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Recent Articles from Joe Surkiewicz
Joe Surkiewicz: UB Family Law Clinic looks at the big picture
At the University of Baltimore’s Family Law Clinic, student attorneys do more than help low-income clients seeking child custody, support, divorce, adoption, and civil remedies for domestic violence. They also look at the big picture. And they get results: Clinic student were successful earlier this spring in getting the Baltimore City Council to declare that […]
Crump inspires attendees at Legal Aid’s Equal Justice Council breakfast
Benjamin Crump, a Tallahassee, Fla. attorney who has represented the family of Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Fla., and handled many other high-profile cases, was the featured speaker at the Equal Justice Council’s 15th Annual Awards and Recognition Breakfast last week at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore. “Most of the cases my firm represents are for […]
Joe Surkiewicz: The changing face of civil legal need in P.G. County
Starting in 2008, the face of low-income clients in Prince George’s County desperate for free civil legal services took a dramatic turn. Family law clients took a back seat to people under the threat of losing their homes to foreclosure. “I never thought we’d be in the mortgage foreclosure business,” said Neal Conway, executive director […]
Joe Surkiewicz: Family advocacy center does more with less
For a snapshot of the state of legal services in the Great Recession, look southward to the peninsula between the Potomac and the Chesapeake, where the Southern Maryland Center for Family Advocacy does more with less for vulnerable low-income clients. Demand is up significantly, reported Laura Joyce, the center’s executive director. Funding, needless to say, […]
Joe Surkiewicz: MPILP raises summer jobs goal for students
Over the last quarter of a century, hundreds of students at the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law have received summer grants to work at public interest law firms. This summer, the Maryland Public Interest Law Project — a nonprofit run by law students — will continue making the $4,000 grants, but […]
Joe Surkiewicz: Legal help for Asian-Americans
The myth: Asian-Americans, the fastest-growing immigrant group in the U.S., are uniformly wealthy, well-educated and well-assimilated into American culture. The reality? It’s very different: Nearly three-quarters of Asian-Americans are immigrants, more than a third speak English less than well, one out of every 10 Asian-American elders lives in poverty, and 10 percent do not have […]
Joe Surkiewicz: Serving the community by serving nonprofits
The Environmental Law Clinic at the University of Maryland’s Francis King Carey School of Law serves two purposes. First and foremost, it makes the practice of law real for future lawyers. But it also provides a valuable — and nearly unique — service to the community: while training future environmental lawyers, the clinic works to […]
Joe Surkiewicz: HPRP takes on youth homelessness
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 […]
Joe Surkiewicz – MLSC recognizes 2011 justice champions
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 […]
Joe Surkiewicz: CLC celebrates 25 years of helping neighborhoods
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 […]
Joe Surkiewicz: MVLS, law school to ‘Celebrate Pro Bono’
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 […]
Joe Surkiewicz: Social workers team up with Legal Aid lawyers
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 […]
