"MY DEED, MY HOME, MY LEGACY" CAMPAIGN
Join MVLS for Upcoming Homeowner Clinics
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MVLS launched a major campaign on April 1st to help homeowners stabilize their housing.
We need volunteers to support our three upcoming clinics.
The clinics are held from 3-7 pm, with a brief training for attorneys. Attorneys meet with clients to help them determine if they legally own their home, discuss next steps, and review why estate planning is so important for low-income homeowners. Attorneys may then accept the client for full assistance with their estate planning if they wish.
Join us in the fight to help stabilize Baltimore City communities.
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MVLS VOLUNTEERS TO BE RECOGNIZED
AT MSBA ANNUAL MEETING
MVLS is pleased to announce that
Jose Canto Greenfield
and the
Mulinazzi Law Office
will be receiving pro bono awards at the
MSBA Annual Meeting
in Ocean City next week. Jose will be receiving the Judge Robert M. Bell Award and the Mulinazzi Law Office will be awarded with the Law Firm award. These honorees have demonstrated long-term commitment to the MVLS pro bono program and we're thrilled with their recognition.
Congratulations to our very worthy award winners!
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MVLS TRAININGS:
WHAT'S NEXT AND WHAT'S AVAILABLE
MVLS staff have been busy not only finishing out our FY19 training calendar, but also
planning trainings for FY20
. Keep an eye out for new trainings starting in July on various legal issues including adoption, alternative service, uninsured motorist torts, guardianship, and deed transfers.
MVLS will also be offering a
variety of other webinars
, including a presentation by Bar Counsel, legislative updates, and several targeted trainings with our Human Trafficking Prevention Project including vacatur, expungement and shielding issues, as well as a series on intersectionality with immigration, consumer issues, family law, and housing. MVLS will continue with our popular Third Thursday and Tax Twos-day series.
MVLS is also providing
more training access than ever before
. We recorded several live trainings this year, and will have them uploaded to our recorded trainings page in the next several months. This includes trainings on bankruptcy, estate planning, estate administration, divorce, custody, landlord-tenant and tax controversy. On the recorded trainings page, you can already find available trainings on such topics as consumer, family, estates, foreclosure and tax sale, expungement, and a variety of other helpful issue areas. You can access these trainings by
clicking here
.
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DID I MISS MY PRO BONO REPORT IN JANUARY?
If you're wondering if you somehow missed the IOLTA and the pro bono reports earlier this year, don't worry--you didn't. A change was made to coordinate attorney reporting forms and all of them will now be due in September. That includes the Client Protection Fund payment, and the reports for IOLTA and pro bono. The reporting period under this initial change will be from January 2018 to June 2019, with future years consisting of July to June. Submission will be through the Attorney Information System (AIS). Be on the lookout for emails about the new reporting cycle in July.
I
f you're looking for opportunities to complete your 50 hours of pro bono, look no further than the
MVLS Pro Bono Portal
, which has a searchable database of all available cases. This can be sorted by geography and case type. When you find a case that interests you, simply click "Learn More" and a MVLS paralegal will get you all set up for the case placement.
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DID YOU KNOW?
MVLS ATTORNEY RESOURCES PAGE
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The MVLS
attorney resources page
has a variety of helpful legal resources including case update/closure forms, the volunteer handbook, and helpful information in a variety of substantive areas of the law.
Did you know there is also information on how out of state attorneys can be admitted for the purposes of doing pro bono?
Learn more here
. We also have information on how retired attorneys can do pro bono while remaining inactive.
Learn more here
.
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Spring was a time of change at MVLS, as we had two new intake paralegals join our team. Milena Benitez is primarily overseeing Baltimore County and Sam Kessler will focus on Anne Arundel, Howard and Harford counties. We are thrilled to have them both on TeamMVLS. You might also be hearing from Christie Smith, our new Communications & Outreach Manager. Christie joined us in April and is helping us with volunteer and client recruitment and support. Finally, Cara Schaefer started as our Development Manager back in March. Welcome to MVLS!
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Milena Benitez
Intake Paralegal
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Samuel Kessler
Intake Paralegal
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Christie Smith
Communications & Outreach Manager
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Cara Schaefer
Development Manager
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June 20 | 12-1 pm | Webinar
July 2 | 12 pm - 1 pm | Webinar
July 11 | 4:30 pm - 6:30 pm
Annapolis Office of Frost & Associates
839 Bestgate Road- Suite 400, Annapolis, MD 21401
August 7
| 12 pm - 1 pm | Webinar
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June 12 & August 14 | 2 - 4 pm
MVLS Office, 201 N. Charles Street, Suite 1400, Baltimore
Volunteer attorneys connect remotely with expungement clients in Wicomico at the MVLS office.
June 18 | 3 - 7 pm
Arch Social Club, 2426 Pennsylvania Avenue, Baltimore
Volunteer attorneys assist homeowners with identifying basic estate and deed issues to increase their housing stability.
June 26 | 5 - 8 pm
Bon Secours Community Works, 26 N. Fulton Ave, Baltimore
Online training
is available to attorneys new to expungements or who need a refresher.
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Save the Date for MVLS’s annual Celebrate Pro Bono event on
Wednesday, October 15th, from 6:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m
. at the
American Visionary Arts Museum
. We will
Celebrate Pro Bono
by honoring volunteer lawyers, donors, and friends at our annual recognition reception.
Guests will enjoy a cocktail hour, seated dinner, and awards ceremony honoring those who have made noteworthy contributions to the delivery of pro bono legal services over the past year. The reception also kicks off Maryland’s participation in the American Bar Association’s National
Celebrate Pro Bono Week.
More information about the event will be released in the next few weeks- stay tuned and mark your calendars! Please reach out to
Kim Weiner
with any questions.
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MAKE YOUR GIFT GO FURTHER
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Did you know that when you make a donation of $500 or more to MVLS, you may be eligible to receive a Maryland CITC tax credit equal to
half the value of your donation?
What does this mean?
The
Community Investment Tax Credit (CITC)
program supports nonprofit organizations like MVLS by granting state tax credits to nonprofits which they, in turn, use to encourage contributions. MVLS was recently awarded $50,000 in CITC tax credits to give to eligible donors by December 31, 2020.
CITC tax credits are equal to 50% of the value of the donated money, stocks, goods or real property on your Maryland State tax return.
If you or your business won’t have tax liability this year, you can apply the credits against future liabilities for up to five years.
Credits are awarded on a first come, first serve basis and the gift and application must be completed around the same time period. Please email
Kim Weiner
for more information.
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As a MVLS volunteer, you know the impact pro bono has for Maryland families.
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Maryland Volunteer Lawyers Service | 201 N. Charles Street, Suite 1400 Baltimore, MD 21201
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