Public interest law : its past and future

Abstract

Five years ago, the term 'public interest law' had not been coined. Today a public interest bar exists and its role within the legal profession is significant enough to warrant an audit. Public interest law is the newest addition to those fields of law in which legal services are provided to those who are disadvantaged or whose interests are so diffuse that they are outside the normal marketplace for legal services. These areas of law have in common a need for some kind of subsidy - whether from the government private philanthropy, or the legal profession itself. Civil rights law, civil liberties law, and poverty law are now reasonably well understood areas of practice. The constituencies they represent have grown accustomed to seeking redress through the courts and have even developed a rather sophisticated understanding of the potential and the limitations of the judicial process.