CHICAGO, Aug. 7, 2024 —The San Francisco Bar Association was honored with the 2024 Harrison Tweed Award last week for its work to expand civil legal services through its legal aid clinic network available to low-income San Francisco residents.
The award was created in 1956 to recognize the extraordinary achievements of state and local bar associations that develop or significantly expand projects or programs to increase access to civil legal services to persons in poverty or criminal defense services to indigents. The award is named for Harrison Tweed, an outstanding leader in the promotion of free legal services to the poor and presented annually by the American Bar Association Standing Committee on Legal Aid and Indigent Defense and the National Legal Aid and Defender Association.
The San Franciso Bar Association was selected this year for its exemplary work to increase civil legal aid services provided by its Legal Assistance and Referral Clinic program. Though begun in 1978, the LARCs have experienced incredible growth during the past two years.
These innovative clinics are held with the client in mind, when working people can attend, with appointment and drop-in options available. LARC clients face broad legal challenges, ranging from routine family law motions to supporting monolingual small landlords who depend on the income from renting a single room. Specific areas of law covered by LARCs involve employment, housing, family, immigration and bankruptcy law. The LARCs are held in three different San Francisco neighborhoods with historically distinct groups who have called these neighborhoods home for decades.
The award was presented at the annual joint luncheon of the National Conference of Bar Presidents, National Association of Bar Executives and the National Conference of Bar Foundations on Aug. 2 at the 2024 ABA Annual Meeting, which ran from July 31 through Aug. 6 in Chicago.
About the collaborators:
NLADA is America’s oldest and largest nonprofit association devoted to excellence in the delivery of legal services to those who cannot afford counsel. It provides advocacy, guidance, information, training and technical assistance for members of the equal justice community, especially those working in public defense and civil legal aid.
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