Equal Justice Council honors Ben Civiletti

Ben Civiletti (left), Wilhelm Joseph, Chief Judge Robert M. Bell (right)

Former U.S. Attorney General Benjamin Civiletti (and retired partner and past chair at Venable) was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Equal Justice Council, the private-bar fundraising arm of Maryland Legal Aid.

“I’ve known Ben longer than anyone in this room,” said EJC co-chair Benjamin Rosenberg to a group of 35 partners from large Baltimore firms. “I was a summer clerk in 1968 and Ben wasn’t even a partner yet at Venable — but he was the leader of his peers and senior lawyers. In 1977, he went to Washington, and I became a partner. It felt like being a member of the Colts and Unitas had just left!”

Accepting the award, Civiletti, 77, said Maryland is fortunate to have leaders such as Court of Appeals Chief Judge Robert M. Bell, Legal Aid executive director Wilhelm Joseph and the EJC.

“They help people who need our help desperately,” Civiletti told the lawyers. “They stepped up when others stepped down. Ask yourself this question: Could we have any semblance to equal justice in Maryland without Legal Aid?”

To read the entire Daily Record article (behind a pay wall), click here.

Legal Aid mourns Woody Preston

Wilbur D. “Woody” Preston Jr., a founder of Whiteford, Taylor & Preston and the Maryland Legal Aid’s Equal Justice Council, died Monday at age 90, the Daily Record reported today.

From the article:

While his legal specialty at the firm was complex commercial litigation, Preston also undertook with vigor the cause of providing legal help for the indigent through the Legal Aid Bureau.

Preston was instrumental in securing not only a headquarters for Legal Aid, but also in raising awareness of the organization in the legal community. Wilhelm H. Joseph Jr., executive director of Maryland Legal Aid, said fundraising for the bureau in 1996 was around $5,000.

Founded in 1997 with Preston as its first chairman, the Equal Justice Council now generates more than $750,000 a year from various foundations, law firms and individuals.

“I think lawyers coming up behind him, chronologically, would see from his example that you could be an excellent attorney with a profitable firm and still give back in a serious way to the legal community and the community in which you live and work,” said Andrew J. Graham, who now co-chairs the council.

Decatur H. Miller, partner emeritus at DLA Piper LLP, also worked with Preston for years on the Equal Justice Council.

“He was a true believer in the need for legal services for poor people,” said. “He didn’t just pay lip service to that notion either, he put a lot of work into it.”

Miller got his start with the EJC after speaking with Preston about fundraising for the organization. He said he doubted anyone but someone with Preston’s reputation could have achieved the response he got from the legal community.

“He went around to the leading law firms and raised a lot of money, mainly because people respected him so much,” Miller said. “It was an amazing soft sell that everyone, including me, responded to.”

Joseph, of Maryland Legal Aid, met Preston when he took over as executive director of the organization in 1996. New to the area, Joseph said he leaned on Preston to help him get in touch with the legal community.

“When I think of Woody, I think of his caring and his commitment and his ability to move people with a dose of humor …,” Joseph said. “He was the kind of guy who worked and played well with others.”

Joseph recalled one incident, early in his tenure, when he had a big speech to give to potential donors. He said that he and Preston were very anxious to make a good impression.

“I have an accent and I tend to talk too fast at times,” Joseph said. “And, Woody really wanted this talk to go well so we worked out a hand signal he would flash me if I started to talk too fast. It was pretty funny actually, and we laughed about it later for sure.”

Attorney Benjamin L. Crump speaks at annual Equal Justice Council Breakfast

Benjamin L. Crump

Benjamin Crump, a Tallahassee, Fla. attorney who has handled many high-profile cases—including representing the family in the Trayvon Martin murder case in Sanford, Fla.—was the featured speaker at the Equal Justice Council’s 15th Annual Awards and Recognition Breakfast yesterday at M&T Bank Stadium.

“Most of the cases my firm represents are for little people,” said Crump, who is chairman of the board of Legal Services of North Florida (a sister organization of Maryland Legal Aid) and donated $1 million to its capital campaign. “You don’t do things for the result, but because it’s the right thing to do. As lawyers, we need to take our educations out to benefit people who need help—or that education means nothing. Our finest hour is taking the call. It’s about answering the bell when it’s not a popular thing to do—not only for paying clients, but for people who don’t have money.” The EJC is the private-bar fundraising arm of Maryland Legal Aid.

15th Annual Equal Justice Council Recognition Breakfast is May 23

The Equal Justice Council is pleased to announce its 15th Annual Recognition Breakfast honoring supporters of Maryland Legal Aid. The breakfast is Wednesday, May 23, 7:45 – 9:00 a.m., in the Southeast Lounge Level of M & T Bank Stadium (a new location).

This year’s honorees are: Jessica A. duHoffmann, Esq.; Brown, Goldstein & Levy; Law Offices of Peter T. Nicholl; DLA Piper and Venable LLP.  The featured speaker will be Benjamin Crump, Esq., Chairman of Legal Services of North Florida.

This is a complimentary event, but reservations are required. Contact agilmore@mdlab.org or call 410-951-7759.

Managing Partners Breakfast kicks off Equal Justice Council fall campaign

Managing partners from leading Baltimore law firms met Thursday morning for the Equal Justice Council’s annual fundraising kick-off, held at the offices of Rosenberg│Martin│Greenberg.

EJC co-chairs John Wolf of  Ober│Kaler and Ben Rosenberg urged the 25 senior attorneys at the breakfast meeting to support Maryland Legal Aid. “In 2010, Legal Aid had 62,000 cases, representing people who had reached the end of their string—out of work and desperate,” Rosenberg said. “We’re asking you to remember that we all hold a privilege, a license to practice law that carries an obligation.  If we don’t help people who can’t access the justice system, we’ll have even worse problems.”

Added Chief Judge Robert M. Bell: “I urge you to assist Legal Aid, which will improve the legal system and help the courts, which are seeing a surge in unrepresented litigants. I thank the members of the Equal Justice Council for their good work to help ensure adequate representation in the courts.”

In the photo (left to right): Alan Garten of Fedder & Garten, Martin Fletcher of Whiteford Taylor & Preston  and Jon Laria of Ballard Spahr.

Baltimore, Memphis mayors speak at Equal Justice Council recognition breakfast

Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and Memphis Mayor A C Wharton were the featured guests at Wednesday’s 14th Annual Equal Justice Council Recognition Breakfast at Camden Yards. Rawlings-Blake said she was “excited to celebrate Legal Aid’s centenary. I began my career at Legal Aid, where I worked with the city’s most vulnerable citizens.”

Wharton, who has also served at the head of civil and public defender programs in the Memphis area, said “I can’t believe  the Maryland private bar’s  support for legal services. It’s amazing!”

Pointing out that at the end of World War II, President Franklin Roosevelt established a “second” Bill of rights that included a right to housing, health care and employment, Wharton called them “the little things you take for granted. But they’re not protected by the Constitution–and that’s where lawyers come in. . . . The purpose of the law is to protect the powerless from the powerful. . . . As FDR observed in the waning days of the war, there is no security anywhere, no peace anywhere, if a third, or a fifth or a tenth of those here at home are ill-fed, ill-clothed, not housed, not educated. Who does that responsibility fall to? A lawyer you can go to. . . . There will be no security, no peace unless we breath life into the slogan ‘equal justice under law.’ And that requires a passion. . . . Remember this: a profession without passion brings nothing but pain.”

The awardees: Paul D. Bekman of Salsbury, Clements, Bekman, Marder & Adkins and Scott A. Livingston of Rifkin, Livingston, Levitan & Silver (Champions of Justice awards). The Equal Justice Associates’ Leadership award went to Lisa Hall Johnson of Dickstein Shapiro and the Pacesetter awards  to Ober Kaler and Whiteford, Taylor & Preston. This year’s Trailblazers are DLA Piper, Miles & Stockbridge and Venable. The Executive Director Awards were given to EJC co-chairs Andrew Jay Graham and Benjamin Rosenberg.

Equal Justice Council celebrates 14 years of helping the underrepresented

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 time to raise money for Legal Aid (which is celebrating its centennial)?

“I view supporting Legal Aid and its efforts as a professional responsibility,” said Andrew Jay Graham, a founding partner of Kramon & Graham and an EJC co-chair.

To read the rest of this “Of Service” column in The Daily Record, click here.

Awardees named for Equal Justice Council recognition breakfast

The Equal Justice Council, the fundraising arm of Maryland Legal Aid, announced this year’s awardees to be honored at its annual recognition breakfast at Camden Yards on May 25. The guest speaker is the Hon. A C Wharton, Jr., Mayor of Memphis, Tennessee.

Paul D. Bekman of Salsbury, Clements, Bekman, Marder & Adkins and Scott A. Livingston of Rifkin, Livingston, Levitan & Silver will be given Champions of Justice awards. The Equal Justice Associates’ Leadership award goes to Lisa Hall Johnson of Dickstein Shapiro and the Pacesetter awards will be given to Ober Kaler and Whiteford, Taylor & Preston. This year’s Trailblazers are DLA Piper, Miles & Stockbridge and Venable.

The event is Wednesday, May 25 at 7:45 a.m. in the Camden Yards Banquet Room, 6th floor. Free parking is provided on Stadium Lot C. While the event is free, reservations are required by May 11. Call 410/951-7759 or email agilmore@mdlab.org.

Legal Services president visits Legal Aid

James Sandman, the new president of the federal Legal Services Corp., visited the Baltimore office of Maryland Legal Aid today. He met with Legal Aid staff, members of the judiciary, the private bar and another major funder.

“I’m reminded by hearing you speak of why I’m at LSC,” Sandman said after hearing comments about Legal Aid (an LSC grantee) and budgetary problems facing programs that help the poor, disabled and disadvantaged. “The people I admire most in the legal profession work in legal services, devoting their careers to helping others.”

Sandman said that Legal Aid is nationally known and “sets the standard. The people  sitting at this table are an example of what needs to happen at other legal service providers. It works in other places, but not as smoothly as it does here. It needs to be replicated–and that’s part of my new job.”

Sandman said that his priorities are to increase LSC’s funding, to expand awareness of legal services in Congress and to build better alliances with other groups that serve the same populations as LSC, such as private foundations.

Also at the meeting: Retired Court of Appeals Judge Irma Raker, Maryland District Court Chief Judge Ben Clyburn, Equal Justice Council co-chairs Andrew Jay Graham and Ben Rosenberg, Maryland Legal Services Corp. executive director Susan Erlichman, Legal Aid president Warren Oliveri, and former LSC board member Herbert Garten.

Private bar contributions to Legal Aid break record

With Maryland Legal Aid’s 100th birthday right around the corner, the Equal Justice Council concluded a record-breaking 2010 annual giving campaign.

“We’re looking to build on that for Legal Aid’s centennial in 2011,” said EJC co-chair Benjamin Rosenberg. The E JC, the fundraising arm of Legal Aid, consists of private attorneys who personally contacted law firms in Maryland to enlist their support.

The outstanding individuals and firms who were part of the campaign will be honored at the 14th Annual EJC Recognition Breakfast on May 25.

Legal Aid, a private nonprofit law firm, is the largest provider of free civil legal help to low-income Marylanders, the elderly, and abused and neglected children, with 13 offices around the state.