ETRC:

EAST TENNESSEE RESOURCE CORPORATION

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Beginning in early 1974, young lawyers and law students put together a non-profit law firm to support the legal challenges faced by the fledgling clinics.

Called the East Tennessee Resource Corporation, besides clinic concerns, they took on issues of local taxation and environmental protection, in partnership with local leaders.  

 

As seen in this front page headline from London newspaper The Guardian, even a British landholding firm felt the sting of ETRC work as ETRC lawyers held them accountable for degradation of homeowner’s land in east Tennessee. Much of the early ETRC story can be found in the papers of John Gaventa in the archives at Appalachian State University.