Haunted by legal problems while making subsistence wages or struggling as a single parent or startup nonprofit?
Who ya gonna call?
“Maryland Volunteer Lawyers Service is a statewide organization that matches the working poor with volunteer lawyers to help them with general, civil and legal issues,” said Winifred Borden, executive director of the 26-year-old legal services nonprofit. “We also work with health and human service [nonprofits] that don?t have the funds to hire a lawyer to help them with their corporate issues.”
With a paid staff of 15 ? lawyers, paralegals and administrative personnel ? and a statewide volunteer network of 2,000 lawyers and accountants, the $1.6 million Baltimore-based organization provides general legal assistance to more than 4,000 Marylanders a year at an estimated billing value of $3.2 million.
“We are like a general purpose law firm,” Borden said. “We help people with consumer disputes, landlord-tenant problems, divorce, custody, guardianship, name changes and deed changes. We also do tax returns during tax season, and help people if they have a dispute with the IRS.”
And, according to Borden, more than 75 percent of the nonprofit?s clients are women juggling families, work, bills and the particular legal matter spooking them at the moment.
To qualify for this free service ? a discounted-fee option is available for more complicated cases ? clients must earn below the state?s median income level. And because of federal strings attached to funding, they also must be legally in the country.
“As a nonprofit agency we often have the need for legal services,” Jeff Singer, executive director of Baltimore?s Health Care for the Homeless, said ofMVLS, “and Maryland Volunteer Lawyers Service has provided up with some pro bono assistance that?s been very valuable. The [help] has been top-notch. These are some of the best attorneys in Baltimore.”
MVLS funds its operations through public, private and nonprofit sources, but receives about $300,000 a year from the Maryland Legal Services Corporation, tapping into interest from real estate escrow accounts for redistribution to nonprofits engaged in civil legal assistance to the poor.
“For what we needed to have done, I was very impressed, and I would recommend them to anyone,” JoAnn Levy, executive director of Baltimore?s Women?s Housing Coalition, said of MVLS. “We think they?re terrific.”
More information
» Maryland Volunteer Lawyers Service
1 N. Charles St., Suite 222
443-451-4060
www.mvlslaw.org
