[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 35, Number 30 (Monday, August 2, 1999)]
[Pages 1498-1499]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 7212--25th Anniversary of the Legal Services Corporation, 
1999

July 26, 1999

By the President of the United States

of America

A Proclamation

    The Bill of Rights guarantees that no American shall be ``deprived 
of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.'' This 
promise lies at the heart of our free society and reflects our reverence 
for impartial justice and the rule of law. In a few simple words, it 
cements the fundamental covenant between our government and the people 
it serves.
    Our Nation's founders understood that true justice cannot exist 
unless it is accessible to all. In this same spirit, Congress 
established the Legal Services Corporation (LSC) 25 years ago to secure 
equal access to justice under the law for all Americans by making 
available high-quality legal assistance in civil matters to citizens who 
otherwise would be unable to afford it.
    Designed as a private, nonprofit, independent entity, the LSC 
focuses its efforts on funding local legal services programs that are 
rooted in and accountable to the communities they serve. The dedicated 
staffs of

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these programs, and the many private attorneys who donate their time and 
expertise, strive to protect and defend the interests of their clients 
and to maintain the highest standards of the legal profession. In recent 
years, the LSC has provided grants to legal services programs serving 
every county in our Nation, as well as the U.S. territories. Each year, 
almost 60 thousand private attorneys participate by performing pro bono 
legal services, and almost 2 million people benefit from LSC-funded 
efforts.
    The extraordinary success of the LSC highlights the importance of 
the legal profession's long-standing tradition of community service. It 
also reminds us of how much our society has been strengthened by the 
conscience and conviction of lawyers standing up for what is right. As 
part of my Call to Action to the American Legal Community, I hope to 
build on this tradition of service by challenging all attorneys across 
our Nation to donate some of their time and apply their skills to help 
those among us who cannot afford to pay for the representation they 
need.
    As we mark the 25th anniversary of the Legal Services Corporation, I 
salute the dedicated members of the Board of Directors, attorneys, 
paralegals, support staff, and volunteers associated with the LSC who 
have worked with talent, generosity, and determination to uphold 
America's fundamental commitment to justice for all.
    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 July 25, 
1999, as the 25th anniversary of the Legal Services Corporation. 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.
    In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-sixth 
day of July, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-nine, 
and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred 
and twenty-fourth.
                                            William J. Clinton

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 8:45 a.m., July 28, 
1999]

Note: This proclamation was released by the Office of the Press 
Secretary on July 27, and it was published in the Federal Register on 
July 29.