POUND URGES THAT LEGAL AID BUREAU BE REOPENED SOON

Reopening of the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau is urged by Roscoe Pound, Dean of the Law School, in his annual report.

The bureau was closed this fall because of a recent act of the legislature after operating since 1913 as a free legal office for the poor of Cambridge.

"Perhaps the most serious event of the past school year," says Dean Pound, "is the enactment of legislation which has cast such doubt upon the legality of the operation of the Legal Aid Bureau as to lead to its suspension.

"That the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau answered to a real need in Cambridge and vicinity is witnessed by a long record of effective service to the community. At first it was looked upon with doubt by some magistrates. But it had proved itself worthy by the experience of the courts and it had become the practice where ignorant and needy persons mistakenly applied to the courts for information to refer them to the bureau."

"From the last printed report it appears that the Bureau handled no less than 836 cases in the school year 1933-34, and collected $1529 for needy claimants.

"Both the Attorney-General and the Cambridge Bar Association, in a most helpful spirit, have signified that they have not the least intention of interfering with the Bureau on the basis of the statute. But it is not thought that the operations of the Bureau might not be interfered with. The Law School cannot think of operating any institution or carrying on any activity the legality of which is open to doubt.

"It is earnestly hoped that this unfortunate situation can be remedied at the next session of the General Court."