Persons: SCLAID Board/Staff

The year 2020 marked the 100th anniversary of the American Bar Association’s Standing Committee on Legal Aid and Indigent Defendants (SCLAID). The best source for the committee’s history is the ABA’s website, which includes a narrative, video, timeline, and other resources.

This CNEJL website contains information about the following past or current SCLAID members and key staff, including oral histories for most of them.


Longtime Executive Director of Colorado Legal Services who was on many ABA committees and also special counsel to LSC President Helaine Barnett.
Chaired U.S. CFTC. Co-founder of National Women's Law Center. SCLAID member. Chaired ABA’s Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary.
Director of Greater Boston Legal Services who also worked for West Tennessee Legal Services. Member of SCLAID. Chair of MIE.
Directed ABA Division for Legal Service. Chief counsel to ABA SCLAID committee.
Directed Legal Aid Bureau of Maryland. Chair of Project Advisory Group. Member of SCLAID.
Ran the Legal Aid Society of NY. Served on SCLAID. Directed Clinical Programs at Harvard Law School. Then pro bono partner at major NYC law firm.
ABA staff member for IOLTA, SCLAID, pro bono. Previously at Legal Assistance Foundation of Chicago.
Served 43 years of public service with Georgia Legal Services Program and retired as Executive Director.
Staff counsel in the ABA Division for Legal Services for 30 years.
Senior positions with OEO Legal Services and Neighborhood Legal Services Project in DC. Later on California Court of Appeal.
District Court judge in Austin, TX. Previously with Legal Aid Society of Central Texas in Austin. On Board of TX IOLTA program.
President of NLADA. Chaired LSC. Led ABA committees. Board member of Legal Aid Society of St. Louis. Private practice.
Executive Director of Legal Aid Society of Northeastern New York beginning in 1995. Past Chair of the Civil Policy Group and the Board of the NLADA. Co-convener of the New York Diversity Coalition.
Board member National Defender Institute.
Private practice lawyer who co-founded Bar Leaders for the Preservation of Legal Services in 1980s. Chair of SCLAID. Member of ABA Standing Committee on Pro Bono and Public Service.
Counsel to the ABA’s Standing Committee on Pro Bono and Public Service. Previously directed New Hampshire Pro Bono Program.
Directed Columbia Legal Services and Evergreen Legal Services, both statewide civil legal aid programs in Washington State. Also on ABA's SCLAID.
Helped create the OEO Legal Services program and LSC. President of ABA. President of the International League for Human Rights.
Private trial lawyer in Texas. Chaired SCLAID. Honored by NLADA.
Associate justice of the California Court of Appeal. Chaired California Access to Justice Commission, and served in many roles with the ABA.