July, 1952: The Lawyers' Wives adopted LAFLA as its philanthropy. They recruited 11 women for fifteen days of work. As the volume of work increased, the women hired a volunteer coordinator: Ann Von Bank.

Dean Justice Miller brought Mr. Bradway to the University of Southern California (USC) to establish the law school equivalent of clinical training in medical school. Because there was no existing legal aid society, Mr. Bradway had the clinic provide legal services to clients who had "meritorious legal claims but not much money in their pockets."

October, 1953: The Legal Aid Foundation of Long Beach (LAFLB) was founded by the Long Beach Bar Association, funded by contributions from lawyers and dues it received by serving as a Lawyer Referral and Information Service.

May, 1954: The Lawyers' Wives' two annual fundraising events—the Kate and Advocate Ball at the Riviera Country Club and an awards luncheon—were well underway.

September, 1965: Clint Bamberger became the first Director of the Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO) Legal Services Program, which established the first national network of legal services programs. He chose Earl Johnson, Jr. to be his Deputy Director. Johnson is now a Justice on the California Court of Appeal.

1966: LAFLA and LAFLB received OEO grants enabling the opening of six new offices: three for LAFLA (Lincoln Heights, Boyle Heights, and West Washington Blvd) and three for LAFLB (Wilmington, Central Long Beach, and San Pedro).

June, 1971: LAFLA merged with the LA Neighborhood Legal Services Society (LANLSS), which had been created by the OEO, and re-opened four neighborhood law offices that had been closed because the OEO ceased funding their operations. The offices were in East LA, South Central (both still currently in use), Downtown, and Venice.

Charles Jones, later a Superior Court Judge, was made LAFLA's Executive Director. He later went to Washington DC to work for the Legal Services Corporation as Director of Field Services.

July, 1971: LAFLA took over the Family Law Center at 125 W. 4th St. which had been operated by Western Center on Law and Poverty.

September, 1972: LAFLA was funded to operate a criminal defense office for residents of the Greater Watts Model Neighborhood. The office later specialized in homeownership cases and was funded with a grant from the City of Los Angeles. Two months later, two additional offices were opened at 615 Alvarado St. and 1980 S Vermont. The Family Law Center moved to 1819 W. 6th St. which also housed the Foundation's administrative offices.

June, 1973: Toby Rothschild became the Executive Director of LAFLB.

December, 1974: Because of a financial shortage, the Vermont Office was closed.

1975: Administration staff and the Family Law Center moved to 1550 W. 8th St. (our current Central office). The building was purchased from the Cancer Society with monies bequeathed by the estate of Effie Moss.

Ann Von Bank, still going strong as LAFLA's volunteer coordinator, also moved her operations to 8th St., where approximately 40 volunteers put in five days per week.

< Previous • Next >