Category: Pro Bono

Last night at the AABA Annual Meeting outgoing President, Hon. Danielle Mosley,  mentioned the that the joint AACPLL\AABA “Ask a Lawyer in the Library Program” had received an award.  It was nice to have this program recognized before the Anne Arundel County Bar.

On June 12, 2010 I received the PBRC 2010 Maryland Pro Bono Service Herbert S. Garten Special Project Award for the library’s “Ask a Lawyer in the Library” program.

(I have heard that the program was described in the June 2010 MSBA Bar Bulletin.  I have not yet read the article as our issue has not yet been received and it is not yet available on the MSBA website.)

The program brings volunteer attorneys into the law library each Wednesday to provide brief, limited legal advice to the public.  This program has expanded into public library branches in west and north county.  The law library has also coordinated the AABA’s participation in Anne Arundel County’s Homeless Resource Day with an “Ask a Lawyer” service there.

Program participants can speak to an attorney for up to twenty minutes for legal advice and information.   There is no time limit at the Homeless Day event. The law library offers back up research and reference service for the volunteer attorneys and the participants.

Since the program’s inception 303 clients have been served by 34 attorneys for a total of 144 hours.  For a listing of all of the volunteers and links to program descriptions and pictures, visit the AACPLL wiki Pro Bono Stats page.

The attorneys who volunteer have been more than generous with their time.  Those who have made use of the program have been appreciative of the guidance the attorneys have provided.

The Ask  a Lawyer in the Library program moved to North County last night.   AABA attorneys, Cliff O’Connor and Bill Trevillian, Jr., provided free legal advice at the Brooklyn Park Branch of the Anne Arundel County Public Library.  Attorney Ed Groh was there to help, too.  I came along as usual to provide back-up research assistance.   The afternoon began at 4:00 with clients ready at the start.  There was not a large turnout as expected but Cliff O’Connor who organized the event will try again.  Another north county location and different times will be considered.  Other avenues for advertising the event beyond the newspaper and public library bulletin boards may be needed to reach those for whom the program is designed.

Those that took advantage of the program were grateful to get help with their legal problems which included bankruptcy and employment issues.  The extra attention that the attorneys were able to give to each participant was appreciated, too.

The attorneys all agreed that they are willing to try it again.

Law Week was off to an early start with the Ask a Lawyer in the Library program returning to the Maryland City at Russett Branch of the Anne Arundel County Public Library on Saturday.  Elizabeth Leight, co-chair of the AABA Pro Bono Committee, enlisted  AABA attorney Brian Markovitz and  Maryland Hispanic Bar Association attorney Patricia Chiriboga-Roby to provide free legal advice in the library.  By 12:30 p.m. the attorneys had already assisted 11 clients with a total of 18  clients being seen by the end of the day.  I was on hand to provide back-up reference assistance. 

Issues for which consultations were sought included consumer contracts, immigration, child support and custody, legal malpractice, home construction disputes and employment. 

The program will be held in the Brooklyn Park branch on May 4 and continue in the Circuit Court on Wednesdays.