Joe Surkiewicz: HPRP takes on youth homelessness 
BY: Joe Surkiewicz
POSTED: January 2, 2012
Tags: Homeless Persons Representation Project, homelessness, hprp, Joe Surkiewicz, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, maryland, University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law
In September, the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health confirmed what most homeless-services providers already feared was true: the number of homeless youths in Baltimore has increased significantly in the last two years.
The report revealed that about 1,800 young people between the ages of 13 to 25 are homeless. But most distressing are the [...]
Joe Surkiewicz – MLSC recognizes 2011 justice champions
BY: Joe Surkiewicz
POSTED: November 27, 2011
Tags: 4th u.s. circuit court of appeals, attorney, awards, Baltimore City Department of Social Services, Benjamin L. Cardin Distinguished Service Award, lawyers, M. Natalie McSherry, maryland legal aid, maryland legal services corp., maryland volunteer lawyers service, Mitchell Y. Mirviss, public justice center, reception, Venable LLP
Two private attorneys — M. Natalie McSherry of Kramon & Graham and Mitchell Y. Mirviss of Venable — lead the list of honorees at next month’s Maryland Legal Services Corp. annual awards reception.
The lawyers will share the Arthur W. Machen, Jr. Award, presented annually to an attorney who has rendered extraordinary service by providing civil [...]
Joe Surkiewicz: CLC celebrates 25 years of helping neighborhoods
BY: Joe Surkiewicz
POSTED: October 30, 2011
Tags: 501 c3, Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler, Baltimore, CLC, Community Law Center, executive director kristine dunkertone, Joe Surkiewicz, Nonprofit, pro bono program, volunteer
After a quarter-century of service to nonprofits and neighborhoods around the state, the Community Law Center is throwing a party. The guest of honor at next week’s event is Maryland Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler, who will be inducted onto the center’s honorary board of directors.
Back up a minute: What is the Community Law Center?
The [...]
Joe Surkiewicz: MVLS, law school to ‘Celebrate Pro Bono’
BY: Joe Surkiewicz
POSTED: October 16, 2011
Tags: celebrate pro bono, Court of Appeals, Francis King Carey School of Law, Hodes Pessin & Katz, Joe Surkiewicz, mark scurti, maryland legal aid, maryland volunteer lawyers service, MVLS, Towson, University of Maryland
This year’s Celebrate Pro Bono recognition reception on Oct. 19 is a twofer: In addition to the Maryland Volunteer Lawyers Service honoring its top volunteers, the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law’s Leadership in Public Service and Maryland Public Interest Law Project will spotlight law students who have helped low-income Marylanders.
First up: [...]
Joe Surkiewicz: Social workers team up with Legal Aid lawyers
BY: Joe Surkiewicz
POSTED: October 2, 2011
Tags: Cornelia Bright Gordon, Joe Surkiewicz, legal aid lawyers, social workers, University of Maryland School of Social Work
When clients come to Maryland Legal Aid, they’re often desperate. In addition to a pressing legal problem, they’re grappling with other issues that drive their lives into a crisis — no money, no housing or no medical care. Sometimes all of the above.
You could say they need a social worker almost as badly as a [...]
Joe Surkiewicz: At 100, Legal Aid honors champions
BY: Joe Surkiewicz
POSTED: September 15, 2011
Tags: centennial celebration, harry belafonte, honorees, Joe Surkiewicz, lawyers, legal aid, maryland legal aid, wilhelm joseph
Founded Sept. 24, 1911, Maryland Legal Aid has helped hundreds of thousands of low-income Marylanders, the elderly, and abused and neglected children with their critical civil legal needs.
But Legal Aid’s efforts to balance the scales of justice weren’t done alone. To honor those who over the last century contributed their energy and skills to further [...]
Joe Surkiewicz: JustAdvice volunteers team up to fill justice gap
BY: Joe Surkiewicz
POSTED: July 17, 2011
Tags: Center for Urban Families, Civil Justice Inc., Joe Surkiewicz, justadvice, lawyers, legal aid, University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law, university of maryland medical center
You’ve heard the joke: Lawyers are so expensive now that even lawyers can’t afford a lawyer.
So what about non-lawyers with legal problems? And especially those who aren’t poor enough to qualify for Legal Aid (which, because it’s ridiculously underfunded, can help only about 20 percent of the estimated need)?
The University of Maryland Francis King Carey [...]
Joe Surkiewicz: With a pro bono boost, Project HEAL expands
BY: Joe Surkiewicz
POSTED: July 4, 2011
Tags: Joe Surkiewicz, Johns Hopkins Children's Center, Kennedy Krieger Institute, maryland volunteer lawyers service, Ober Kaler, Project HEAL
Thirty-seven states and the District of Columbia feature more than 225 medical-legal partnerships that help low-income patients and families with a wide array of legal services, such as assistance with special education, public benefits, landlord/tenant problems, advanced medical directives, medical insurance and family law.
Maryland has one: Project HEAL (Health, Education, Advocacy, and Law), founded in [...]
Joe Surkiewicz: Truancy Court Program needs a few good judges
BY: Joe Surkiewicz
POSTED: June 19, 2011
Tags: Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge David Young, ben cardin, Joe Surkiewicz, Judges, Maryland Administrative Office of the Courts, Rep. Elijah Cummings, tcp, truancy court program, University of Baltimore School of Law’s Center for Families
Are you a judge stuck in a convicting-and-sentencing rut?
Would you like to step out of retribution mode and into contributing mode?
Then consider volunteering in the Truancy Court Program, which has a proven track record in reducing truancy by elementary and middle school students (and keeping kids out of the justice system).
The program, developed by the [...]
Equal Justice Council celebrates 14 years of supporting Legal Aid
BY: Joe Surkiewicz
POSTED: May 22, 2011
Tags: andrew jay graham, Benjamin Rosenberg, celebrates, chief judge robert m. bell, equal justice council, Jefferson V. Wright, John A. Wolf, legal aid
Founded in 1997 as the fundraising arm of Maryland Legal Aid, the Equal Justice Council has raised more than $11 million from the private bar to help balance the scales of justice for disadvantaged Marylanders in family, housing, public benefits and other critical areas of civil law.
Who are these people? And why do they take [...]
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