Legal Services: a Tradition for the Denver Bar Association
| Publication year | 1985 |
| Pages | 1778 |
1985, October, Pg. 1778. Legal Services: A Tradition for the Denver Bar Association
The provision of legal services in the Denver metropolitan area is nothing new to Denver attorneys, and the Denver Bar Association continues to be a leader in refining the delivery of pro bono services to the poor. The history of pro bono work in Denver is reflective of a national trend which began roughly twenty years ago with the "War on Poverty" and the creation of the Office of Economic Opportunity. There was a push in the country at that time to address the needs of poor people.
At that time, a legal aid office, funded by local charities, was operating with five attorneys and bursting at the seams as it endeavored to provide representation for the needy. Attorneys Gresham Sykes and Howard Rosenberg were awarded a federal grant to assess the legal needs of Denver's poor, and to establish a neighborhood law office which was staffed by three attorneys, as a pilot project for federally funded legal services.
The Denver Bar Association was one of the country's first bar associations to become involved in legal services for the poor. Aware of the growing national need, in 1967 the Association created the Availability of Legal Services Committee to determine the degree of help which could be provided by the private Bar.
Client interviews were conducted by volunteer attorneys at an office provided by the Denver Housing Authority as part of the Mayor's Commission on Community Relations. The chairman of the Legal Services Committee met on Friday mornings with attorneys from the neighborhood law office and the legal aid office to assign the fifteen or so cases that came through each Thursday night. About two-thirds of those cases were handled by private attorneys who had been contacted by the committee chairperson. The Bar assigned one staff person to assist the chairperson with referrals.
The program became known as the Thursday Night Bar Clinic, which provided representation to about 500 clients each year. The program also became recognized as a pioneer for private Bar involvement and a model for other programs. In 1978, the "Empire Magazine" of the Denver Post published a two-page article on this unprece dented bar association program.
The Thursday Night Bar continues to...
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