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Article: The new serfs. (Legal Services Corp., includes related article)
- Article from:
- National Review
- Article date:
- August 5, 1988
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1988 National Review, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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THE NEW SERFS
In 1970 Stephen Elias was a lawyer with a brand-new JD degree and a commitment to serving the poor; he went into legal services. For almost a decade, Elias worked in various legal-aid programs funded by the Legal Services Corporation. He challenged laws restricting welfare eligibility, he organized class-action lawsuits, he did everything but what he had set out to do: help poor clients. "Looking back on it, I don't know what good we did," says Elias, who now writes self-help law manuals geared to the poor's legal needs. "Programs that were trying to deliver services were basically looked down upon. You were considered a much better agency if you ...