The February Issue

In this month’s issue, we highlight MSBA and A2JC partnering to advocate for civil legal aid funding during MSBA Day, A2JC joining Governor Wes Moore to support civil legal aid funding, and A2JC Commissioners and the broader civil legal aid community’s participation in the United Way’s 30/30 experience. We also showcase a new report from the Maryland Judiciary highlighting resources for the self-represented, The Housing and Affordability Act, the Renters’ Rights and Stabilization Act, and the Federal Eviction Prevention Act of 2023, the history and successes of NLIHC’s Erase Project, and a Human Rights report recommending legal representation for people who are unhoused or facing eviction. You can find all this and more in this month’s issue.

A2J Commission News

• MSBA and A2JC Partner to Advocate for Civil Legal Aid Funding During 2024 MSBA Day A2JC Commissioners and members of the Public Interest Law Committee came out in full force at MSBA Day to advocate for increased civil legal aid funding. Commissioners met with legislators to explain the mechanism to get increased civil legal aid funding is through the Governor’s Renters’ Rights and Stabilization Act of 2024, which is not readily apparent because the bulk of the bill focuses on housing rights.

• A2JC Commissioners and Broader Civil Legal Aid Community Participate in the United Way’s 30|30 Experience A2JC recently updated its strategic plan and explicitly stated that one of its strategic goals is to dismantle structural and institutional racism and other inequities in the civil justice system. In order to do so, the Commission is focusing inward and starting with internal reflection and action. After administering its first self-identification survey in September, 2023 and holding its first Race Equity Retreat in November, 2023, it enabled its Commissioners and the broader civil legal aid community to be sensitized to the experiences faced by clients served by the access to justice community through an empathy-building experience. In lieu of a Commission meeting, A2JC used that time to participate in the 30|30 Experience, which is a 90-minute, virtual empathy building simulation offered by the United Way of Central Maryland that allows participants to assume the head of an ALICE (Asset Limited Income Constrained Employed) household who must make 30 difficult, and in some cases, life altering decisions in 30 days. To learn more about the experience go to https://uwcm.org/3030.

• A2JC Joins Governor Wes Moore to Support Civil Legal Aid Funding In an extremely tight budget year, Governor Wes Moore’s Renters’ Rights and Stabilization Act of 2024 is the vehicle for increased civil legal aid funding during this legislative cycle. The bill creates a revenue source to allow for the increase in court filing fees to fund the Maryland Legal Services Corporation, while addressing renters’ rights issues. Funding for civil legal aid continues to be a top priority for A2JC as the Access to Counsel in Evictions law remains in the middle of construction, unable to reach its full potential without continued funding and civil legal aid organizations struggle to attract and retain talent because salaries of civil legal aid attorneys are the lowest of any attorneys in the public interest. A2JC supports the Governor’s efforts to address renters’ rights issues, while addressing the shortfall in civil legal aid funding. To learn more about the impact of civil legal aid, see here: https://www.msba.org/funding-civil-legal-aid-vital-to-protect-many-maryland-families/

Tips from Maryland Judiciary’s Access to Justice Department                         

We are pleased to offer recurring content from the Maryland Judiciary’s Access to Justice Department as part of the A2J Dispatch.

• New Report Highlights Judiciary Resources for the Self-Represented The Maryland Judiciary provides a broad range of resources to assist court users in navigating the civil justice system. Find out how Maryland courts are advancing access to justice through help centers, law libraries, technology-based tools, and online legal information and learning. Resourcesfor Self-Represented Litigants in the Maryland Courts – Fiscal Year 2023 provides data and information on how the courts are working to better serve the public.

Local A2J News

• The Pro Bono Resource Center of Maryland Opens Nominations for Pro Bono Awards! “Know of a local lawyer, firm, or member of the judiciary who shows a strong commitment to pro bono service? Each year, the Pro Bono Resource Center of Maryland, as the pro bono arm of the Maryland State Bar Association, recognizes members of the legal community who have demonstrated an exemplary commitment to pro bono service for those in need through the Maryland Pro Bono Service Awards. This year, PBRC plans to recognize award recipients during MSBA’s Legal Summit and Annual Meeting. To nominate an exceptional individual or program for one of the eleven award categories, please visit the link https://probonomd.org/awards/ to view the form and required documentation.”

• Commentary: Homeowner Assistance Fund Ends amid Persistent Foreclosure Risks The Maryland Homeowner Assistance Fund represented a lifeline for low-income residents at risk of losing their homes. The fund officially spent or allocated all the $185 million it was provided by the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development to assist homeowners with mortgages, reverse mortgages, homeowners insurance, water bills, property taxes and home ownership association fee defaults. Depletion of the fund means the end of one of the most significant assistance programs for low-income homeowners in the 21st century, particularly for Maryland Legal Aid clients.

• District Court in Frederick and Washington Counties Launches Regional Veterans Treatment Court The District Court in Frederick and Washington counties has launched a regional veterans treatment court, which will serve both counties. The regional veterans court will provide treatment, accountability, and mentoring to former military service members, while helping connect veterans who are involved with the justice system with the benefits they have earned.

• The Renters’ Rights Stabilization Act (SB 481, HB 693) The Renter’s Rights Stabilization Act (SB 481/HB 4517) addresses the immediate needs of renters who are experiencing housing instability. This omnibus bill seeks to 1) establish an Office of Tenant Rights in the Department of Housing and Community Development responsible for providing renters with information about their rights under law and creating a tenant’s bill of rights; 2) address the high eviction filing rate in the nation by increasing the eviction filing fee and preventing it from being passed on to renters; 3) reduce the allowable security deposit from two months rent to one month; 4) create a powerful new pathway to homeownership by creating a statewide right of first refusal, allowing renters the right to purchase their home if being sold; 5) modify the state’s new rental voucher program to provide prioritization of vouchers for families with children under the age of five and for pregnant women.

• College Park Scholars to Launch Data Justice, Civic Engagement Programs College Park Scholars in Fall 2024 will add two programs to its roster of two-year living-learning experiences for academically talented students, but one will look and sound familiar. Data Justice will debut, and the University of Maryland’s CIVICUS program will relaunch with a new name: Civic Engagement for Social Good.

• The Housing Expansion and Affordability Act (SB 484, HB 538) The Housing Expansion and Affordability Act (SB 484/HB 538) seeks to directly address Maryland’s housing supply and affordability crisis to lower costs and expand economic opportunity for Marylanders across the state. This legislation will incentivize the construction of highly targeted new housing by removing barriers to development that have contributed to the current supply shortage. The bill also seeks to modernize land use law and expedite and simplify approval for transit-oriented development, development on former state-owned complexes, and housing development by 501(c)(3) organizations if certain affordability requirements are met, in addition to incentivizing development projects by allowing for greater density when certain conditions are met.

National A2J News                           

• New Brief on the History, Successes, and Highlights of NLIHC’s ERASE Project! NLIHC released a new brief, End Rental Arrears to Stop Evictions (ERASE): History, Successes, and Highlights. The brief recounts the origin of NLIHC’s ERASE project – which formally concludes this year – and explains the project’s aims and structure, surveys the achievements of the ERASE team, and details the successes of ERASE cohort members. The brief also discusses how NLIHC plans to draw on lessons learned from ERASE to continue advocating for federal, state, and local policy innovations that promote housing stability and reduce homelessness.

• U.S. Rep. DeLauro and Sen. Casey Introduce the Federal Eviction Prevention Act of 2023 U.S. Representative De Lauro and Senator Bob Casey are co-sponsoring the Eviction Prevention Act of 2023 (EPA) (H.R. 6696, S. 3446), federal legislation that establishes a grant program to support state and local governments in hiring attorneys to represent tenants facing eviction, limited to tenants making 125% of the federal poverty level, requires specific reporting related to evictions proceedings by the Government Accountability Office, and creates a new a National Database of Evictions. The bill also prioritizes jurisdictions that have enacted RTC in selecting grant recipients.

• Tiny Chat 126: A2J Manifesto Why do we do what we do? A few months ago, NCSC’s Access to Justice Team sat down in person to put pen to paper about what motivates us to do the work we do, why it matters, and how we approach the serious challenges and opportunities present when it comes to increasing access to justice in state courts. Then, a few weeks later, a whole bunch of us took a break from that serious work to do our best to re-create the opening few moments of the blockbuster movie “Jerry Maguire,” where Jerry wrote down his statement of beliefs. Staring past and present members of the Access to Justice Team, and written by the same, this is our manifesto.

• Michigan Attys Can Now Pay For Pro Bono Clients’ Travel, Clothes Lawyers in Michigan can give impoverished pro bono clients certain kinds of financial aid under a revision to the state’s professional conduct code adopted by the Michigan Supreme Court.  The change to the Michigan Rules of Professional Conduct adopted on Jan. 10 is described as a “humanitarian exception” to the general prohibition against lawyers providing financial assistance to clients. Under the rule change, attorneys representing indigent clients in a pro bono matter can pay for a client’s transportation, housing, food and clothes “to facilitate the client’s access to the justice system in the matter.”

• Ohio Sets Loan Repayment Program Helping Newly Licensed Attorneys in Underserved Areas Ohio Department of Higher Education Chancellor Mike Duffey last week announced a loan repayment program that will benefit newly licensed attorneys working in underserved parts of the state.

• Innovative New Project Launches to Increase Access to Justice for the Overlooked Middle Class While most organized access to justice efforts rightly focus on low-income and poor people who are especially vulnerable, we can never achieve our nation’s ideal of equal justice for all when middle-class people—who make up more than 50% of the nation’s population— and small businesses struggle to find quality, affordable legal services.

• Human Rights Report Recommends Legal Representation for People who are Unhoused /Facing Eviction REDESCA observes that the crisis of homelessness in the United States is a complex and widespread problem that is not limited to certain geographic areas. As stated by a report from the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness, alongside structural drivers, severely underfunded programs and inequitable access to quality education, health care (including treatment for mental health conditions and/or substance use disorders), and economic opportunity have led to an inadequate safety net that fails to keep individuals and families from falling through the cracks when they fall on hard times.

• Legal Kiosks A2J Tech announced that their Legal Kiosk initiative is expanding to Michigan and Arizona.

• AI Tool Updated To Help Immigration Attys With Legal Tasks The American Immigration Lawyers Association and software platform Visalaw.ai released an updated version of an artificial intelligence legal research tool that now has an expanded library and a document upload feature. AILA and Visalaw.ai rolled out the AI tool called Gen for testing in June but released the official, updated version on Tuesday, dubbed Gen version 1.0. Visalaw.ai co-founder and immigration attorney Greg Siskind told Law360 that Gen’s library now has more content to fill in gaps related to asylum and removal.

• Texas Non-Atty Ownership Plan Fizzles As Justice Gap Fix As the legal industry struggles to find ways to bridge the wide gap between those who can afford civil legal services and those who cannot, a proposal in Texas to allow non-attorney ownership of firms providing low- or no-cost services faces an uncertain future following opposition from lawyers who say it would create an ethical quagmire.

• New Mexico Judiciary Establishes Rural Clerkship Program The Rural Clerkship Program fosters deep community connections for new lawyers and encourages practicing law in areas of New Mexico that have few attorneys to meet the legal needs of local residents. Apply for clerkship positions in Farmington, Aztec or Gallup, Clovis, and Portales beginning January 18, 2024.

• Bass, Berry & Sims Pro Bono Work Secures Release of Three Wrongfully Incarcerated Individuals in 2023 in Partnership with Tennessee Innocence Project Bass, Berry & Sims is pleased to announce that through the work of its Pro Bono Program and in partnership with the Tennessee Innocence Project (TIP), the firm contributed to the release of three wrongfully incarcerated individuals in 2023. Since 2019, the firm’s attorneys have dedicated a combined more than 4,000 hours toward the three cases, helping each of these individuals secure the freedom they deserve. These hours include two six-month fellowships that allowed two attorneys to work full-time with TIP on these and other wrongful conviction cases.