[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 30, Number 39 (Monday, October 3, 1994)]
[Pages 1868-1869]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 6725--National Legal Services Week, 1994

September 26, 1994

By the President of the United States

of America

A Proclamation

     The preamble to the Constitution reminds us that our great Nation 
was founded ``to establish Justice . . . and secure the Blessings of 
Liberty . . . .'' The very nature of justice demands that it be 
available to all. True justice cannot be rationed--it cannot be accorded 
to some while others are denied the full benefit of their rights. Our 
Founders understood that privilege and responsibility are inextricably 
linked. The words ``Equal Justice under the Law,'' inscribed over the 
portal of our highest court, represent a solemn promise made to every 
American.
     Twenty years ago, the Legal Services Corporation was created to 
help keep that promise, promoting equal access to justice by making 
high-quality legal assistance in civil matters available to those who 
would otherwise be unable to attain it.

[[Page 1869]]

    In designing the Legal Services Corporation the Congress recognized 
the need for an independent entity, protected from political 
interference, to support local programs that would be accountable to 
their own communities. Legal Services was designed to ensure that all 
Americans needing assistance are provided with legal representatives 
whose responsibility is to fully protect and defend their clients' best 
interests according to the highest standards of professional obligation.
    For two decades, the Legal Services Corporation has fulfilled that 
mandate. It supports local legal services programs that operate under 
the auspices of their own Boards of Directors, which are made up of 
clients and representatives of the local bar. Today, the Corporation 
supports 323 programs operating in over 900 neighborhood offices across 
the Nation. In addition, more than 130,000 private attorneys volunteer 
their time and energy toward activities associated with local legal 
services projects.
    Legal Services programs extend assistance to more than 1.5 million 
people every year, vindicating their rights, resolving their disputes, 
and offering a means of improving their lives. Dedicated attorneys, 
paralegals, staff, Board members, and volunteers have worked with 
unflinching commitment, often under adverse conditions, to serve those 
whose rights and interests they represent. Legal Services has won the 
respect of the judiciary, the organized bar, and the client community. 
For many Americans, the existence of legal services has renewed their 
faith in our government of laws.
    On the 20th anniversary of the Legal Services Corporation, I 
reaffirm our national commitment to equal access to justice, to decency, 
to fair play. I voice my deep respect for those who have given so much 
to keep those principles alive over the years.
    Now, Therefore, I, William J. Clinton, President of the United 
States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the 
Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim the week 
of September 26 through October 2, 1994, as ``National Legal Services 
Week.'' I urge all Americans to join me in recognizing the contributions 
that the Legal Services Corporation and the local programs that it 
supports have made in fulfilling the promise of equal justice under the 
law, and I call upon the people of the United States to observe this 
week with appropriate ceremonies and activities.
    In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-sixth 
day of September, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-
four, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two 
hundred and nineteenth.
                                            William J. Clinton

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 4:32 p.m., September 27, 
1994]

Note: This proclamation was published in the Federal Register on 
September 29.