 The majority of services are performed in Cook County, but the committee's influence in some projects is felt throughout the Midwest.Each year, over 18,000 hours of professional legal services, with an estimated value of approximately $8.5 million, is donated from our pool of over 1,000 volunteer lawyers.The National Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law was formed in 1963 at the request of President John F. Kennedy, with the initial purpose of providing legal representation to Black people and civil rights workers in the Southern United States for whom lawyers were otherwise unavailable.