EJM_Fall 2004_30th Pullout

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12 LSCs equal JUSTICE WINTER 2005 BRIEFS Gottlieb Celebrates 25 Years with Atlanta Legal Aid Ernesto G. SanchezIdahos Pillar of Equal Justice W hen Steve Gottlieb started as a staff
attorney at the Atlanta Legal Aid
Society (ALAS) in 1969, Woodstock had just taken place and Hippies were the
personication of the counterculture move-
ment. For this young
attorney fresh out of the
University of Pennsyl-
vania Law School, the
future was wide open.
That is why, when it came
time to renew his Georgia
drivers license, he would
only do so for two years
instead of the more fear-
of-commitment-inducing
four year option offered
by the state. After all, he
surely said to himself, who knows where Ill
be in four years? Now, a full 36 years later,
Gottlieb laughs at these old memories from
his ofce in the same organization he start-
ed at all those drivers licenses ago. In the
middle of his 25th year as Executive When LSCs Board of Directors traveled to
Idaho in October, they were in the presence
of a pillar of the equal justice community.
Ernesto G. Sanchez has served as Executive
Director of LSC-funded Idaho Legal Aid
Services (ILAS) for 26 years, leading the pro-
gram through its transformation from a
small two-ofce operation into a statewide
program providing legal services to eligible
Idahoans throughout the entire state. In a
sense, the evolution of the organization that
has been Sanchezs lifes work mirrors his
own personal journey from humble begin-
nings to notable accomplishments. Sanchez
was born into an early life of migrant farm-
work, traveling throughout the country toil-
ing to harvest food for other peoples plates.
He was a mere ve years old when he start-
ed in the elds, and he did not leave the
elds until he had nished two years of col-
lege at Idaho State University. It was while
working towards his Bachelors Degree in
Business Administration that Sanchez says
he began to, formalize, develop, and strengthen my views
regarding the denial of
civil rights to certain class-
es of people, particularly
Hispanics. The more I
learned about the man-
ner in which minorities
and women were treat-
ed, the more I wanted to
address the problem.
Law school was the answer. When he
received his juris doctorate from the
University of Idaho in 1972, he was the rst
Hispanic to graduate from the law school,
and the rst Hispanic admitted to practice
law in Idaho. Law school was also where
Sanchez learned about Western Idaho Legal
Aidthe precursor to ILASwhere he
interned during his rst summer. When I
started with legal services we were little
more than a divorce mill, doing mostly
divorces and custody cases out of only two
ofces. The program was not well received
by others in those days, including the state bar and judiciary, because
they were not familiar
with who we were or
what we did. Over the
years, most of them
under Sanchezs leader-
ship, ILAS has evolved into
a statewide program with
a full case load covering
all areas of law traditional- ly handled by a legal services program, and
has developed a solid reputation throughout
the state earning the respect of the bar and
judiciary. Still, Sanchez is not one to take
credit for himself. ILAS has a very commit-
ted staff, many of whom have been with
the program for many years. Whatever
achievements I have accomplished would
not have been possible without the critical
involvement of others. Sanchez was proud
to host the LSC Board this fall, as it gave
him a chance to showcase the legal services
program that has not only been his lifes
work, but his lifes passion. Director of LSC-funded ALAS, he has no
regrets about his decision to stay, having
been at the helm of the Society for some if
its most notable and important work. One
such case involved the case of the Mariel Cubans from the early
eighties. A brand new
executive director at the
time, Gottlieb worked
with current LSC
Chairman Frank B.
Strickland and scores of
other Atlanta lawyers to
provide free representa-
tion to hundreds of
Cubans who escaped
Castros clutches through
the port of Mariel, only to be imprisoned without chargeand with-
out access to a lawyerupon their arrival in
the U.S. ALAS staff attorneys also brought
the landmark disability rights case of
Olmstead v. L.C. and E.W. all the way to the
Supreme Court, arguing successfully that the Americans with Disabilities Act gives
disabled people the right to live in the most
integrated community setting possible.
ALASs victory in this case has improved the
lives of thousands of disabled Americans by
moving them from restrictive institutional
settings to communities where they can
begin to lead normal lives. While Gottlieb is
immensely proud of the work his organiza-
tion has done over the years, he has another
reason for sticking it out for so long: his col-
leagues. The number one thing that has
kept me around is the quality people Ive
encountered at Atlanta Legal Aid, some of
whom, he points out, have been there longer
than him. Ive been incredibly lucky to
work with people whose passions coincide
so perfectly with the mission of the organi-
zation. Contemplating whether a 30 year
anniversary as Executive Director of ALAS is
in his future, Gottlieb says, if the people are
still the same people and if the work is still
as exciting as Ive found it over the years, I
wont be leaving anytime soon.

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