In founding the Duke Legal Aid Clinic in 1931, John Saeger Bradway set out to combine classroom theory with practical, critical training in draftsmanship; trial and appellate practice; research and writing; counseling; and negotiation. Modeled after a clinic he had already founded at the University of Southern California, Bradway wanted to serve minorities, indigent people, immigrants and members of the military – as well as others who could not afford legal services.
For Bradway, legal aid was a career-long labor of love. He was secretary of the National Association of Legal Aid Organizations for 18 years, serving as its president from 1940 to 1942. He chaired legal aid committees for bar associations in North Carolina and Pennsylvania, and was active in the National Conference of Social Work as well as several other organizations.
At Duke, Bradway led the Legal Aid Clinic from 1931 to his retirement in 1959.
While at Duke, Bradway was active in other statewide legal aid endeavors. He served as president of the State Legislative Council, the North Carolina Mental Hygiene Society, and the North Carolina Conference for Social Service, and as director of the North Carolina League for Crippled Children.
A Pennsylvania native, Bradway completed his undergraduate and master’s work at Haverford College, then earned a law degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1914. He taught at Penn, the Pennsylvania School of Social and Health Work, and University of Southern California prior to coming to Duke in 1931 as professor and director of the Legal Aid Clinic.
After he left Duke in 1959, he taught at California Western University and the Hastings College of Law. He died in 1985 in Eureka, California.
His papers are held at Duke University Libraries.
