Women and Justice for the Poor
A History of Legal Aid, 1863–1945

This book details the history of the origins and development of free legal aid for the poor in the United States.

Felice Batlan (Author)

9781107084537, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 5 May 2015

250 pages, 7 b/w illus.
23.1 x 15 x 2.3 cm, 0.51 kg

'Women and Justice for the Poor presents research that is definitely worth reading. Batlan succeeds in exploiting science history to show convincingly how women played a significant role in legal aid history.' Marianne Vasara-Aaltonen, Kirjallisuutta

This book re-examines fundamental assumptions about the American legal profession and the boundaries between 'professional' lawyers, 'lay' lawyers, and social workers. Putting legal history and women's history in dialogue, it demonstrates that nineteenth-century women's organizations first offered legal aid to the poor and that middle-class women functioning as lay lawyers, provided such assistance. Felice Batlan illustrates that by the early twentieth century, male lawyers founded their own legal aid societies. These new legal aid lawyers created an imagined history of legal aid and a blueprint for its future in which women played no role and their accomplishments were intentionally omitted. In response, women social workers offered harsh criticisms of legal aid leaders and developed a more robust social work model of legal aid. These different models produced conflicting understandings of expertise, professionalism, the rule of law, and ultimately, the meaning of justice for the poor.

Introduction
Part I. A Female Dominion of Legal Aid, 1863–1910: 1. The origins of legal aid
2. The Chicago experience: the maturation of women's legal aid
Part II. The Professionalization of Legal Aid, 1890–1921: 3. Of immigrants, sailors, and servants: the Legal Aid Society of New York
4. Reinventing legal aid
Part III. Dialogues: Lawyers and Social Workers, 1921–45: 5. Constellations of justice
6. Compromises
Conclusion.

Subject Areas: Legal history [LAZ], 21st century history: from c 2000 - [HBLX], 20th century history: c 1900 to c 2000 [HBLW], History of the Americas [HBJK]