2025 Annual Report

For 45 years, MVLS has organized volunteer attorneys to address legal barriers faced by communities across Maryland. Over that time, our work has grown and adapted to meet the needs of and bring critical legal services to underserved and often neglected communities. 

Some of MVLS’ updated approaches have included instituting interpreter services in our intake process, adapting our educational materials to reflect easy to understand language, in both English and Spanish, and organizing neighborhood-wide door knocking campaigns to bring information directly to those in need. In addition, MVLS has developed deep and lasting partnerships with hundreds of trusted community partners that allow us to bring our services directly to those communities. 

At MVLS, this community-focused approach is at the core of what we do. MVLS has a long history of building partnerships. In fact, one of the core components of our mission statement is community engagement.  MVLS works with a large network of community partners including religious institutions, schools, hospitals, neighborhood associations, and other nonprofits who provide trusted introductions to prospective clients. We conduct proactive outreach with these partners including door-knocking, resource drops, know-your-rights presentations, and free legal clinics. Community partners also help inform and guide MVLS’ work, ensuring that our services meet the needs of our clients. 

In the past year, MVLS has been able to emphasize our community-based commitment and significantly expand our presence through a community lawyering project funded by Equal Justice Works. Harvard Law defines Community Lawyering as “…an umbrella term for collaborative, community-based approaches to legal services. While there are different variations on “community lawyering,” the core elements are the integration of the lawyer into the community the lawyer serves, the use of multifaceted approaches to problem solving, and the investment and empowerment of community members in the lawyering process.”  

“It’s a holistic approach that allows us to reduce barriers to service. When we do community lawyering, we are the outreach team, the intake line, and the representation all rolled into one lawyer,” shared Megan Good, MVLS’ Equal Justice Works Fellow. 

Community Lawyering is not a new concept. Many legal services organizations implement some level of community lawyering in their work, but the sad reality is that because community-based lawyering is labor intensive, it is often not sustainable or scalable because of the limits on funding for legal services organizations. 

The impact of community lawyering is irrefutable – the best way to serve communities with a history of institutional neglect and disinvestment is by being consistently present in the community, being persistent, and building relationships and trust. Building the level of trust required to connect with clients in the community requires partnerships with community-based organizations. 

“This work would be impossible to do without community partners. Engaging in community lawyering requires one to partner with and walk alongside community-based organizations and residents, listening to their needs and priorities, and contributing our skills and resources that are responsive to those needs. In my role, community partners such as the Greater Mondawmin Coordinating Council, Healthy Neighborhoods, Inc., and the Cherry Hill Community Coalition have played a critical role in helping to make those connections with residents and key stakeholders in the community. Others, such as TouchPoint Baltimore and the Enoch Pratt Free Library, have enabled us to provide community-based services by offering space for us to host clinics and office hours,” Megan noted.  

Ms. Deborah Harris, an active resident in Cherry Hill, first met Megan after seeing her present at a Cherry Hill Community Coalition meeting. She attended Megan’s presentation on Tax Credits for Homeowners at the Enoch Pratt library, along with neighbors she invited to attend with her. Ms. Harris previously participated in an MVLS Estate Planning Clinic, but her will was never completed, so Megan prioritized helping her to complete her estate planning. Since reconnecting with our team, Ms. Harris has done her own outreach to her friends and neighbors to connect others with these important services. She has become MVLS’ biggest champion in Cherry Hill, passing the word to other residents. As a result of Ms. Harris’s efforts, and in collaboration with MVLS and other organizations, nine additional homeowners on her same block have received legal consultations or full representation.  

In addition to Ms. Harris, this community-based approach has allowed MVLS to reconnect with other residents who reached out for services at some point but did not complete the intake process, including a homeowner in Cherry Hill at risk of tax sale. Megan met this resident while conducting door-to-door outreach, and as soon as Megan introduced herself, the resident shared that her challenge was that her home was still in the name of her deceased family members. She previously sought help, but did not successfully complete the intake process due to competing demands on her time and challenge accessing services because she worked from 9 am to 5 pm. Megan was able to work with this client outside of usual business hours to re-engage her in services.   

In our traditional service model, we conduct outreach and educate community members about their legal issues and give them the intake phone number and webpage link, but we know they do not always take that next step to obtain help, for a myriad of reasons—competing priorities, lack of trust in the legal system, fear of rejection when seeking help, just to name a few. We schedule free clinics in different neighborhoods, but we struggle to reach residents who do not learn of the event because they are not actively connected with community partners, or residents who cannot attend due to their work schedule, or childcare, mobility, or transportation challenges. Some residents may see our services advertised, but they do not recognize how the service can benefit them. 

Reaching clients with the greatest need and the most challenging barriers may require meeting the client where they are, including showing up to their houses. When asked what made her experience with Megan different from prior services she received, Ms. Harris shared “I got the one-on-one help that I needed. She was so patient, and the follow up! She was always a woman of her word, and Megan said, ‘if you can’t come to me, I’ll come to you.’ That is so important for seniors. Some of my neighbors have trouble walking. Others don’t drive and rely on neighbors for rides.”  

“Community-based lawyering is powerful because, at its core, it’s about building relationships and developing trust. The relationships are bigger than just meeting one legal need for a person, and as we work collaboratively with residents and partners in a community, we are able to serve people more holistically, stabilizing and strengthening whole blocks in a community, not just individual households.” 

Megan Good, MVLS Equal Justice Works Fellow 

Meeting communities where they are takes immense resources- time, focus, and diligence. MVLS is excited to continue this work in FY26 by cultivating trust and strengthening communities.   

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