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Kansas Legal Services
712 S. Kansas Ave
Suite 200
Topeka, KS 66603
Ph. 785-233-2068
Fx. 785-354-8311
TDD# 785-233-4028
Marilyn M. Harp
Executive Director
KLS History
During the 1920's, the American Bar Association acknowledged the need for special assistance to the poor by creating a committee on legal aid. State and local bar associations worked over the following decades to promote legal aid societies to provide free legal services to the poor. Early legal services supporters recognized the pledge of "Equal Justice Under the Law" cannot be realized as long as people with limited resources do not have access to the justice system.
In the mid-1960's, legal aid societies were formed in Topeka, Wichita and Kansas City. From the 1960's until 1974, the three Kansas legal aid societies, with the support of local bar associations, operated under the authority of the Office of Economic Opportunity, Office of Legal Services. Authority for the legal services program was transferred from the Community Services Administration (successor to the Office of Economic Opportunity) to the newly formed Legal Services Corporation during 1975. Through all of these changes in administrative authority and funding, the Kansas legal aid societies continued to provide free legal services to the poor in Kansas. In 1977, the Kansas City, Topeka and Wichita legal aid societies merged to form Kansas Legal Services, Inc. Kansas Legal Services now has twelve legal services, two mediation and five employment training offices located across the state, and maintains an extensive retainer contract system with cooperating members of the Kansas Bar Association. |