1Anne Arundel County Pro Bono Committee
draft Minutes March 27, 2013
Law Library Conference Room
Attending: Anita Bailey, Joan Bellistri, Michelle Moodispaw and Scott MacMullan.
Approval of Minutes: Minutes 11-28-2012 and 02-27-2013 approved
I. Local Pro Bono Committee
A. Regional Meeting March 18, 2013 - Report
Attending from Anne Arundel County were Joanie Bellistri, Anita Bailey, Lisa Sarro, Sarah Frush, Judge North, Judge Silkworth, Chris Poulsen, Scott MacMullan and Elizabeth Morris of the Office of the Attorney General. The meeting organized by the Pro Bono Standing Committee was held with Howard, Carroll and Frederick counties. Guided small group discussions at each table were reported to the larger group. (Please see the minutes of that meeting for more information: http://aacpll.pbworks.com/w/file/65306146/B_MINUTES%20March%2018%20Regional%20Meeting%20-%20Central%20Maryland%20(no%20Frederick%20Report).doc)
The evening ended with each county’s group discussing needs and planning for that county’s pro bono activities. Each county was asked to decide upon one goal that could be completed by the Joint Meeting to be held during the Partners for Justice Conference on May 16. The Anne Arundel County reported two goals. One is to work to have pro bono a constant topic for the Inns of Court meetings and be included in the Inns of Court Chamber Chats. Judge Silkworth has already reported that he spoke with Patty Stevenson who is the incoming chair of the Cawood Inns of Court and who has agreed to make pro bono a presidential objective. Judge Silkworth has also approached Judge Asti who as a pupilage chair will be coordinating an Inns program in November about using pro bono as the topic. It will need to be fun and entertaining. The committee should contact Judge Asti and let her know that we are willing to help. In addition, Judge Silkworth has also spoken with Greg Jimeno, AABA President Elect, who has agreed to include pro bono as one of his goals. Th second goal is to have the pro bono article to be written by Anita and Lisa for the Barrister published.
Other goals were suggested during the discussion:
Establish a mentoring component for the Ask a Lawyer programs.
Investigate the establishment of a local pro bono referral service.
Plan a pro bono presentation at a bench meeting to provide information on pro bono resources and to get the bench’s perspective on what pro bono services are most needed based on their experiences. Hopefully, this could lead to a discussion on how the Committee and the Bench can work together. Joanie will contact Judge Davis-Loomis and Anita has agreed to help her with the presentation.
B. Committee Organization and draft Work Plan September 2012 - The Committee will begin considering a new chair. No further discussion.
C. Plan Review - wiki collaboration is ongoing.
D. Annual Report - An updated 6 months report was sent to the Standing Committee. A report to Hon. Nancy Davis-Loomis is still in progress.
E. Partners for Justice Conference, Joint Meeting of Local Pro Bono and Standing Committee, May 16, 2013 in the first program slot at 9:15. (Baltimore Convention Center) - Program and registration information will be sent to the committee as soon as it is available. Joanie or Anita will investigate the possibility of a free registration for a committee member.
II. Programs and Projects
A. Guardians for unaccompanied children
Michelle Moodispaw reported that she spoke with Liz Shields concerning the KIND presentation at the he AABA Family Committee meeting in February. There were no Anne Arundel volunteers as a result. Michelle will follow-up and then the Committee will invite the AABA Family Committee to a meeting for a discussion on the topic.
Chris Poulsen will invite Lynn Weiss, AACPS Homeless Coordinator, to speak to the Committee at the April meeting.
B. Ask a Lawyer referral policy - There was a complaint from a program participant concerning a referral to a specific attorney. A reminder was sent to Ask a Lawyer volunteers that all referrals be to the AABA LRS or MVLS and not to a specific attorney.
C. Education and Outreach
1. Information to SRL - "How to get an attorney"
a. Court Mailings: Brochure review - Revision is in process
b. Law School for the Public (Community Law Forum) - Fifty of the Anne Arundel County Legal Services Directory Brochures were made available to those attending the event. There were 70 people in attendance.
2. Pro bono opportunity information to the bar
a. AABA functions
(1.) Scott MacMullan will contact the chairs of the AABA Young Lawyers/New Lawyers to discuss the possibility of the Committee providing a program or being able to address pro bono at other Young Lawyer events.
(2.)Meet the Judges spring program - Joan Bellistri will contact Fran Czjaka to see if there will be a spring Meet the Judges Program and if a Pro Bono segment could an be added to the program.
(3.)Anita Bailey will contact the AABA Family Law Committee in order to discuss the need for more pro bono attorneys to handle family law cases. She reported that only 9 of the 34 cases that Legal Aid referred to MVLS were handled by Anne Arundel attorneys.
b. A pro bono award program with presentations to attorneys and/or firms.
c. A method for creating a pro bono honor roll perhaps through online self-supporting by honoring pro bono attorneys at AABA and Inns of Court functions. Scott MacMullan will investigate.
3. Barrister Column to highlight “stars” and providers/opportunities:
a. Pro Bono Recognition Lunch and Homeless Day - Joan Bellistri will write an article and provide pictures.
b. Anne Arundel's new ranking - back to last - Anita Bailey and Lisa Sarro are working on an article or content for Jessica Daigle’s o president’s column dedicated to pro bono.
4. Self Help Workshops\Videos - How a case will proceed. - Joan Bellistri reported that the need for this information was voiced in a recent meeting the Conference of Maryland Court Law Library Directors. It was suggested that the creation of step-by-step guide like the CSA Guide for Self Representation be created at a local county level to start. The Committee could solicit volunteers for the project from the AABA.
D. Homeless Resource Day 2013 - March 16, 2013 - Report
There were 88 clients with 95 different questions this year. There were 14 volunteers attorneys, plus 2 representatives from MVLS (Maryland Volunteer Lawyer Service) - resulting 7 intakes, and 2 representatives from HPRP (Homeless Persons Representation Project) - resulting in 4 referrals to HPRP for expungement. In addition, there were two expungements to be filed by the clients themselves and one expungement filed by a volunteer attorney. The Office of the Public Defender performed 2 intakes for representation.
Scott MacMullan mentioned that Homeless Day is also a good networking event as he was asked to take on a case for another attorney there.
It was noted that there was a need for public benefit attorneys.
E. Family Law Self Help Center volunteers for ½ days - no further discussion
F. Pro Bono Recruitment -
1. MVLS and PBRC programs - recruitment results should be investigated.
2. Local referral service
a. Investigate Mid-Shore Model - Joan Bellistri and Michelle Moodispaw will visit Mid-Shore Pro Bono to investigate that local pro bono referral service. It was estimated that $60,000 a year would be needed to staff such a service. The need for bar buy-in and the condition of funding sources such as MLSC were discussed.
Next Meeting: April 24, 2013 - 5:00 pm
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