2019 NLADA Annual Conference-Innovative Justice

Strong schools support students and their caregivers, and placing lawyers in schools strengthens that support. Come learn how civil legal aid attorneys having a regular presence in schools aimed at serving low-income students can present multifaceted opportunities for clients. Since 2015, Maryland Legal Aid’s Community Lawyering Initiative has served more than 10,000 individuals statewide by establishing legal clinics in community spaces. In 2019, the project expanded and began offering services in schools in Baltimore City and the surrounding metropolitan area. Lawyers in schools offer unique opportunities to address concerns of families in kinship care and systemic issues with landlords, to engage in representation of neighborhood associations/groups, and to empower students to have a voice in social justice issues. This session will detail how to start a lawyer-in-the-schools program, identify partners, obtain funding, administer clinics in the setting, leverage involvement from the private bar, and overcome hurdles as they arise.