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.

All the lifestyle that a Legal Aid salary can buy

Supervising attorney Janine Scott

Maryland Legal Aid supervising attorney Janine Scott is profiled in today’s Daily Record about her new book, Legal Aid Wealth: Surviving and Thriving on the Salary of a Public Interest Attorney. Scott tells how she lives a full life on a public interest lawyer’s income, including eating dinner out with friends, setting up a retirement fund, traveling, and even buying a house.

“Scott said she has achieved her goals by meticulously charting every bit of money that comes in and goes out,” wrote reporter Caryn Tamber. “She waits for sales on clothing and discount deals on travel, and she would not dream of buying snacks from a vending machine when she could get them in bulk from Target or Wal-Mart for so much less. Before she receives a tax refund or stimulus check, she knows exactly where the money will go.”

To read the article, click here. For more on Scott’s book, click here.

Financial success on a public-interest salary

Supervising attorney Janine Scott

How can low-paid public interest attorneys–or anyone else, for that matter–weather the current economic crisis? Maryland Legal Aid supervising attorney Janine Scott offers some advice in the spring issue of the Management Information Exchange Journal, starting with the basics: know what you want out of life … and make every dollar count.

“As an attorney who has spent my entire legal career (with the exception of a one-year judicial clerkship) as a public interest attorney … I am living proof that you can not only survive but thrive financially as a public interest attorney during both good and bad economic times,” Scott writes in “Achieving Financial Success as a Public Interest Attorney.”

Scott offers advice on how to open a “fun account” by setting aside money to use for socializing, how to contribute to a retirement account, devising a spending plan, paying off debt and other specifics. Her new book, Legal Aid Wealth: Surviving and Thriving on the Salary of a Public Interest Attorney, will be released this spring.

Cell phone ban in district court not fair to the poor

The cell phone ban in district courts creates problems for low-income clients, Maryland Legal Aid senior attorney Susan Tannenbaum told the Daily Record in an article published earlier this week. “If you’re not familiar with the court system, there’s no reason to suspect you can’t bring your cell phone,” said Susan, who warns her clients about the ban. “Clearly it’s not fair to my clients because without knowing about [the cell phone ban] in advance, they possibly might not be able to defend themselves in court.”

Legal Aid receives $189,000 cy pres award

Wilhelm Joseph accepting a $189,000 cy pres award from Martin Wolf, Richard Gordon and Paul Bland

Maryland Legal Aid Executive Director Wilhelm Joseph received a check for $189,438.35, a cy pres award from the leftover proceeds of a class-action consumer law case against HMOs (for double billing patients). “Since cutting back services to our clients is not an option, we view this award of $189,000 as a down payment toward making up an estimated $2 million shortfall in our funding projected by the Maryland Legal Services Corp.,” Joseph said. From left to right: Legal Aid director of resource development Susan Shubin; Joseph; Martin Wolf and Richard Gordon (of Quinn Gordon & Wolf in Towson); and F. Paul Bland Jr. of Public Justice in Washington, D.C., who argued the appeals in the case.

DSS supervisor thanks Legal Aid

Acting Chief Counsel Peter Sabonis received a thank-you letter from a Baltimore County Department of Social Services supervisor  (who asked that his name not be used) about Sabonis’ February 13 Baltimore Sun op-ed that warned about the dearth of DSS workers available to distribute federal stimulus funds to low-income people.

“Thank you very much for your effort to inform the citizens of Maryland of the crisis which is being faced by the staff of Department of Human Resources,” the supervisor wrote. “Nearly thirty years ago, fresh out of social work school armed with my MSW I started my efforts to help people. I still recall my first job with social services in child welfare. Ironically, staffing was also an issue at that time; I remember disagreeing with the management of my office who suggested that if we showed the administration at DHR central how much work we were doing, we would surely get more staff. I stated if we showed them we could do the work why would we get more staff!

“Now as you point out, we in Baltimore County are struggling to address the increasing flood of requests for assistance with fewer and fewer staff. Offices which once had 30 staff have been reduced to a staff of less than ten. For years we have faced a State hiring freeze, resulting in vacant positions which over time are then eliminated to save money. We are told there is a State hiring freeze only to see our staff depleted as they accept other State jobs at DHMH, State Lottery , Retirement System etc. (Never could figure out why a State hiring freeze only seemed to apply to us and no other State agency.) When someone leaves, retires or dies, we must submit a justification why the position should be filled, it takes months to get a response and often we can not fill the vacancy. Clerical positions (the backbone of any office) have been left out of this process, which has resulted in few clerical staff left in any office.

“As you point out we have tried to follow all the cute catch phrases, ‘do more with less’ ‘work smarter not harder.’ We are now facing ‘do everything with nothing’ phase. I often try to be supportive of my staff by pointing out even if the Ravens had the best designed playbook, but took the field with 6 players instead of 11, their success would be minimal.

“I still try to help people, but after 30 years in various social work positions, I am beginning to wonder if the public agencies that often are the only hope for those in need will ever be provided the resources required.

“Thanks again for your continued efforts to assist those in need. I only wish I could do more to help you.”

Wilhelm Joseph tapped for Denny award

Maryland Legal Aid executive director Wilhelm H. Joseph Jr. was interviewed by the National Legal Aid & Defender Assoc.

Legal Aid Executive Director Wilhelm Joseph will receive this year’s Denison Ray Award at the National Legal Aid & Defender Association’s annual conference later this month in Washington. “You were nominated by the staff of the Legal Aid Bureau, which wrote eloquently of your work on behalf of equal justice,” wrote NLADA President Jo-Ann Wallace in a letter to Joseph. He will be honored November 21 at a special awards luncheon at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel, the site of this year’s conference.

The “Denny” award honors persons who have provided at least five years of service to the legal services community in staff, client or volunteer capacities. Dennison Ray, who dedicated his professional life to equal justice for the poor, is the former director of the Legal Aid Society of Northeastern New York, Legal Services of North Carolina, and other programs.

Public defender joins Legal Aid board

Sheila J. Sullivan, the district public defender for Southern Maryland, is restricted by her job from handling “typical types” of pro bono cases. But that doesn’t hold back Sullivan from volunteering to help organizations as diverse as community outreach programs, mentoring programs and, most recently, Legal Aid, where she was appointed to the board of directors for a three-year term, The Daily Record reports today.

Warren S. Oliveri, president of Legal Aid’s board, said her background is a good fit. “We fully expect that having Sheila on the board will give us the opportunity to devise new justice strategies with our partners in the criminal defense community,” to serve clients’ “holistic” needs, Oliveri said.

Read the article here.

Legal Aid welcomes three new board members

Three new board members were appointed to Maryland Legal Aid’s board of directors by the Maryland State Bar Association and approved at the annual board meeting earlier this summer: Jessica A. duHoffman, a partner at Miles & Stockbridge in Baltimore; Sheila J. Sullivan, the District Public Defender for Southern Maryland in La Plata; and Carlos Braxton, Senior Grants & Contracts Associate/Attorney at The Johns Hopkins University, School of Medicine in Baltimore.

duHoffman was recently promoted to partner in Miles & Stockbridge’s commercial litigation group and practices in the area of commercial banking and banking litigation with emphasis on lender liability, commercial and consumer credit, and collections. She earned her JD at the University of Baltimore School of Law and provides pro bono work for the House of Ruth, the Center for Missing and Exploited Children and the Mid-Shore Council on Family Violence.

Sullivan supervises 18 assistant public defenders and 18 support staff that handle circuit, juvenile and district court cases in Calvert, Charles and St. Mary’s counties. She is a graduate of the University of Maryland School of Law and is active in the Maryland State Bar Association, the Women’s Bar Association and previously served as chair of the Calvert County Local Pro Bono Committee.

At Johns Hopkins, Braxton is responsible for drafting and negotiating clinical trial agreements for human subject clinical trials. He is a graduate of UB Law and was president of the Young Lawyers Division of Legal Aid’s Equal Justice Council from 2005 to 2007.