Skip to main content

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 of funding for legal services under the Reagan administration. He discusses his commitment to clinical legal education, and how he got involved in international legal aid work.

Dates

  • 2002 Jun 04

Biographical Note

E. Clinton Bamberger, Jr. was born in Baltimore, MD on July 2, 1926. He earned a B.S. degree from Loyola College (Baltimore) in 1949, and graduated from Georgetown University Law Center with a J.D. in 1951. After law school, from 1951 to 1952, Bamberger worked as a law clerk to Judges Charles Markell and Edward Delaplaine of the Court of Appeals of Maryland. In 1952, Bamberger became an associate with the Baltimore firm of Piper & Marbury; and between 1958 and 1959 he also served as Assistant Attorney General of Maryland.

In 1960, Bamberger became a partner of Piper & Marbury, where he was involved in insurance litigation. He also served as the attorney for death row inmate John L. Brady in Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83 (1963), in which the Supreme Court ruled that withholding exculpatory evidence from the defendant violated the Due Process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Bamberger became involved in the case through a friend, a Jesuit priest who served as chaplain in the Maryland penitentiary.

In September of 1965, Bamberger became the first Director of the Legal Services Program (LSP) within the Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO), the first program of the federal government to provide financial support for civil legal services to the poor. While at OEO/LSP Bamberger spent much time delivering speeches, attempting to garner support for the new government program . His stay at LSP was brief, and in mid-1966 Bamberger left LSP to run for State Attorney General of Maryland. That campaign was unsuccessful and Bamberger returned to Piper & Marbury until 1969. (For major accomplishments while at OEO/LSP see 1st annual report of OEO/LSP).

In 1969, Bamberger became Dean of the Columbus School of Law at The Catholic University of America. There he taught Civil Procedure and Professional Responsibility. In 1975, Bamberger left The Catholic University of America to become the Executive Vice President of the Legal Services Corporation. Maintaining that he had spent much time as a legal services bureaucrat and advocate, and never as a legal services attorney, Bamberger left the Legal Services Corporation in 1979 to become a staff attorney and clinical instructor at the Legal Services Institute (LSI) in Boston, but controversy and politics surrounding LSI forced Bamberger's departure.

In 1982, Bamberger left LSI to become Professor of Law and Director of Clinical Education at the School of Law of the University of Maryland. While at the University of Maryland, he served as the attorney for Denise Sampson in Ronald Fishkind Realty v. Sampson, 306 Md. 269, 286, 508 A.2d 478, 487 (1986). While at the University of Maryland, Bamberger also became very involved in international legal aid, especially in South Africa, Australia, Nepal, and the Netherlands, and frequently traveled abroad, lecturing about international legal aid. He retired emeritus from the University of Maryland in 1991.

Extent

1:51:10 hour(s)

58 page(s)

Language of Materials

English