Legal Aid and Defender Association Inc. culminated its centennial year with its 100th Anniversary Celebration on Friday, Nov. 6, at Ford Field in Detroit. Congratulating James Neuhard (second from right), director of the State Appellate Defender Office, on receiving the inaugural Frank D. Eaman Warrior of Justice Award were (left to right) Wayne County Probate Court Judge Freddie G. Burton Jr., who served as Master of Ceremonies for the evening; Michigan Supreme Court Chief Justice Marilyn Kelly, keynote speaker; and State Bar of Michigan President Charles R. Toy, associate dean of Career & Professional Development for Thomas M. Cooley Law School.
Photo by John Meiu
Association ends centennial year with a celebration
By Christine L. Mobley
Legal News
In the span of 100 years, Legal Aid and Defender Association (LAD) can claim it has experienced and witnessed historical phenomena such as the Great Depression, two World Wars, the man on the moon, the civil rights movement, the nation's first black president and a host of other historical events all while serving the greater good.
It was in this spirit of historical recognition that LAD culminated its centennial year with its 100th Anniversary Celebration held recently at Ford Field in Detroit.
The organization, founded in 1909 by the Detroit Bar, was initially named the Legal Aid Society and was established to provide free legal services to the city's poor, especially new immigrants from Europe and the South.
Through the years and a couple of different name changes, LAD has become Michigan's oldest and largest provider of free civil legal services to low-income people serving metropolitan Detroit through its offices in Macomb, Oakland and Wa...