Just over 15 years ago, Baltimore became home to one of the first courts in Maryland dedicated to solving the problems of families in crisis — and not just their legal problems.

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Last summer, the Maryland Public Interest Law Project made 25 grants to University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law students, allowing them to spend their summers interning at places such as the Homeless Persons Representation Project, the Public Justice Center, the Maryland Disability Law Center, the Maryland Volunteer Lawyers Service and the ACLU of Maryland.

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Howard County has an image problem: It’s too affluent — not a place most people associate with rape and domestic violence.

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Thousands of people leave Maryland’s prisons each year with little more than $50 and a bus ticket. Where do they go?

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Good news doesn’t come very often for low-income people and the community of advocates working to help them survive.

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The Eastern Shore of Maryland consists of nine rural and bucolic counties and is home to less than one percent of the state’s lawyers. Yet the demand for civil legal services to help low-income people is high, especially with the recession and high unemployment.

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Michael A. Brown, a principal in Miles & Stockbridge’s manufacturing and distribution practice in Baltimore, would like to change your views about homelessness.

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Caught between a rock and a hard place — a growing need for civil legal help and declining resources — the Harford County Bar Foundation is looking to the community for support of its legal referral and reduced-fee programs.

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Want to start farming in Baltimore? Don’t laugh — urban agriculture is big. But anyone hoping to start cultivating crops in the city should talk to a lawyer first.

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For victims of domestic violence in Southern Maryland, it’s a lifeline. The Southern Maryland Center for Family Advocacy helps and supports victims, almost exclusively women, many of whom have been repeatedly assaulted, raped and emotionally abused by their partners.

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