Help wanted: Legal Aid in the market for a few good lawyers

A survey in today’s Daily Record on local law firms that are hiring–newsworthy in the current financial meltdown–included Maryland Legal Aid, which has several openings.

But since the state’s largest provider of free civil legal help to low-income people, the elderly, and abused and neglected children can’t afford to pay high salaries, we’re looking for entry-level lawyers, explained executive director Wilhelm H. Joseph Jr.

And while other firms have instigated hiring freezes, Legal Aid can’t: “We absolutely cannot afford to have the clients and the applicants we see without services, so we are doing everything we can to avoid a diminution in services,” Joseph said.

In addition, Legal Aid is seeing signs that public interest law is regaining its cache, last seen in the ’60s and ’70s.

“The sense is, we are getting a larger percentage of what I call top-notch graduates seeking work here,” Joseph said.