ILAS History

In the early 1920s, legal aid to poor persons first began to be offered on an organized basis in Indianapolis by the Family Welfare Society through its Legal Aid Bureau. (The Family Welfare Society is now known as the Family Service Association.) Additional legal assistance began to be provided through the Legal Aid Committee of the Indianapolis Bar Association, which supplied its younger members as volunteers. The Bar Association continued this service until 1941.

"Equal justice under the law is not just a caption on the facade of the Supreme Court Building. It is perhaps the most inspiring ideal of our society... it is fundamental that justice should be the same, in substance and availability, without regard to economic status."-Lewis Franklin Powell, Jr. U.S. Supreme Court

In 1936 and again in 1937, the Indianapolis Council of Social Agencies proposed to the Community Fund to organize a Legal Aid Society in Indianapolis. However, these proposals were rejected due to lack of funding. Finally in 1941, the Indianapolis Bar Association, the Indianapolis Lawyers Association, and the Indiana Law School obtained adequate funding from the Indianapolis Foundation to incorporate the Indianapolis Legal Aid Society. The Society's first governing body consisted of members of the founding organizations, as well as representatives from public and private family welfare agencies, the Better Business Bureau, and several businessmen.

The Indianapolis Legal Aid Society was the first organization of its kind in the state of Indiana, and it has operated continuously since its incorporation, compiling a record of continued growth and provision of quality civil legal assistance to poor persons in Central Indiana. Wise stewardship for over sixty years by the Society's board of directors, its officers and its managing counsel; and dedicated and caring service by its support staff and its attorneys have continued the growth of this valuable community asset for the benefit of children, families, and the elderly of Central Indiana.

ILAS is today, by far, the largest organization in Indiana devoted solely to the non-ideological, non-sectarian, non-governmental provision of civil legal assistance to persons of limited means. For the volume and diversity of the legal matters handled, it is also, without doubt, the most efficient law firm in Central Indiana.