The first meeting of the incorporators of Legal Aid Society was held at the Board of Trade Building. Incorporators present included: Mrs. Alfred Brandeis (Jennie Taussig Brandeis), A.H. Bowman, Homer W. Batson, Frank M. Drake, Joseph M. Emmart, John G. Heyburn, Charles W. Morris, David B.G. Rose, Judge Harry W. Robinson, S. Merrill Russell, Grover G. Sales, Charles Strull, Robert F. Vaughn, Otto A. Wehle, and Louis W. Webb.

Matt J. Holt hired as general counsel at a salary of $2,400 per annum. The Society to rent the offices that Mr. Holt held under lease in the Realty Building at the rate of $35 per month. Mr. Holt authorized to employ a stenographer at a salary not to exceed $75 per month.

Mr. Emmet R. Field became the General Counsel. Mr. Field served as General Counsel and Executive Director until he retired in 1966.

Emmet Field reported 109 new cases, 96 old cases settled, 311 office visits, 76 visits and calls from other social service agencies, and 36 cases in court (over a three-month period).

Executive Committee meeting held at the offices of Realty Building (609 Center Street) where a pro bono attorney program was proposed following a steep increase in demand for legal aid services.

The Board President appointed Mr. Charles Morris and Mr. Isaac Starks to constitute a committee to call upon the Community Chest in an endeavor to raise funds sufficient to erase the Society's 1930 deficit, which consists of a balance of $266.35 salary due the general counsel. Report was made on the assistance to Society work °by students and graduates of the Law School of the University of Louisville and need for additional space and supervision in carrying on this arrangement, but in view of lack of funds no action was possible.

General Counsel reported the work done in 1934 had dropped from 11,304 cases in 1933 to 5,630 cases in 1934, a decrease of slightly over 49%. This evoked considerable discussion. The decrease was attributed to reorganization of the magistrate courts.

General Counsel reported the death of Fred H. Dougherty, Second Assistant Counsel, on February 20, 1936, as a result of wounds inflicted by one Clarence Moore. Mr. Dougherty's service was efficient, intelligent, energetic and loyal, and his tragic passing was a blow to the Society as well as to all who knew him. The General Counsel was directed to aid the public authorities in every possible way in the prosecution of Dougherty's assailant.

General Counsel reported that the Society had been out of action during the period from January 24 to February 20, 1937, due to the Ohio River flood which had covered three fourths of the city, and that he was informed that “a company of militia was quartered in the Society's office for several nights and that all stamps, all fountain pens, and a large quantity of stationery and envelopes had been appropriated by someone, presumably the soldiers, if in fact they were quartered in the Society's office.” Possible effect of post-flood conditions on the Society's work was discussed and also whether the Community Chest would succeed in a later campaign, the 1937 campaign having been indefinitely postponed due to the flood which was at its height during the week selected for the campaign.

General Counsel provided a substantive report on information surrounding current questions about Legal Aid. The report revealed that the average income for applicants had risen from $15/$18 per week before the War to $26/$27 per week. Before the War only about 1% reported earnings $40 or more per week – at present about 20% report earnings of $40 or and up, per week. Discussion over whether the Society should adopt a maximum income eligibility. Board determined that staff should consider those earning no more than $30 per week as being within the area of legal aid responsibility. Added discussion about a proposal, under study by a committee of the Louisville Bar Association, to establish a modest fee office for people needing small legal services whose business is not ordinarily attractive to private attorneys and not eligible for legal aid. It was noted that a gap exists between the fields of private attorneys and legal aid and that an intermediate service, under the bar association auspices may be desirable.

General Counsel reported on computations from reports of the National Association of Legal Aid Organizations that indicate – Louisville has a legal aid volume about twice the average, in proportion to population, and attempts to handle it at costs 20% to 37% under the average, and that its staff carries a case load per attorney that is about 50% over the maximum efficiency limit of 1,000 cases per attorney arrived at by the members of the National Association.

On December 31, 1951, Legal Aid Society moved offices from the Realty Building to 423 W Liberty Street after an increase in rent for the quarters in the Realty Building from $141.67 to $214 per month.

Edward S. “Ned” Bonnie is elected to the Legal Aid Society Board of Directors

Board Chair, Edward S. “Ned” Bonnie established a committee to conduct Legal Aid’s first community needs assessment, called the “1958 Study Report.” The report offered a thorough review of the legal problems most frequently encountered by those living in poverty. The report was the foundation for the Legal Aid Society to seek and obtain new local and federal funding for legal services to the poor. This transformed the organization from a small local charity with meager funding into a public interest law firm that could secure competitive national grants.

Legal Aid Society Board President, J. Blakey Helm, makes a statement to the press in support of the Public Defender Program (published in the Courier Journal).

Marshall P. Eldred, Jr. is elected to Legal Aid Society Board of Directors

Federal Funds were made available through the Office of Economic Opportunity.

Mr. Emmet R. Field retired from the position of General Counsel, Mr. John G. O'Mara was hired as General Counsel.

Neighborhood offices opened in California, Jackson, Manly, Fairdale, Park-Hill, and Portland.

Legal Aid Society represented black students in their efforts to overturn their expulsion from the University of Louisville following a sit-in and takeover of a campus building. The students were reinstated, following appellate court hearings, the following school year.

Legal Aid Society acted to protect tenants in evictions. Legal Aid Society Board of Directors authorized staff to represent the Louisville Tenants Union in an effort to stop landlords from evicting people without giving proper (30 days) legal notice. The Board also passed a resolution instructing its staff to "develop and implement" a program to protect from economic exploitation low-income tenants in public and private housing.

Marshall P. Eldred, Jr. named President of the Board.

The Legal Aid Society and the KCLU filed suit to desegregate the Jefferson County school system. Later, in 1972, the NAACP and the KCLU filed a second suit to desegregate the City of Louisville school system, requesting a merger of the two systems in the process of integrating the schools. This litigation led to the 1975 Federal Court order adopting a Desegregation Plan to be implemented on September 4, 1975.

Kert Berggren is hired as General Counsel of Legal Aid Society.

Legal Aid Society moved its Central Office to the Old Pence Insurance Office (317 S 5th Street) and was forced to close all Neighborhood Offices due to a lack of available resources.

The Legal Aid Society Board passed a resolution on December 10, 1973, allowing for the pursuit and acceptance of attorney fees. Judge Allen, U.S. Federal Court, wrote a lengthy opinion in a Truth in Lending case justifying and spelling out the rationale as to why Legal Aid should get attorney fees, and awarded us a $500 attorney fee.

On July 25, 1974, President Richard M. Nixon signed the law creating the Legal Services Corporation.

The Community Development Program was established with funding from the City of Louisville and Jefferson County Fiscal Court. The focus of the program was the elderly, public housing, and community legal education. More recently, the focus has changed to community and economic development in targeted neighborhoods.

Dennis Bricking is named Executive Director of Legal Aid Society.

The Legal Aid Society represented the Louisville Welfare Storefront Counseling Center in a Federal Court challenge to compel state welfare officials to properly administer the Early and Periodic Screening Detection and Treatment Program (EPSDT). The component of the state Medicaid program was not being used to provide "outreach" to welfare families to ensure adequate "preventive health care" for children.

Legal Aid Society moved its offices to the Molee Building (425 W Walnut Street now Muhammad Ali Blvd) where they would stay for the following 39 years.

Service area of the Legal Aid Society was expanded to include the following counties: Breckinridge, Bullitt, Grayson, Hardin, Henry, Larue, Marion, Meade, Nelson, Oldham, Shelby, Spencer, Trimble, and Washington.

Metro United Way began to fund the Battered Spouse and Juvenile Court Project within the Legal Aid Society. Now known as the Domestic Violence Advocacy Program, it thrives today with support from Metro United Way, the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services, and donors to the Justice for All Campaign. Annually, the program serves over 800 households.

Legal Aid Society represents a class of black students within the Jefferson County Public School system challenging the system's disproportionate suspension of black students. A settlement was reached and a four-year monitoring system was put in place to review suspensions in all of the middle and high schools.

Legal Aid Society received a 25% budget reduction from the Legal Services Corporation. Long-time Board Member, Jim Straus, and Executive Director, Dennis Bricking, led local efforts to increase support for Legal Aid Society.

The Board officially identified the following priorities: housing, government benefits, family law, consumer rights, community development, education and civil rights. These remain important priorities of the board to this day.

The Volunteer Lawyer Program was officially created as we still know it today!

A collective bargaining agreement was established between the Legal Aid Workers Union and the Legal Aid Society.

The Legal Aid Society successfully represented tenants before the United States Supreme Court. The high court decided that the Kentucky law that allowed landlords to notify tenants of eviction proceedings by nailing notices to their door, or "posting," was unconstitutional.

Legal Aid represented the Marion-Washington County NAACP in an effort to desegregate a town cemetery. According to our litigation docket: The old "black section" receives no perpetual care, is overgrown with a century's worth of weeds, and is separated from the main part of the cemetery by a barbed wire fence. We are close to a favorable settlement which will "take down the fence," integrate the property, and provide perpetual care for all of the deceased, regardless of race.

Legal Aid Society represented the Louisville Tenants Union and worked in partnership with the Louisville Apartment Owners Association to have the Uniform Residential Landlord Tenant Act (URLTA) passed by the Kentucky General Assembly as a local option law.

Legal Aid Society’s Community Development program worked with First National Bank to establish a loan fund for minority and low-income businesses.

Legal Aid Society assisted with the incorporation of St. John Center, Louisville’s first day center for homeless men. In January 1988, as homelessness became a national crisis, Legal Aid established our Homeless Outreach Program to connect homeless individuals in Louisville to community resources and housing.

In Federal Land Bank v. Mealey, Legal Aid Society defended a farm foreclosure by arguing that the bank had failed to service the loan as mandated by the Agricultural Credit Act. On our appeal from the Marion Circuit Court’s grant summary judgement, the Court of Appeals blocked the foreclosure sale. Legal Aid Society then worked to negotiate a permanent solution other than foreclosure. Senators Joseph Biden, Kent Conrad, and Mitch McConnell were asked to intercede because the bank had not followed the Act. Senators Biden and McConnell were able to arrange a settlement meeting. The Mealeys ultimately agreed to repay a portion of the note and were able to keep their farm. This is a brief account of the work done by our staff in the rural counties.

Dennis Bricking, and the Board of Directors completed the first written strategic plan to guide future work in the areas of client services, human resources, and capital resources.

With the help of Judge Ann Shake and the Task Force on Evictions, Legal Aid Society with funding from the city of Louisville established the Eviction Prevention Program.

Legal Aid Society established the HIV/AIDS Legal Project with Jeff Been as the leading lawyer on the project and Jamillah Muhammad the paralegal. Start up funds for the project were provided by Metro United Way, The Bingham Fund, and the Kentucky Bar Foundation. In it’s first year, the program assisted 200 clients. The program is still fully operation to this day.

Legal Aid Society with funding from the Norton Foundation and the Louisville Bar Foundation create the Children-at-Risk program to represent families with children in school who experience housing instability. The program partnered with Family Resource Centers and Jefferson County Public Schools to assist vulnerable families.

Legal Aid Society received a Pyramid Award for Excellence from the Center for Nonprofit Excellence.

Wyatt, Tarrant & Combs created the Wyatt Fellowship under the leadership of Bob Ewald and Kevin Hable. For over a decade, Wyatt underwrote the full cost of one attorney who provided life saving legal intervention to survivors of domestic violence.

Legal Aid Society held it’s first Brush, Bottle, and Barrel of the Bluegrass fundraising event. The annual event was the official preview party for the Cherokee Triangle Art Fair, raising unrestricted resources to support Legal Aid. The last Brush, Bottle, and Barrel event was held in 2019. The 2020 event was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Brush, Bottle and Barrel AT HOME was held in 2021 while the pandemic continued to rage.

Jeffrey A. Been was named Legal Aid Society’s new Executive Director (after a brief stint wherein Morgan Ward stepped in as Interim Director following Dennis Bricking’s retirement).

Legal Aid Society moved from the Molee Building at425 W. Muhammad Ali Blvd to the Scoop Building across the street at 416 W Muhammad Ali Blvd (where our offices remain today). The new space was vital to the success of Legal Aid in the early days of the 21st century, providing a clean, modern, and fully equipped office space for staff and clients alike.

Legal Aid Society launched the Kentucky Online Self-Help Assistance Program, an interactive, web-based program designed to expand access to the courts for low-income Kentuckians. The program was the first of its kind in Kentucky.

The Marshall Eldred Award for Excellence in Advocacy was established to recognize the passion Legal Aid Attorneys bring to the profession and reflect the deep values Marshall Eldred demonstrated in his service as a board member. The award was created through an initial gift from Judge Boyce F. Martin.

The Brandeis School of Law opens the Robert and Sue Ellen Ackerson Law Clinic in the Scoop Building alongside Legal Aid Society, creating a more meaningful and synergistic relationship between Brandeis and Legal Aid that would grow over the next decade.

In partnership with the Louisville Bar Association, the Center for Women and Families, Verizon Wireless, the Mary Bryon Foundation, and volunteer attorneys from the private bar, Legal Aid launched the Domestic Violence Advocacy Program to provide free legal representation to victims of domestic violence at emergency protective order hearings in Jefferson County. The program continues to assist hundreds of survivors today, having expanded to other counties in our service area in the late 2010s.

With funding from the Louisville Bar Foundation, Legal Aid Society developed the Kentucky Corps of Advocates for Veterans to help Veterans resolved civil legal problems and achieve economic stability. Now known as the Veterans Legal Assistance Program, we continue to assist more than 250 Kentucky Veterans each year. In 2021, the Veterans Legal Assistance Program established a medical-legal partnership with the Robley Rex VA Medical Center.

Legal Aid Society joined University of Louisville Pediatrics, Kosair Children’s Hospital, and the Louisville Bar Association to establish Doctors & Lawyers for Kids, a medical-legal partnership whose mission is to improve the health of children in poverty. Initially a stand-alone nonprofit, Doctors & Lawyers for Kids became a program of Legal Aid Society in the Fall 2020.

Edward S. and Cornelia Bonnie established Legal Aid Society’s first endowment fund, the Edward S. and Cornelia Bonnie Fund at the Community Foundation of Louisville. Since that time, the fund has grown by a factor of ten and produces unrestricted assets to support Legal Aid Society’s mission.

Neva Scott becomes the first woman to serve as Executive Director of Legal Aid Society. Ms. Scott began her career as a family law attorney at Legal Aid Society and would later serve as a Managing Attorney of Volunteer Services. In 2021, Ms. Scott stepped down after leading the organization through the pandemic.

Legal Aid Society, in partnership with attorney Bart Greenwald and St. John Center for Homeless Men, launched Project H.E.L.P. Louisville, a homeless advocacy program that provides free legal services through weekly clinics held at local shelters. Since 2016, the program has expanded to assist nearly every homeless shelter in Metro Louisville. In 2022, the program expanded into Jefferson County Public Schools to assist families experiencing homelessness.

In partnership with the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services, Legal Aid Society launched the Custody and Visitation Hotline to help families across the Commonwealth, over 3,500 have been assisted since its launch.

In March 2020, as the pandemic gripped the globe, Legal Aid Society immediately adjusted services to address the rising need in a very challenging time. Legal Aid Society went fully remote while still working to provide life-saving services to those who needed them most.

Louisville Metro Government passed a Right to Council Ordinance, providing all residents living at or below 125% of the federal poverty-line, with children in the home, an attorney in eviction court. Legal Aid Society took an unprecedented lead in helping the community navigate the eviction crisis throughout the pandemic, assisting thousands of Kentuckians with a landlord/tenant issues since March 2020.

On January 1, 2022, Jefferson Coulter became Legal Aid Society’s newest Executive Director as Legal Aid Society celebrates it’s 100th Anniversary!