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Reginald Heber Smith Community Lawyer Fellowship Program

 Organization

Historical Note

The Reginald Heber Smith Community Lawyer Fellowship Program (RHS) was established in 1967 in order to attract young lawyers to the field of poverty law. Initially sponsored by the Legal Services Program within the Office of Economic Opportunity and administered by the University of Pennsylvania, the program recruited recent law school graduates, trained them in various aspects of poverty law, and placed them (for one or two years) in regional legal services projects throughout the country.

The program was named for Reginald Heber Smith, author of Justice and the Poor (1919), a work that is credited with furthering the legal aid movement in the United States; and the Program's Fellows were accordingly called Reggies. In 1969, the Program was moved from the University of Pennsylvania to Howard University where greater emphasis was placed on attracting minority Fellows. When OEO was dismantled in the mid-1970's, the Reggie Program moved to the Legal Services Corporation. From 1967 to 1985, when the program ended, there were approximately 2,000 Reggies.

Found in 4 Collections and/or Records:

Bamberger, Clinton "Clint" -- Interview by Christopher Brown, 2002 Jun 04

 Item
Identifier: NEJL-009.053
Scope and Contents Clint Bamberger discusses his early career; his involvement in Brady v. Maryland and the impact of the case; his recruitment to the OEO by Howard Westwood; his unsuccessful campaign for Maryland Attorney General; his teaching career; his work as the Executive VP of the Legal Services Corporation; his departure for the LSI; and the Reggie program.He also discusses major challenges for legal services throughout the 1970s and 1980s, including the CRLA controversy and the reduction...
Dates: 2002 Jun 04
Found in: National Equal Justice Library / NEJL-009, National Equal Justice Library Oral History Project Collection / Oral History Recordings

Johnson, Earl, Jr.-- Interview by Alan Houseman, 2002 Nov 02

 Item
Identifier: NEJL-009.070
Abstract Justice Earl Johnson Jr. recounts his legal education, his studies for an L.L.M. in criminal law with Gary Bellow at Northwestern University; his move to Washington, D.C. in 1961, his work for the Organized Crime and Racketeering Section at the U.S. Department of Justice, how in 1964 he came to work as Deputy Director under Julian Dugas for Neighborhood Legal Services in Washington, D.C., the rapid expansion of the NLSP program with one of the early OEO grants, his position as deputy...
Dates: 2002 Nov 02
Found in: National Equal Justice Library / NEJL-009, National Equal Justice Library Oral History Project Collection / Oral History Recordings

Lyons, Clinton "Clint" -- Interview by Victor Geminiani, 1991 Jul 23

 Item
Identifier: NEJL-009.017
Scope and Contents Topics include: legal services in New Jersey, Reginald Heber Smith program, legal services in Atlanta, initial opposition of Georgia Bar against legal services, responsibilities of the Office of Field Services of the LSC, including supervision of regional offices, delivery systems study (DSS), demonstration projects, relationship between various divisions at the LSC, transition from Carter administration to Reagan, ABC committee (Alan Houseman, Bea Moulton and Clint Lyons), Dan Bradley’s...
Dates: 1991 Jul 23
Found in: National Equal Justice Library / NEJL-009, National Equal Justice Library Oral History Project Collection / Oral History Recordings

The first Reggie class, 1967

 Item — Box NEJL-065.01, item: 02
Identifier: NEJL-065.02
Contents

Photograph of the first class of Reginald Heber Smith Fellows at the summer training session, University of Pennsylvania Law School, August 1967, shortly before leaving for their assignments in local legal services agencies around the country.

Dates: 1967
Found in: National Equal Justice Library / NEJL-065, NEJL photograph collection / NEJL General Photographs

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Subject
Legal assistance to the poor -- United States 3
Law -- Study and teaching -- United States 2
Legal services -- United States 2
War on Poverty 2
Brady v. Maryland 1
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Criminal justice, Administration of 1
Indigent defense -- United States 1
Judges 1
Legal aid -- Clinical education 1
Legal aid -- International 1
Legal aid -- South Africa 1
Legal assistance to the poor -- New Jersey 1
Legal assistance to the poor -- Washington (D.C.) 1
Oral history -- United States 1
Poverty 1
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