies in ‘73 and ‘68, were on a panel that discussed the
present and future of legal services with Douglas Eakeley and John McKay, the
Chair and President of the Legal Services Corporation, and once again Clint
Lyons, this time in his capacity as President of the National Legal Aid and
Defender Association.
 Closing
banquet
At the closing banquet, the Library conferred the first annual Reginald
Heber Smith Book Awards on two publications about equal access to
justice. One of the authors, Melissa Fay Greene, read excerpts from her
book, Praying for Sheetrock, that brought nods
of recognition and howls of laughter from the Reggies who remembered
similar stories from their years as legal services lawyers.
The
day ended on a memorable high note as Sargent Shriver, the Director of OEO
when the Reggie program began, and now an
Honorary Chair of the National Equal Justice Library, stirred the
memories, minds and hearts of the Fellows with recollections of what moved the
Nation, the President and Mr. Shriver to
help the least fortunate in a wealthy nation. He praised the Reggies for being a critical part of a program that has
done more to provide equal access to Justice for poor people than anything in
our nation’s history. As exuberant and optimistic as he was thirty years
ago, Shriver proved he could still energize an audience.
In the week
following the reunion, Baldwin Moy, now working as a legal services lawyer with CRLA wrote:
“As
Reggies we have a special duty to hold on to what made us want to be
advocates for equal justice, because it is that vision, that strength and
that courage that this society must have if we are ever to become a just
society. ... Perhaps the greatness of the Reggie program lies not in what it
was and the fact that it can still make us feel special, but what it can be
and that it can still inspire and bring out the best in all of us. . . . I
went to work today with both renewed energy and sense of purpose.”
If Moy’s reaction is typical, the reunion
indeed was a success!
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A
"Reggie" Reminisces
Many former legal services
lawyers, including those who were recruited through the Reginald Heber Smith
Fellowship program, have gone on to prominence in the public or private sector.
For most the legal services experience remains a high point in their legal
careers and one that shaped their values. Yet few have published anything
recalling their years as legal services lawyers or how it influenced what they
did later in their professional lives. Larry Fox (Reggie Class of 1969)
has provided such a testament in an article published in 17 Yale Law &
Policy Review 305 entitled “Legal Services and the Organized Bar: A
Reminiscence and a Renewed Call for Cooperation.” On this page we reprint
some selected excerpts from that article.
1969-72:
The Legal Services years
“My own reminiscence: In the summer
of 1969, only a year after the convulsive events of 1968, 250 very young
lawyers gathered on the bucolic campus of Haverford College in suburban
Philadelphia to spend several weeks in training as future “Reggies.“
Throwing modesty to the wind, a present-day review of that group’s
credentials demonstrates that the best and the brightest from the most
prestigious law schools had been selected to participate. Legal services in
its infancy, sheltered in the dynamic and burgeoning Office of Economic
Opportunity (OEO), had the luxury back then to fund two-year fellowships for
all of these young lawyers.”
“Extra lawyers, law reform efforts,
lobbying, and community organizing all sound as quaint as high-buttoned shoes
to those of us who gnash our teeth over the current restrictions, both
financial and programmatic, that cramp the style of federally funded legal
services programs today. But in 1969, because of this fellowship and the
entire OEO program, anything seemed possible.” [The two preceding pages of
this newsletter suggest those closer to the OEO Legal Services Program
realized it was no longer “dynamic and burgeoning” but rather embattled
and in political jeopardy. But to Fox and others in the front lines the
national program still seemed a bulwark of commitment to the eradication of
poverty.]
“We Reggies were eager and bursting
with enthusiasm. Fed daily doses of inventive strategies and innovative
approaches, we honestly believed that we lawyers could cure the domestic
problems in America, though none of us could understand how anything we could
do would solve the mounting problems in Southeast Asia.”
“After our sojourn in suburban
Philadelphia, the Reggies literally were scattered to the four winds, serving
in the major cities of America and in rural Appalachia, the central valley of
California, and migrant labor camps in Florida. I set off to Community Action
for Legal Services (CALS) in New York….CALS’s sole role was to act as
central administrator and provide law reform backup for its twenty-five to
thirty neighborhood offices.
“What halcyon days these were! Goldberg
v. Kelly had established the right to a hearing before loss of welfare
benefits, and from that important precedent legal services lawyers had
constructed elaborate procedural safeguards to protect the poor in every
government program. Equal protection claims abounded….Community groups were
organized around housing, welfare rights, education, and food. Funding
abounded, the program was new, hope sprung eternal, and daily successes simply
reinforced our optimistic views.”
Becoming a “Philadelphia
lawyer”
“Three years and many cases later,
it was I who sold out….Not long after my departure for Philadelphia, [a
position with the corporate law firm of] Drinker Biddle & Reath, and the
precious existence of a private lawyer, Richard Nixon mounted the first real
challenge to legal services….”
“Though I had left legal services,
to salve my guilty conscience I continued to follow its fortunes with great
interest. And who came to do battle over whether legal services would survive?
To my surprise, the ABA led the charge, as only the establishment bar could,
in arguing that legal services should be left intact and that an independent
corporation be established to administer it. Suddenly an organization I would
not consider joining as a legal services lawyer, and now only belonged to
because my firm paid my membership, was playing a heroic role. If the ABA
could so effectively help save legal services, then it was up to me to become
involved in the ABA. And so I did.
1994 --present: The
commitment lives on
“Fast forward to late 1994. It is
the Fall and the...November elections have produced a Republican majority
committed to the Contract with America, which includes the elimination of
federal funding for legal services for the poor — the end of the Legal
Services Corporation….Yet...November 8, 1994 is also the day my brother Jon,
a Republican from Pennsylvania, won a narrow victory [for U.S. Congress].”
“These developments coincided with
my becoming Chair-Elect of the ABA’s Litigation Section — the Association’s
largest section, with over 60,000 members. The Section threw itself into the
legislative fray, seeking approval from the ABA House of Delegates to oppose a
wide range of misguided legislation that would interfere with the adversary
process.”
“The next year, when I served as
Chair, we consolidated our forces and organized the opposition to further cuts
to LSC…[M]y freshman Republican brother announced that he would come to our
aid, despite enormous pressure from Republican House leaders….[B]efore the
vote, Jon literally spun me around the halls to visit a few wavering
representatives….I sat in the gallery with a couple of White House officials
as the debate began,...The speeches were eloquent, with Jon and
Representatives Allen Mulholland and Jim Ramstad leading the way….Then the
House moved to the electronic vote….[F]inally, we went over the top,...For
me, there could not be a prouder moment. LSC had been saved, with my
Congressman brother in the lead and the ABA doing what it does best to support
this valuable program.”
“What does all this mean for today?
Even as the challenges and impediments facing legal services programs have
never been greater, the opportunities for working constructively and
effectively with the private bar also are at an all-time high. Indeed, I like
to think that if we came together, we could recapture some of the reform
spirit that infected the Reggie program back in 1969.”
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