Lanckton resolves the issue simply by saying. "The knowledge that CLAO is there helps the community organize itself." Although this means that law students do not go knocking on doors. Newman feels that CLAO is still able to get the word out to the community. "We believe that it's our job to reach out." he said. "When we do perceive a problem we are eager to bring it to the attention of our clientele." available to the community to use us to achieve their own purposes. ????ton said. Newman says that the poverty lawyer must tell the community that "whatever they want you to do you'll do, as long as it's ????"

This may mean that the lawyer must support the group even when he thinks it has made an ??????? decision. As Newman explained, "It might not be what the community needs, but it's what it thinks it needs. Sometimes lawyers come in and want to change the neigh-both sell in their own social image." He calls this attitude "condescending as hell."

CLAO could, for example, solve the problem of dull routine by refusing to take divorce cases and then diverting its resources to more interesting social concerns. But it seems obvious that the community wants lawyers to handle divorces, and this is thebest way for CLAO to conform to its clients' priorities.

As A law school legal aid project, CLAO is particularly susceptible to the charge of using the community solely for its own research and educational purposes. Former director Ferren rejects this notion and says that there is no conflict between CLAO's service to the community and its education of students. CLAO was founded, Ferren said, on the concept that "only through legal service do we have a way of learning what the legal problems are."

CLAO still comes under attack from another local group-the private lawyers. The reactions of the local bravery, but some lawyers "resent us cause they think we take business away from them." Newman says. In addition. Newman said, the law students appear as a threat because they are not members of the bar, yet they often do a better job than the established lawyers.

Director Lanckton answers these clergies by pointing out that CLAO, with its income limits for clients, only takes charity cases who would be unable to pay a lawyer's fee anyway. Newman says that CLAO thus "salves the conscience of a lot of private attorneys." CLAO refers cases which are ineligible under its financial guidelines to private lawyers. Newman also points out that in getting people to "think in terms of legal problems." CLAO is bound to generate business for the local bar.

In another move to make sure that it continues to represent the community's interests, CLAO began to form a policy-making community board this past fall. The CLAO board is unusual in that 17 of its 29 members will be community representatives, giving the community a clear majority. The other 12 members will be from the local bar and from the law school student body and faculty.

The law school faculty still retains a committee on CLAO which is formally responsible for the CLAO grant. Ferren, who heads the committee, was one of the persons responsible for creating the community board. It was "just not right" for CLAO formally to make the decisions about the community, he said, "If a university law school is in any way going to get involved in a service venture you simply want to cut the community in formally."

Toward the Community

The formation of the community board seems to indicate an increasing movement of CLAO away from its Harvard connections toward the community. It has been difficult, especially recently, for CLAO to define its relationship to Harvard. It seems symbolic that since CLAO's creation in 1966 the director's office has been located at the law school, not at the CLAO offices. This spring Lanckton plans to move his office to the main CLAO location.

However, there are still other factors which will continue to keep the tie to Harvard strong as long as CLAO is manned to such a large extent by law students. One example of this is the current attempt to secure course credit for students working at CLAO and faculty status for the CLAO staff attorneys.

Student worker Cohen is one of the few against giving course credit for work at CLAO, since doing so would reduce the freedom of students working at CLAO. They would then have formal requirements to meet, and the law school faculty would have to approve any changes. "CLAO in a way was one of the first big breaks in the law school's armor the first time that an activity really got out of the law school and survived on its own with very little help." Cohen said.

"Sure the support was there and the funding comes through Harvard Law School, but it really existed very much on its own. It tries very hard to disestablish itself from the law school. What they're trying to do now in the law school is really co-opting us.... You want the whole system to tumble. You don't want to build it up."

THE MOST difficult aspect of CLAO's connection to Harvard appears when clients ask CLAO to represent them in cases against Harvard. Ferren says that CLAO has no set policy on these cases, but that it has represented a number of cases whose interests are adverse to the university.

While most clients seem unaware of CLAO's connection to Harvard, the staff does reveal the relation to clients involved in cases against Harvard. CLAO often suggests that these clients take their cases to Cambridge Legal Services (CLS), but CLAO will still represent them if the lawyers feel they can do a fair job. "We don't feel we're Harvard axmen and that we owe anything to Harvard, even though our salaries come from Harvard," Newman said.