When the Legal Aid Society-Employment Law Center opened in San Francisco a century ago, it was the first group west of the Mississippi to provide free legal services to low-income clients. Today it assists 3,000 people a year through free clinics around California, litigates in state and federal courts and advocates for government policies that protect civil and employment rights. President Joan Graff took a break from preparing for Thursday’s 100th anniversary gala to speak with The Recorder about why issues from unemployment to immigration to disability rights all fall under LAS-ELC’s umbrella and what lies ahead for her organization.
What are the most significant things LAS-ELC has accomplished in the past 100 years? I think the first significant accomplishment is that we were founded to begin with. We’re the oldest legal aid in the West and one of very few in the country at that time. There was this meshing of interests of the bar and the archdiocese and a governmental agency that came together with this idea of founding the Legal Aid Society. I think that’s pretty momentous. I think that begins to reflect the innovation of San Francisco, which as you know is a laboratory that produces so many new and meaningful institutions.
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