50 years of fairness

Before November is gone, we want to acknowledge a milestone in the history of one of the area’s most valuable organizations, Legal Services of Northern California. Fifty years ago this month, a group of lawyers in Sacramento, with the radical notion that poor people should have access to the civil courts, got together to form the Legal Aid Society of Sacramento County. The seed they planted was small—that first year’s budget was only $9,000—but as Legal Services of Northern California, the name it took in 1979, it has grown to provide legal help to people who can’t afford it in 23 counties, closing 30,000 cases in 2005, for example.

One of its first major expansions took place in 1977, when it merged with the 4-year-old Butte County Legal Services and purchased an office at 541 Normal Street. Over the years, the Chico office has been an important element in the legal mix of the county, advocating on behalf of poor people and representing them in court. Butte County is a far better place because of its work.