No cuts for Maryland legal services

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

Maryland Legal Aid Executive Director Wilhelm Joseph (left) said that the current economic downturn is increasing the need for civil legal services to the poor and warned that failure to invest in the civil justice system could lead to more criminal disorder. “If any area cries out for for an expansion of justice, it’s public access to justice,” Joseph told The Daily Record in an article published today, “No cuts, conditions for legal service in Maryland.”

The article reports that the while the General Assembly wrapped up its session by cutting nearly $870 million in the FY 2010 budget, funding for the state’s legal services community was spared. The bad news, however, is that due to a drop on interest rates on lawyer trust accounts, projected overall funding for the state’s legal services organizations (including Maryland Legal Aid, the largest) will be down 40 percent.

To read the entire article, click here.

Wilhelm Joseph awarded 2008 “Denny” award

On Friday, the National Legal Aid & Defender Association awarded Legal Aid Executive Director Wilhelm Joseph (center) the 2008 Dennison Ray Award at this year’s annual conference in Washington. The award, given biennially, was presented by Legal Aid board president Warren Oliveri (right), who gave a brief recap of Legal Aid’s history since Joseph took over from the late Charles Dorsey in 1997. NLADA board president Jose Padilla is on the left.

Wilhelm Joseph, center, is the recipient of this year

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. Photo by Jane Ribadeneyra/NLADA.

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.