ABSTRACT
The time has come for lawyers to take a major interest in social welfare, and for the welfare profession to concern itself with the rapidly growing relevance of law. Although there has as yet been no systematic effort to uncover legal issues involving welfare beneficiaries, some problems have, particularly in recent months, forced themselves upon persons working in the social welfare field. Many of the forms of assistance contained in present-day social welfare programs, and particularly those under the Economic Opportunity Act, are, like public housing, available only on a selective basis. The field of social welfare has developed for thirty years with relatively little attention to the protection or clarification of the legal rights of beneficiaries, especially in programs operating with a large degree of discretion. The field of social welfare has grown up with virtually no participation by lawyers at the level where individual rights are at stake.
