Legal Services history

Naming and confirmation of the first LSC board was delayed by inaction and opposition, but by July 1975, President Gerald R. Ford had named and the Senate had approved the first board, with Cornell University Law School Dean Roger Conant Cramton as its first chair.

In mid-1978, the Carter administration chose the thirty-year-old Rodham to become chair of the board, the first woman to become so.

Sometime between about April 1980 and September 1980, F. William McCalpin replaced her as chair of the board.

In February 1982, the Carter-appointed members of the previously existing board filed suit to against the recess appointments, claiming they were unlawful and that they should be enjoined from holding meetings.

1984: The Florida Bar Commission on Access to the Legal System was formed to explore ways to increase access to the legal system for the poor and middle class.

14, 1990, the court ruled that Florida Bar members have a duty to accept appointments from judges to represent indigents, even in civil cases.

In fiscal 1992, LSC saw a funding increase back to $350 million.

Hillary Rodham's husband, the aforementioned Bill Clinton, took office as United States president in January 1993.

In fiscal 1996, once the Republican party had taken over Congress the year prior, LSC had its funding cut again, from $400 million to $278 million.

2001: The reported data began to indicate that pro bono legal service hours per lawyer were declining.

For 2007, LSC had a budget of some $350 million.

2008: The report from Carmody and Associates, “Pro Bono: Looking Back, Moving Forward,” was delivered to the Florida Supreme Court and The Florida Bar’s Standing Committee on Pro Bono Legal Services.

2009: The Standing Committee on Pro Bono, led by Judge William Van Nortwick, launched the “One” campaign.

At the same time, Congress rolled back the restriction that LSC-funded attorneys could not take attorneys' fees-generating cases; LSC finalized the regulation in 2010 after President Obama signed an appropriations bill into law.

By fiscal 2011, the annual budget amount for the LSC was $420 million.

At the passing of the gavel ceremony on June 30, 2014, incoming Chief Justice Jorge Labarga pledged to address access to justice in Florida, noting that only 20 percent of indigent Floridians are able to receive legal counsel.

Nearly three hundred (300) organizations employed over 400 full-time lawyers with an aggregate budget of nearly $5.3 million (or approximately $40 million in 2015 dollars).

The commission was originally established for a term to expire on June 30, 2016, and tasked, among other things, with making recommendations on the need for a permanent access to justice commission in Florida.

Throughout Trump's presidency, Congress increased LSC's funding such that it eventually reached $490 million in Fiscal Year 2020, aided partly by a $50 million emergency supplement from the CARES Act.