Georgetown University LogoGeorgetown University Library LogoDigitalGeorgetown Home
    • Login
    View Item 
    •   DigitalGeorgetown Home
    • Georgetown Law Library
    • National Equal Justice Library
    • NEJL Oral Histories Collection
    • View Item
    •   DigitalGeorgetown Home
    • Georgetown Law Library
    • National Equal Justice Library
    • NEJL Oral Histories Collection
    • View Item
    JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

    Oral history interview with Clinton "Clint" Lyons, conducted by Victor Geminiani (1991 Jul 23)

    Files in this item

    Cover for Oral history interview with Clinton "Clint" Lyons, conducted by Victor Geminiani (1991 Jul 23)
    Name:
    nejl009_017_lyons.pdf
    Size:
    222kB
    Format:
    PDF
    Description:
    Transcript
    View/Open
    Bookview
    Creator
    Lyons, Clinton
    Contributor
    Geminiani, Victor
    Bibliographic Citation
    Lyons, Clinton (1991 Jul 23). Oral history interview by Victor Geminiani [video recording]. National Equal Justice Library Oral History Collection (NEJL-009.017). Georgetown University Law Library.
    Abstract
    Topics include: Legal services in New Jersey; Reginald Heber Smith program; legal services in Atlanta; initial opposition of Georgia Bar against legal services; responsibilities of the Office of Field Services of the LSC, including supervision of regional offices; delivery systems study (DSS); demonstration projects; relationship between various divisions at the LSC; transition from Carter administration to Reagan; ABC committee (Alan Houseman, Bea Moulton and Clint Lyons); Dan Bradley’s tenure and resignation; conflicts with the Board during Reagan administration; and NLADA.
    Description
    Clinton Lyons was born and raised in Augusta, Georgia. He went to undergraduate school at Manhattan College, and then was drafted into the Air Force, where he spent four years. After completing his service, he finished his undergraduate education and was admitted to Rutgers Law School. At Rutgers, he learned about the legal services support centers funded by the Ford Foundation and about the work of the OEO. After graduating in 1971, he applied for the Reggie program, where he was accepted for the class of 1971-1971.
     
    Lyons began working at Essex County Legal Services in Orange, NJ, and then In 1974, he was offered a job as the managing attorney in the Augusta Office of the Georgia Legal Services program, where he spent one year. He then moved back to New Jersey to become director of the Newark Legal Services Program, which was part of the Essex County program where he had worked previously. In 1977, he moved back to Georgia to become the deputy director for the regional office in Atlanta in the Office of Legal Services, where he closely worked with John Cromartie Bucky, and was responsible for overseeing the expansion of legal services in the southeast region.
     
    In 1978, he became the Director of Field Services at the LSC in Washington, DC, where he was in charge of overseeing the implementation of the Delivery Systems Study, an investigation of alternative ways of delivering legal services in the country, which was mandated by Congress.
     
    After the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980, he became part of the ABC committee at the LSC, which worked to ensure that legal services would continue to be delivered, even though federal dollars were cut. After Dan Bradley resigned in 1981, Clint Lyons became executive Vice President of the LSC and shortly thereafter (in 1982) became Acting President of the LSC. He describes the few months as Acting President in the early 1980s, when he was charged with overseeing the operation of the LSC, while the new board, appointed by Reagan, started to turn against the LSC, challenging its very existence. Lyons became the executive director of the NLADA in 1983, a position he held for 22 years, until 2005.
     
    Download available at https://mediapilot.georgetown.edu/ssdcms/i.do?u=74990f0361c746d
     
    Permanent Link
    http://hdl.handle.net/10822/710427
    Date
    1991-07-23
    Subject
    Legal assistance to the poor--New Jersey; Legal assistance to the poor--United States; National Legal Aid and Defender Association; Legal Services Corporation; Reginald Heber Smith Community Lawyer Fellowship Program;
    Type
    Filmed interview
    Collections
    • NEJL Oral Histories Collection
    Metadata
    Show full item record

    Related items

    Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.

    • Oral History Interview with Hillary Rodham Clinton, conducted by Victor Geminiani (1991-07-21)

      Oral History Interview with Hillary Rodham Clinton, conducted by Victor Geminiani (1991-07-21) 

      Clinton, Hillary Rodham (1991-07-21)
      Hillary Rodham Clinton (née Hillary Rodham) was born in Chicago, IL in 1947, received her B.A. in political science from Wellesley College in 1969, and obtained her J.D. from Yale Law School in 1973. While at Yale, she ...
    Related Items in Google Scholar

    Georgetown University Seal
    ©2022 Georgetown Law Library
    111 G. Street, N.W. Washington, DC 20001
    202.662.9131
    https://www.law.georgetown.edu/library/
     

     

    Browse

    All of DigitalGeorgetownCommunities & CollectionsCreatorsTitlesBy Creation DateThis CollectionCreatorsTitlesBy Creation Date

    My Account

    Login

    Statistics

    View Usage Statistics

    Georgetown University Seal
    ©2022 Georgetown Law Library
    111 G. Street, N.W. Washington, DC 20001
    202.662.9131
    https://www.law.georgetown.edu/library/