Volunteer attorneys help immigrant children and families fleeing violence in their home countries gain access to critical legal assistance with their valid claims to remain in the country. Remote and in-court opportunities available. Training and mentorship offered by PBRC will cover immigration benefits and defenses to deportation (asylum, special immigrant juvenile status, U visas, family petitions and more), best practices for interviewing, tips for working with an interpreter, and providing pro se assistance as a pro bono volunteer. To learn more visit probonomd.org/immigration-legal-triage. Every Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday from, MILAP needs volunteer lawyers and interpreters to give legal advice to immigrants in removal proceedings at the Immigration Courts in either Baltimore City or Prince George’s County. Training, mentorship, malpractice insurance, and interpreters provided. If you would like to volunteer, click here or contact Cate Scenna at 443-465-4627 or cscenna@probonomd.org. Information for immigrants who need help can be found here: https://probonomd.org/for-legal-help/ayuda-para-inmigrantes/

Community Legal Serivces is seeking attorneys to provide representation to tenants at their Failure to Pay Rent hearings through our same-day tenant representation program. Stipends are available. CLS provides training, malpractice insurance coverage, mentoring, and support to our volunteers. Out-of-state attorneys are welcomed. CLS and the Pro Bono Resource Center of Maryland have put together a training on how to represent tenants in Prince George’s County rent court. This training includes Landlord/Tenant rules and perspectives, issue spotting in Failure to Pay Rent complaints, and practical advice for handling cases.

If you wish to take this training, have questions about the program, or want to sign up to represent tenants at their rent court hearings, please contact Kayla Williams, Esq. at williams@clspgc.org. Participating attorneys must commit to volunteer to staff two clinics or take two landlord/tenant cases within one year of completing the training.

MCLA provides free brief civil legal advice to Marylanders via phone, live chat, and walk-in services. Volunteer attorneys are needed to provide brief legal advice and information to unrepresented litigants in a variety of civil case types. Volunteer online via live chat or by phone!

Flexible hours with no time commitment or ongoing client representation. Volunteer as much as you want, as often as you want, on your own schedule. MCLA assist clients with a wide range of civil legal issues, including family law, landlord-tenant, debt collection, peace and protective orders, expungement, and foreclosure. Training, malpractice insurance & support provided!

To learn more, visit https://www.mdcla.org/probono/ or contact C. Tattiana Goluskin by email at cgoluskin@mdcla.org.

Through your help, CLS provides assistance in matters involving family law, domestic violence, foreclosure prevention, consumer issues, bankruptcy, wills, guardianship of adults or children, landlord/tenant, unpaid wages, and other non-fee generating legal matters. With your professional help, we provide legal education, advice and free or reduced fee legal representation to low-income persons in Prince George’s County.

Perhaps you are unable to provide legal representation at this time. CLS provides brief advice to litigants who are not represented by a lawyer. You can choose to volunteer a whole day, half day or perhaps a few hours on a particular day that you are in the courthouse. You will benefit from your volunteering. It helps you build your private practice (we send clients with higher incomes to our volunteer lawyers), and you set your own time and schedule.

You can get started by completing our volunteer attorney intake form or contacting our Executive Director Jessica A. Quincosa at quincosa@clspgc.org or 240-391-6532.

The Women’s Law Center of Maryland operates an Employment Law Hotline every Tuesday and Friday from 9:30 am to 1 pm, and on the first Thursday of every month, from 5 pm to 7:30 pm. We are seeking more volunteers on the hotline, hoping you will take 2-4 shifts a year. Volunteers need some experience in employment law, so you can screen the calls effectively. For attorneys new to employment law, you can view an online training on Employment Law 101 through the following link. The shift can be done from your office (or anywhere with a phone). You are eligible to receive referrals of cases that come in through the hotline, if desired.

If you would like to volunteer, call 410-321-8761 or download a volunteer application. For more information, call Lynette Whitfield at 410-321-8761 or email at lwhitfield@wlcmd.org.

Maryland.FreeLegalAnswers.org (Pro bono – anywhere, anytime)

Maryland Free Legal Answers is a virtual legal advice clinic in which qualifying users post their civil legal questions at no cost to be answered by pro bono attorneys. Question topics include Family, Divorce, Custody, Housing, Eviction, Homelessness, Consumer Rights, Financial, Work, Employment, Unemployment, Health and Disability, Civil Rights, Income Maintenance, Juvenile and Education Law. Volunteer attorneys are tasked with remotely reviewing and answering brief legal questions for low-income Marylanders as part of this ABA-sponsored initiative. Malpractice insurance provided.

Check out the site: Maryland.FreeLegalAnswers.org

Attorney Volunteer Registration Instructions

Law Firm / Corporate Law Department Guide to ABA Free Legal Answers

House of Ruth Maryland’s Domestic Violence Legal Clinic help victims of intimate partner violence obtain protective orders, divorce decrees, custody of their children, and child support for free. Services include:

• Obtaining or Enforcing a Protective Order
• Custody, Divorce, Child Support, and/or Alimony
• Relocating for Safety: Lease Termination and Address Confidentiality
• When Dealing with Domestic Violence Interferes with Your Job
• Pressing Criminal Charges Against Your Abuser

House of Ruth is looking for experienced family law lawyers who have handled protective cases before to represent clients. House of Ruth will provide malpractice insurance.

If interested, please contact Deena Hausner at dhausner@hruthmd.org.

HCBF is seeking volunteer attorneys to assist with their weekly legal advice clinic held each Tuesday from noon-1pm via telephone. Call HCBF, 410-836-0123, for available time slots. Areas of law include family, employment, criminal, estates and wills, and civil.

Assist clients on the affidavit judgment docket in determining whether they have any defenses to their debt collection cases every Tuesday in Baltimore City from 8:30am-11pm. Mentors, training and document templates are available.

To learn more and sign up to volunteer, contact Aja’ Mallory at amallory@mvlslaw.org.

DRM, a private, non-profit law firm, is a leader in disability rights and the Congressionally-mandated Protection and Advocacy organization for individuals with disabilities in Maryland. We provide free legal services and advocacy to persons with disabilities in Maryland. DRM envisions a world where people with disabilities are fully included in the workplace, neighborhoods and all aspects of community life. Our mission is to work with people with disabilities to participate fully in all aspects of community life, and champion their rights to self-determination, dignity, equality, opportunity, and freedom from discrimination and harm.

To learn more about how you can volunteer, visit https://disabilityrightsmd.org/.

The Immigration Legal Services Pro Bono Program assists low-income foreign-born individuals in finding pro bono representation for their immigration case. We serve clients in a variety of immigration matters, including asylum, NACARA, SIJS, T/U-visas, VAWA, removal proceedings, adjustment of status, temporary protected status and renewal of work authorization documents.

We strive to offer our pro bono attorneys all the resources and mentorship required for successful outcomes. We offer training and Q&A sessions to ensure attorneys are able to keep up to date. We provide samples, trainings and resources, and we review fillings and even conduct moot hearings, if desired.

Potential volunteers interested in pro bono immigration representation can contact Catholic Charities of Washington, DC to get more information about volunteering with their Immigration Legal Services program.

If you are interested in learning more, contact the Pro Bono Program at probono@cc-dc.org.

The Chesapeake Legal Alliance (CLA) coordinates a network of attorneys who provide pro bono legal services to individuals and organizations working to protect and restore the Chesapeake Bay and its rivers, streams, and communities. CLA volunteer attorneys work on a broad range of environmental, land use, public health, and corporate projects. We currently work with over 300 attorneys and 95 law firms in New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, D.C., Virginia, and West Virginia.

Many of the attorneys in our network are not litigators or environmentally focused, and yet each offers tremendous value and resources to the people and organizations that we serve. CLA client groups need lawyers capable of working on a wide variety of legal issues, including litigation in state and federal courts, representation of citizens’ groups in zoning cases and other administrative proceedings, drafting and supporting changes in laws and regulations designed to improve the quality of the Chesapeake, and many other projects that fit within CLA’s mission. Volunteer attorneys can also provide assistance with corporate and transactional issues, such as mergers, contract review, not-for-profit filings, and lobbying issues. Additionally, CLA offers all of its volunteer attorneys protection under its malpractice insurance policy.

Whether you are in active practice or retired, or work in the public or private sectors, CLA will match your skills, interest, and experience to a client group in need of your assistance. CLA helps attorneys play a crucial role in Bay restoration by connecting you with individuals and organizations that need legal assistance to address water quality concerns.

If you are interested in volunteering with CLA, please visit the following link or contact info@chesapeakelegal.org.

Talk with a volunteer lawyer for up to 20 minutes about your civil, non-family legal problem for free! Issues that may be addressed include:

• Debt and bankruptcy
• Landlord/Tenant questions
• Real estate
• Employment and wage claim issues
• Contracts, warranties and/or consumer disputes
• Wills, estate planning, probate, living wills

“Ask a Lawyer in the Library” is held every Wednesday of the month from 11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.

To learn more about this event and to register, please visit the link here.

SLS is seeking volunteer lawyers to advise clients on a variety of consumer debt and bankruptcy issues. During this time of financial uncertainty, many seniors are unable to make ends meet. They need your legal advice about issues like: having a judgment entered against them, defending against harassing collections efforts, negotiating a settlement with their creditors, considering bankruptcy, and more.

Interested lawyers can contact Jacqueline A. Jones at 410-396-5605 and/or jjones@baltimorebar.org.

 

CHANA, a program of the Associated: Jewish Federation of Baltimore, provides crisis intervention, education and consultation, and advocates for community awareness, safety and healing. With your help, we envision an aware and responsive community where all individuals are empowered to live with security and self-determination.

CHANA is looking for volunteers to provide consultations and representation to domestic violence, sexual abuse and elder abuse clients in the areas of family, tax, employment, bankruptcy, guardianship law. Lawyers with experience working with victims and survivors of trauma preferred.

If interested, please contact Alicia Bickoff at abickoff@associated.org.

DVS Legal Services is looking for volunteers to represent victims of domestic violence in protective order hearings. DVS will provide insurance for the cases and some mentoring. Experience with these types of cases is preferred.

If interested, please fill out the following form or contact Amy Palumbo at apalumbo@dvslegalservices.com.

Recognizing that young people convicted of serious crimes are capable of changing and safely rejoining society, the Maryland General Assembly in April 2021 enacted the Juvenile Restoration Act (JRA). Effective October 1, 2021, this act allows people who have served at least 20 years of a sentence for a crime committed when they were under the age of 18 to file a motion asking the court to reduce their sentence. In light of the number of people who will need legal assistance, the Office of the Public Defender (OPD) is recruiting and training private attorneys who are willing to represent one or more people pro bono in their effort to obtain their freedom.

To learn more, please visit the link here or you can can sign up by emailing Brian Saccenti at brian.saccenti@maryland.gov.

To volunteer, please visit the following link or e-mail Meredith Lathbury Girard, Esq., Executive Director at: mgirard@midshoreprobono.org.

Volunteers are needed in multiple subject areas, including family law, landlord-tenant, debt collection, peace and protective orders, expungement, and foreclosure. You can assist unrepresented individuals by providing online live chat legal help from the comfort of your office or home! Training on MCLA’s online live chat legal services will take place via webinar.

Please complete the pro bono interest survey here: https://mdcla.org/probono/.

TurnAround, Inc. is looking for experienced family law and civil lawyers who can assist with protective orders, divorce/custody, landlord/tenant and employment matters. TurnAround provides comprehensive services to survivors of sexual violence, domestic violence and human trafficking. TurnAround is unable to provide malpractice insurance.

If interested, please contact please contact Amanda Rodriguez at arodriguez@turnaroundinc.org.

Community Law Center provides legal services to communities and nonprofit organizations throughout Maryland to promote stronger nonprofits and more vibrant neighborhoods. Our Pro Bono Program matches volunteer lawyers with nonprofits seeking assistance on legal matters.

For more information and to register for our pro bono program, please visit the following link.

Maryland Volunteer Lawyers Service
MVLS offers mentorship, malpractice insurance, and trainings. Take on a full representation case, provide help through a legal clinic, or accept a reduced fee family law case through Judicare. Learn new areas of law, meet leaders in the field, and gain valuable courtroom experience while making a difference. MVLS clients need the legal help you can provide to win their struggles against instability and poverty.

Find out more and sign up today at https://mvlslaw.org/volunteer/volunteer-sign-up/.

Help low income Marylanders with the Montgomery County Bar Foundation. To access information pertaining to the Pro Bono Program: https://www.barmont.org/general/custom.asp?page=116. You can direct any questions to Deborah Mantilla Craven, Pro Bono Program Coordinator, at Debbie@mcbfprobono.org or 301.762.5831.

MVLS Volunteer Attorney Obligations

• Attorney must execute the Judicare contract.
• Absent exceptional circumstances, attorney must represent client through the life of the case, even after a Judicare case has exceeded the maximum reimbursement of hours.
• Representation includes entering appearance in the client’s legal action.
• Attorney may not charge the Client legal fees for legal work provided. 
• Attorney is not obligated to pay any filing fees or other court costs on behalf of the client.  Attorney must seek to have fees waived by the court.
• Attorney should submit reimbursement for litigation expenses to PBRC, and any remaining expenses should be paid by the client.
• Litigation Expenses. Requests for litigation reimbursement need to be submitted to the Pro Bono Resource Center.  To get more information or the required forms, visit www.probonomd.org/litigation-fund-policy.

Attorney Payment

• Complete instructions are included in the Judicare contract.
  • An attorney is paid $100 per hour up to a maximum of 30 hours ($3,000) per case for legal services provided.
    • Judicare funds can only be used for legal services.  It does not include other staff work, fees, travel time, etc.
  • Invoices
    • Invoices should be submitted quarterly during representation.  Invoices must specify name of client, case number, and a description of legal services provided with the dates and time of service in 10 minute increments.
    • Request for payment must include:
      • Detailed invoice
      • Case Update or Closure form
        • If case is closed –Any final legal documents (court order, etc.)
    • Payments are generally provided within 30 days of submission.
      • The final $500 in fees will be held until the case is closed.

Questions?

Margaret Henn, Director of Program Management, 443-451-4067 or mhenn@mvlslaw.org
Makeisha Gibson, Senior Paralegal, 443-451-4072 or mgibson@mvlslaw.org

Do you have more than three years of family law experience?

Are you an attorney who would like to handle a Judicare case (contested custody) in Baltimore County at a reduced fee? Download a volunteer application.

For more information: www.wlcmd.org/how-we-help/judicare-project

Do you have more than three years of family law experience?

Are you an attorney who would like to handle a Judicare (family law) case at a reduced fee? Download a volunteer registration form.

For more information: https://midshoreprobono.org/volunteering-for-mspb/lawyers/

Do you have more than three years of family law experience?

Are you an attorney who would like to handle a Judicare case (family law) in Montgomery County at a reduced fee? Download a volunteer application.

For more information: www.barmont.org/page/116

Do you have more than three years of family law experience?

Are you an attorney who would like to handle a Judicare case (family law) in Allegany County at a reduced fee? Please call Allegany Law at 301-722-3390.

For more information: www.alleganylaw.com/volunteer/

Do you have more than three years of family law experience?

Are you an attorney who would like to handle a Judicare case (family law) in Prince George’s County at a reduced fee? Fill out a volunteer application.

For more information: www.clspgc.org/get-involved/volunteer/