20 Stories - Partners in Justice: Doug and Harriet Meiklejohn
Reflecting Doug’s values, the Law Center represents the “least powerful among us,“ usually communities that can’t afford legal counsel, but who live under threats to their health or environment. By Don Goldman, Law Center member since 1988.
Ed. note: In 2008, we launched ’20 Stories for 20 Years’ in honor of the Law Center’s twentieth anniversary. We’re a little late, but are happy to present the final five stories in that series.
Imagine an ambitious, talented lawyer with no corporate or wealthy clients, whose legal aspirations do not include remunerative civil suits or elective office; an attorney guided by family tradition and a personal recognition that our legal system should do more to represent the least powerful among us. And imagine a wife who shares those values and goals, who for over 40 years has supplied the moral and financial support needed to make reality out of good intentions. This is not imagination: it is Doug and Harriet Meiklejohn.
©2008 Alain McLaughlin
In 1977 Doug came to New Mexico to work in the Attorney General’s office, working first in consumer protection efforts and last on environmental cases, a sensitivity that his parents had instilled in him. In 1987 however, Garrey Carruthers became Governor and Hal Stratton the Attorney General. Doug painfully realized that their priorities did not include his central concerns, and that he could no longer address those concerns working for the state.
The 80s were a period of increased social and environmental activism, with people around the U.S. experimenting with new, non-governmental ways of making change. In that heady time of making things better in spite of government, the Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund, the Environmental Defense Fund, and the Southern Environmental Law Center, among others, were beginning to make laws and the legal system work for – not against – the environment.
Moved by these non-governmental efforts to improve the environment, Doug left state government and regular paychecks in 1987 and founded the Law Center. With three young children, to call this a gamble is an understatement! But from the start, the Law Center had an angel keeping the Meiklejohn family afloat: her name is Harriet. She was then – as now – a librarian. It would take a long time for Doug to be earning “lawyer’s wages;” he’s still waiting. He and Harriet live in the same small house they lived in then.
Reflecting Doug’s values, the Law Center “represents the least powerful among us,” usually Indian tribes and poor Hispanic communities that can’t afford legal counsel, but who live under threats to their health or environment. Frequently, all costs of carrying a case to conclusion are borne by grants and private donations, not the client. Unfortunately, with its small staff and limited resources, the Law Center has to turn away approximately 80% of the cases that come to it.
A distinguishing Law Center characteristic is that it responds to requests from communities. It doesn’t tell them what they need; the community determines its needs and the Center helps it achieve them. The community members stay actively involved in the case; it’s their case, not the Center’s. It’s been a long haul since Doug was a full-time volunteer founder-attorney. Today the Law Center and its staff of eight (including four attorneys) is recognized and honored for its work on behalf of New Mexico’s environment and communities. Thank you, Doug and Harriet! Back to top