Talk Justice, an LSC Podcast: Judge David Tatel on LSC’s Beginnings and Access to Justice Today
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Carl Rauscher
Director of Communications and Media Relations
rauscherc@lsc.gov
202-295-1615
WASHINGTON– David Tatel, Senior Judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, joins Legal Services Corporation (LSC) President Ron Flagg to share his memories of the 1974 founding of LSC, as well as his view on the roles of courts and lawyers in the advancement of access to justice on the latest episode of LSC's “Talk Justice” podcast, released today.
In 1969, Judge Tatel left the law firm of Sidley Austin to serve as founding director of the Chicago Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. He later went on to become director of the National Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. He was instrumental in the formation of LSC and served as its first general counsel.
The judge explains how President Johnson’s Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO) created the first government-funded legal services provider in the mid-1960s which had offices across the country. Not long after, OEO’s legal services became politically controversial.
“Congress decided to shift legal services from a government agency to a private nonprofit corporation, and it passed the Legal Services Corporation Act in 1974,” says Tatel. “The idea was to get legal services out of politics—Congress thought that if it was in a nonprofit with its own independent, presidentially appointed board, it would be less subject to political interference and to threats of closing it down.”
Judge Tatel remembers watching the first LSC Board of Directors take their oath in 1975 from Supreme Court Justice Lewis Powell, and how he and a handful of others had 90 days to transition legal services out of the OEO and create the regulations that would lay the foundation for LSC, which will celebrate its 50th anniversary next year. With regard to the transition to LSC, Judge Tatel also recounted the assistance provided by Attorney General Edward Levi and Assistant Attorney General Antonin Scalia.
During the Carter administration, Judge Tatel joined the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare as the director of the department's Office of Civil Rights. He worked in government until 1979, when he joined the law firm Hogan & Hartson, where he founded the firm’s education practice. President Clinton nominated Judge Tatel to the D.C. Circuit in June 1994.
“The problem is, even with the resources that [LSC] has and even with the state and local legal services programs, the vast number of poor people who need a lawyer can't get one,” Tatel says. “And you can't have a system of justice where a substantial percentage of your population has no access to your court system—it’s not justice.”
Judge Tatel recently announced that he will be stepping down from the DC Circuit this year to rejoin his old firm, now known as Hogan Lovells. Tatel is proud of the work the firm does to close the justice gap, and he believes that it is incredibly important that lawyers support and advocate for increasing access to legal services.
“Lawyers are officers of the court with sworn responsibilities to uphold the legal system and work to ensure that it's effective, and so the legal profession, I think, has an institutional and professional responsibility to work to make sure that everyone has access to our legal system,” says Tatel.
Talk Justice episodes are available online and on Spotify, Stitcher, Apple and other popular podcast apps. The podcast is sponsored by LSC’s Leaders Council.
Future episodes of the podcast will feature Legal Aid of North Carolina’s new Innovation Lab and FosterPower, an app that helps children in the foster care system understand their rights.
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