1946

Charitable Legal Aid Office in Houston

A group of 10 Houston attorneys created the Houston Legal Foundation in 1948. They hired Sam Cook, who ran the one- man operation until 1964.

Learn more about the lawyers who established the Houston Legal Foundation in 1948.

1964

Office of Economic Opportunity established.

The federally funded Legal Services Program grew out of the Office of Economic Opportunity, established in 1964 by President Johson (commonly known as the War on Poverty).

1966

Houston Legal Foundation opens two “neighborhood offices” and one central office

With federal funding, the old charitable legal foundation expanded to form a Legal Services operation in March 1966.

1974

Expanding to Tyler, Beaumont, Nacogdoches

When President Nixon established the Legal Services Corporation, LSC aimed to standardize access to legal services by establishing a presence in every county.

1977

East Texas Legal Services

While the Houston office expanded to serve the Gulf Coast, the offices in rural areas were organized under Paul Furrh’s leadership as ETLS — and headquartered in Nacogdoches.

1980s

A Decade of Big Legal Victories

U.S. v. City of Port Arthur;
Young v. Pierce.
Plyler v. Doe / In re: Alien Children

1990s

Preserving Legal Services

The American Bar Association and Legal Services attorneys narrowly preserved funding for legal services when congress considered defunding legal services for the poor in the 1990s.

2001

Lone Star Legal Aid established.

In 2001, Gulf Coast Legal Foundation, East Texas Legal Services, and Heart of Texas Legal Services merged to form Lone Star Legal Aid, under the direction of Paul Furrh and Dwaye Bilton.