Oral history interview with Arthur Chaskalson 1999

(born 1931) Establishment of Legal Resources Centre [LRC] 1978: position as director 1978-1993, initial funding by Carnegie Corporation of New York [Carnegie], Ford Foundation, and Rockefeller Brothers Fund; LRC' s close relationship with Centre for Applied Legal Studies: separate entity from LRC, research focused; shaping of LRC goals: free legal services for poor blacks, resistance through the law, identifying important issues and impact work, generating a culture of self-assertion; LRC efforts to avoid governmental ban: keeping a low profile, asking leading members of the profession to serve as trustees of the Legal Resources Trust; LRC's growth in staff, offices, and impact; LRC's litigation work: pass laws, the Komani case--challenge to validity of location regulation, residence rights and employment contracts, development of fair labor practices, the Group Areas Act; work during state of emergency in mid-1980s, rise in anti-apartheid movement and external pressure from international community; LRC's current role: the legacy of apartheid, making use of the constitution and legislation; 1994 appointment as first President of South Africa's Constitutional Court.