LSC President
Helaine M. Barnett
Helaine M. Barnett was appointed President of the Legal Services Corporation (LSC) in January 2004. LSC was created by Congress in 1974 as a private, not-for-profit corporation and is totally funded by Congress. 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 civil legal aid programs with more than 920 offices across the country. LSC-funded programs handle close to one million cases annually. Helaine Barnett is the first legal aid attorney to serve as President of LSC, and, now in her fifth year, is the longest serving LSC President.
Under her leadership, LSC has emphasized strategies to enhance the quality of legal services provided by LSC-funded programs. The centerpiece of this effort has been a revision of LSC's Performance Criteria. LSC also issued a groundbreaking report, "Documenting the Justice Gap in America," which provides compelling evidence of the current unmet civil legal needs of low-income Americans and found that 50 percent of eligible clients seeking assistance from LSC-funded programs are turned away because of a lack of program resources.
Before joining LSC, Barnett devoted her entire 37-year professional career to providing legal services to the indigent as a lawyer 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. Under her watch, the division earned universal respect for its legal work, innovative projects, adherence to the highest professional and ethical standards, and its disaster response plan to coordinate the delivery of critical legal assistance to New Yorkers in the aftermath of the September 11th attacks.
Barnett has served on several prominent local, state, and national commissions and committees, including serving as the first and only legal services attorney on the ABA Board of Governors and Executive Committee. Among the many awards she has received include the New York State Bar Association's Gold Medal Award for Distinguished Service in the Law, the association's highest honor; an Honorary Doctor of Laws Degree from Suffolk University; and the National Association of Women Lawyers Public Service Award. She has also authored several law review articles, including most recently her Sherman J. Bellwood Lecture at the University of Idaho. In addition, she was invited to be the commencement speaker at the New York University School of Law.
Barnett received her bachelor of arts from Barnard College and her law degree from New York University School of Law.
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