Nancy J. Mintie J.D. ’79

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Nine years ago, when the poor and homeless on Los Angeles’ Skid Row had no one to turn to, Nancy Mintie stepped forward as their advocate. The founder and director of the Inner City Law Center, she worked without pay for five years, providing free legal assistance to the needy. Today, the Inner City Law Center has 10 full-time staff and volunteers, but it remains Skid Row’s only law firm and a lifeline to nearly 4,000 indigent and disenfranchised people each year.

Since founding the Center in 1980, Mintie has recruited, trained and worked with more than 100 volunteer attorneys, clerks, paralegals and social workers to provide services for the needy. Cases have included tenants’ rights, employment discrimination, child custody and government benefits. Sometimes the assistance provided by the Inner City Law Center is as basic as filling out government forms.

Prominent members of the community have also paid tribute to her efforts with lavish praise. Los Angeles City Councilwoman Ruth Galanter describes her as “a woman of extraordinary dedication and competence.” Frank Wheat, senior partner with the law firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, has observed, “The little Inner City Law Center is a good example of what a single individual can do if there is a will to do it.”