LEGAL BUREAU HELPS NEEDY

Catering to people who can not afford to pay attorneys' fees, the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau is daily giving neophyte lawyers practical court experience prosecuting cases for clients ranging from fat Amasona who threaten to "shoot the place up" to child brides who married "as a joke."

Since its establishment at the Law School in 1914, the amount of work handled by the bureau has steadily increased from 200 to 1000 cases a year, except for a brief intermission in 1935-36.

All types of cases are handled by the Bureau's 35 student lawyers, all honor students, under an administrative board of seven men. The Bureau handles a great deal of routine work, over half of it being domestic relations cases.

Closed 1925-35

In 1935-36 the Bureau was closed by the Law School following the enactment of a state law forbidding even charitable organizations to practice law. It was later reopened when a member of the Attorney General's office said that in his opinion the law did not apply to the Bureau.

The Bureau is now handling an interesting child marriage case. A girl of 14 and boy of 15 got married as a prank. They left their home state to get married under the less stringent age limitations in South Carolina, but they never lived together.

Now the girl is here and wants to annual her marriage, for she is engaged to another man. The Bureau is handling her case which is unusually difficult since it involves a conflict of state laws.

No Crime Cases

Other cases handled by the neophyte lawyers concern accidents, adoption, marriage annulments, custody of children of divorcees, bankruptcy, and wills, but no criminal matters.

Out of the usual line of business was a case brought to the Bureau recently involving a serving maid and a five dollar bottle of whiskey. The girl worked for a family in Newton. Around Christmas time she asked her employer for a bottle of grade-A whiskey to send to her folks for a present.

Her employer gave her the bottle as a gift, and all went well until soon after Christmas the girl decided to leave. However, when she gathered her belongings together she discovered that one umbrella, one pair of slippers, and one house-coat were gone. The family said that they would return the articles only when the whiskey was paid for.

The serving maid sought refuge in the Bureau, settled the case with an exchange of $2.00 for the umbrella, the house-coat, and the slippers.

The Board of Directors in control of the organization consists of Louis C. Wyman, president, Gray Thoron '38, vice-president, Russell S. Bernhard, treasurer, Richard M. Ryan '38, secretary, Alan Geismer '38, senior case consultant, all three-year men, and Thomas O. Hunter '39, and Thaddeus R. Beal, second year.