History

It was in 1988 that the idea of the NEJL was first introduced by Justice Earl Johnson, Jr., a judge on the California Court of Appeals, at a meeting of the Board of the National Legal Aid Defender Association (NLADA) of which he was a member.

The importance of such a repository was driven home when public defender members of the NLADA board reported that the papers of Clara Shortridge Foltz, credited with founding the public defender system in the United States and the first woman lawyer in the western states, had been destroyed by her family who did not realize the papers’ historic significance.

The  American Bar Association, NLADA, Association of American Law Schools (AALS), and American Association of Law Libraries (AALL) formed a Joint Exploratory Committee a to develop the project. In 1990, this committee evolved into the Consortium for the National Equal Justice Library (CNEJL), a District of Columbia non-profit corporation and began searching for a host institution. After considering applications from three DC area law schools, in 1991 the CNEJL board chose Washington College of Law of American University to house the new collection.  Because of delays in the locating and renovating a suitable new building for the Washington College of Law, the NEJL did not open until September 1997.

Nine years later as space pressures grew at Washington College of Law, the NEJL began searching for a new home.  After two years of negotiations, the board was able to relocate to its first choice, Georgetown University Law Center, in the heart of legal Washington and only two blocks from Union Station. In September, 2007, the NEJL’s existing collections were acquired by the Georgetown University Law Library where they will continue to be an invaluable resource to lawyers, law students and other researchers interested in the rich history of legal services to the poor.

The CNEJL will use the holdings in the Georgetown law library as the basis for public education and policy research initiatives that will further our democracy's commitment to due process and equal justice under law.  Anticipated users include individuals and organizations who develop public policy, legislation, delivery models, training programs and public law-related education, as well as lawyers, law professors, historians, social scientists, high school, college, and law students, and members of the general public who want to learn more about this vital piece of our nation's history

The Honorary Co-Chairs of the National Equal Justice Library are: former Senator Warren B. Rudman and the Honorable Sargent Shriver, former Director of the Office of Economic Opportunity, both of whom have made remarkable contributions to the pursuit of equal justice in this country.

Each of the 25 members of the Library's Board of Directors also brings distinction for his or her ongoing commitment to this cause, representing the private and public sectors of the bar, academia, library science and the bench.

Each of the 25 members of the Library's Board of Directors also brings distinction for his or her ongoing commitment to this cause, representing the private and public sectors of the bar, academia, library science and the bench.

The library will use its holdings as the basis for public education and policy research initiatives that will further our democracy's commitment to due process and equal justice under law.

Anticipated users include individuals and organizations who develop public policy, legislation, delivery models, training programs and public law-related education, as well as lawyers, law professors, historians, social scientists, high school, college, and law students, and members of the general public who want to learn more about this vital piece of our nation's history.