Edgar

Cahn

Nominated by Julie Anne Reiskin:

"In 1964, the Cahns published an article in the Yale Law Journal, “The War on Poverty: A Civilian Perspective,” laying out a proposal for expansive legal services for the poor. Legal aid societies were not new, but the concept of a broader, formalized national program took hold as President Lyndon B. Johnson embarked on the War on Poverty.

The Cahns’ “seminal article in the 1964 Yale Law Journal revolutionized once-sleepy legal aid societies,” the New York Times editorial board wrote after Jean Camper Cahn’s death, “and foretold the development of vital, enterprising legal services offices.”

“I was deeply impressed” by their law review article, “almost overjoyed,” The Washington Post once quoted Shriver as saying. “That’s the genesis of legal services — it’s really pretty simple.”

In 1965, the OEO launched the Legal Services Program, a predecessor to the Legal Services Corp., a nonprofit organization established by law in 1974 that now funds 132 legal aid programs with more than 800 offices across the United States. Among advocates, the Cahns became known, along with Shriver, as the “parents of the federal legal services program.”

“Edgar was an idealist, a visionary, and a dreamer. He was also an entrepreneur, a builder, and a pragmatist. He was able to turn grand ideas into realities,” James J. Sandman, a former president of the Legal Services Corp., said in a statement, adding that Dr. Cahn’s life “was proof of the difference one person can make.”

Dr. Edgar Cahn is the author of No More Throw Away People: The Co-Production Imperative, Time Dollars (co-author Jonathan Rowe, Rodale Press, 1992), Our Brother’s Keeper: The Indian in White America (1972) and Hunger USA

Edgar was beloved in the client community because he saw that we (clients) have value.  He has been the lawyer that most valued those without a law degree. He founded timebanks promoting the concept that everyone has something to contribute and that people want to contribute.   He provided training to client leaders and also personally supported an client award at NLADA conferences."