BeVier Appointed to Board of Directors of the Legal Services Corporation
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| Professor BeVier and J. Harvie Wilkinson ’72 |
Lillian BeVier was recess-appointed by President Bush to the Board of Directors of the Legal Services Corporation (LSC) in April 2003. Fourth Circuit Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III ’72 conducted the swearing-in ceremony for BeVier in the Federal District Courthouse in Charlottesville. The Senate confirmed her appointment in July. Since then, said BeVier, “my work as a member of the Board of the Legal Services Corporation has begun in earnest.” BeVier, who was elected Vice Chair of the Board, said the Board spent the fall searching for a new president, a search which concluded successfully in December with the appointment of Helaine Barnett, formerly the executive director of the civil division of The Legal Aid Society of New York.
BeVier said her work with the Board has been “very gratifying. Each member is eager to do the right thing by our constituency, and we listen to and respect one another’s viewpoints” about how best to fulfill the LSC’s mission of providing civil legal services to individual indigent clients.
Also during the fall semester, BeVier was Visiting Scholar at the new National Constitution Center in Philadelphia. The Center is an independent, non-partisan, and non-profit organization dedicated to increasing public understanding of and appreciation for the Constitution, its history, and its contemporary relevance. The Center’s interactive, interpretive facility within Independence National Historical Park officially opened on July 4, 2003.
BeVier worked with the Center to develop and present programs about the Constitution that would have appeal to and have some educational benefit for non-academics — laypeople, and practicing lawyers. She taught a four-hour, non-credit course on freedom of expression offered by the University of Pennsylvania adult education department. BeVier also gave several lectures to the staff at the Center. “It was very rewarding, and a different kind of experience for me,” said BeVier. “This was not about classic scholarship or even teaching to law students, but about public education for lifelong learners who were truly eager to learn about the Constitution. I enjoyed it immensely.”
