THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

PRESIDENT CLINTON NAMES ERNESTINE P. WATLINGTON TO THE BOARD OF

DIRECTORS OF THE LEGAL SERVICES CORPORATION

The President announced today his intent to nominate Ernestine P. Watlington to the Board of Directors of the Legal Services Corporation.

Ernestine P. Watlington of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, has spent her entire adult life working to improve the lives of low income persons and the communities in which they live. Ms. Watlington has been involved in legal services to the poor at the local, state and national levels. She has served on the Board of Directors of the legal services program which covers Harrisburg and Lancaster in leadership capacities. She was a founding board member and is the past president of the Law Coordination Center, which provides support to local legal services programs in Pennsylvania. Ms. Watlington has been instrumental in merging two state-wide programs in Pennsylvania to enable more resources to be devoted to serving clients and less to duplicate administrative costs. She served on the Board of Directors of the National Economic Development and Law Center, a national legal services center supporting economic and community development initiatives across the country.

The Legal Services Corporation was established by the Legal Services Corporation Act of 1974, as amended in 1977. The Board of Directors of the Legal Services Corporation supervises and directs the activities of the Corporation, which provides financial support for indigent clients in non-criminal cases through grants and contracts with individuals, partnerships, firms, corporations, non-profit organizations, and state and local governments. By statute, a majority of the Board must be members of the bar of the highest court of a state. The Board must be representative of the organized bar and the general public and include lawyers who provide legal assistance to eligible clients.

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