The Great Society and Legal Assistance.

The Office of Economic Opportunity began to fund lawyers for poor people in 1965. While legal-aid programs already existed in many cities, they were poorly funded and often unable to meet requests for help. The federally funded legal-services programs were designed to coordinate the provision of legal aid and to help the poor by working for social change through law. They also represented the poor in their ordinary legal troubles, such as conflict with landlords or family problems. The efforts of legal service attorneys to benefit the poor were extremely controversial. Congress regularly considered cutting back the cases that the attorneys could take.

The California Story.

California legal-services attorneys, particularly the California Rural Legal Assistance (CRLA) program, brought many of the lawsuits that expanded legal protections for poor people. The CRLA also tried to work with farmworkers for better...