Legal services group changes its name in 50th anniversary year

In its 50th anniversary year, a nonprofit organization that offers legal services for low-income clients has changed its name to the Legal Aid Center of Southern Nevada.

When the organization was known as Clark County Legal Services, too many people assumed it was affiliated with the government, Legal Aid Executive Director Barbara Buckley said.

"If they assume we're Clark County, then they think we have more money than God, and we don't," Buckley said Wednesday.

The organization receives its operating budget from donations, a private foundation, government grants and pro bono work by lawyers in private practice.

Buckley said the name change also will enable people to easily look up the company under "legal aid" in the phone book or on the Internet.

Buckley, who is speaker of the Nevada Assembly, has been with Legal Aid for 20 years. She said about 12,000 clients used the organization's services last year.

Legal Aid has represented clients in a gamut of civil cases, ranging from foreclosures to representing children in the foster care system.

"Our clients inspire us despite some unimaginable abuse and neglect," she said, adding that the organization represented about one-third of all children in the foster system in 2007.

Legal Aid is in the midst of planning a fundraising campaign to raise $15 million for a new headquarters.