In the 2004 interview, Thomas Ehrlich discusses his career, with a particular focus on his appointment and tenure as the first president of the Legal Services Corporation in 1975. Ehrlich served for three years, closely collaborating with Clint Bamberger, whom he had asked to serve as the executive vice president. Ehrlich recalls the tense moments in October 1975, when Revius O. Ortique flew in at the last hour to break a tie on the eleven-member LSC Board to approve Clint Bamberger’s appointment.  Despite this initial challenge, the Board turned out to be “very supportive of virtually everything that Clint and I tried to do together.” Ehrlich also discusses the major LSC initiatives during this period of rapid expansion of the legal services program, and the major policy challenges that they faced, such as the Green Amendment, which proposed to eliminate the back-up centers.

The full length video recording of the interview, as well as a transcript, is available online at:

https://repository.library.georgetown.edu/handle/10822/711822