2008 ABA YLD Fellows Award for Public Service

Meet the 2008 YLD Fellows Award Recipient

Helaine M. Barnett

Helaine M. Barnett was appointed President of the Legal Services Corporation (LSC) on January 20, 2004. The Board selected Barnett for the position based on her exemplary 37-year career providing legal services to the poor in New York City and her leadership record in the American legal community at the national, state, and local levels. The LSC President serves as the Corporation’s Chief Executive Officer. LSC was created by Congress in 1974 as a private, not-for-profit corporation to promote equal access to the civil justice system in the United States. LSC’s mission is to promote equal access to justice in our nation and to provide high quality civil legal assistance to low-income persons. LSC, with a budget of approximately $350 million for fiscal year 2008, funds 137 legal aid programs serving every county throughout the United States and is responsible for ensuring the funds are spent in conformity with the mandates of Congress. The programs handle annually close to one million cases.

As Chief Executive Officer of LSC, Barnett is responsible for providing the leadership and commitment to fulfill the mission of LSC; for managing the day-to-day operations of LSC, an organization of approximately 100 employees; acting as principal spokesperson; representing LSC in its relationships with Congress, the Executive Branch, grantees, bar associations, and the judiciary; and ensuring that LSC-funded programs provide high-quality civil legal services in conformity with the mandates of Congress.

Barnett is the first legal aid attorney to serve as President of LSC. Before joining LSC, she devoted her entire professional career to providing legal services to the indigent as an advocate with The Legal Aid Society of New York City, the oldest and largest legal aid organization in the country. For nearly three decades, she was involved in managing the Society’s multi-office civil division, which she headed from 1994 until the end of 2003. During Barnett’s tenure, the civil division grew into a nationally recognized provider of legal services, delivering high-quality civil legal assistance to more than 25,000 clients annually through a network of eight neighborhood-based offices and specialized citywide programs. The civil division employed approximately 240 staff members, including 125 attorneys. Under Barnett’s watch, the division earned universal respect for its legal work, innovative projects, and adherence to the highest professional and ethical standards. Barnett was recognized for developing and executing a disaster response plan to coordinate the delivery of critical legal assistance to New Yorkers in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, attacks.

Since her appointment as LSC President and now in her fifth year (which makes her the longest serving LSC President), Barnett has emphasized strategies to enhance the quality of legal services provided by LSC programs. These initiatives include revising LSC’s Performance Criteria, which deal with the effectiveness of targeting program resources, services, legal representation and governance; issuing a major report, "Documenting the Justice Gap in America," which provides compelling evidence of the current unmet civil legal needs of low-income Americans; instituting a Pilot Loan Repayment Assistance Program to help LSC programs recruit and retain high-quality lawyers; and developing a Pilot Leadership Mentoring Program to provide guidance to programs for developing a well-trained diverse corps of legal services leaders for the future.

Barnett initiated and organized LSC’s 30^th anniversary celebration, a national meeting that brought together, for the first time, the Executive Directors of all LSC-funded programs in November 2004. In October 2004, she was invited to give the Sherman J. Bellwood Lecture at the University of Idaho. She received the New York State Bar Association’s Gold Medal Award for Distinguished Service in the Law, the association’s highest award, in January 2005. In May 2005, she was invited to deliver the New York University School of Law commencement address. In May 2006, she was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Laws Degree from Suffolk University in Boston.

Barnett is the only legal services attorney to serve on the American Bar Association's Board of Governors and Executive Committee, as well as on a number of other prominent local, state, and national commissions and committees. A frequent speaker at professional conferences and meetings, Barnett’s experience continues to be a valuable resource in the pursuit of equal access to justice.

Barnett received her bachelor of arts from Barnard College and her law degree from New York University School of Law.

About the Fellows of the YLD

The Fellows of the Young Lawyers Division was formed in 1977 to support the YLD, and contribute to the attainment of its objectives, stimulate the interest of young lawyers in the activities of the Association, and provide the Fellows an opportunity to maintain friendships developed over the years.