The Maryland Legal Services Corporation (MLSC) was established as a nonprofit organization by the Maryland General Assembly to receive and distribute funds to grantees that provide civil legal services to the poor. In recognition of outstanding contributions by Maryland individuals and organizations that provide or support justice to the poor, MLSC has created four awards to be given annually, as follows:

• The Arthur W. Machen, Jr. Award
• The Benjamin L. Cardin Distinguished Service
• The William L. Marbury Outstanding Advocate Award
• The Herbert S. Garten Public Citizen Award

Nominations for the 2013 awards must be submitted not later than June 14, 2013 to MLSC. Formal awards will be presented at an Awards Ceremony in the fall.

For online nomination forms, nomination descriptions and instructions as well as a list of past award recipients, see Nominating Process. If you need any additional information or assistance, please contact hrobinson@mlsc.org.

This listing includes major events sponsored by MLSC grantees. Please contact the event sponsors for more information.

March

3/21/13 – Maryland Public Interest Law Project, Inc. – Annual Goods & Services Auction, 6 – 9 p.m., University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law, Westminster Hall, 500 West Baltimore Street, Baltimore. For more information, see www.law.umaryland.edu/auction.

3/28/13 – Maryland Volunteer Lawyers Service Annual Benefit – March Madness, 6 – 9 p.m., M&T Bank Stadium, 1101 Russell Street, Baltimore. For more information, see www.mvlslaw.org.

April

4/18/13 – House of Ruth Maryland – 12th Annual Spring Luncheon, 11 a.m. – 1:30 p.m., Marriott Waterfront Hotel, Baltimore. For more information, see www.hruth.org.

4/24/13 – Catholic Charities Baltimore Esperanza Center‘s 50th Year Anniversary, 5:30 – 7:00 p.m., Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish, 600 S. Conkling St., Baltimore. For more information, contact Francisco Plasencia at fplasenc@cc-md.org or (443) 825-3423.

May

5/1/13 – Asian Pacific American Legal Resource Center 15th Anniversary Celebration, 6:30 – 9:30 p.m., China Garden Restaurant, Rosslyn, VA. For more information, contact Kimberly Ahn at (202) 706-7079 or  kimberly.ahn@apalrc.org.

5/16/13 – Pro Bono Resource Center of Maryland‘s 15th Annual Maryland Partners for Justice Conference, 9 a.m. – 3:30 p.m., Baltimore Convention Center, 1 West Pratt Street, Baltimore. For more information, see www.probonomd.org.

5/21/13 – Baltimore Neighborhoods, Inc. – BNI’s 54th Annual Meeting & Fundraiser Celebrating the 45th Anniversary of the Federal Fair Housing Act, 6 – 8:30 p.m., Temple Oheb Shalom, 7310 Park Heights Ave., Baltimore. For more information, contact Robert Strupp at 410-243-4468 or rstrupp@bni-maryland.org.

Maryland’s legal services safety net imperiled by looming sunset of filing fee increase

February 5, 2013, Baltimore, MD – The Maryland Legal Services Corporation (MLSC), which funds more than 30 civil legal services programs that help low-income Marylanders, told its grantees that if MLSC is unable to secure additional funding, they can expect a five percent reduction in grant funding for fiscal year 2014, beginning July 1, 2013.

This directive, which comes on the heels of a 5 percent funding cut last year, assumes that MLSC will be successful in its efforts in the Maryland legislature this year to repeal a law that would result in a 40 percent loss in MLSC’s revenue.

At its annual Grant Informational Meeting, MLSC Executive Director Susan Erlichman told current grantees, as well as other interested applicants, that MLSC continues to face significant funding shortages. Revenue from the Interest on Lawyer Trust Accounts (IOLTA) program, MLSC’s original primary funding source, continues to decline and has decreased 74 percent since 2008 when interest rates plummeted to near-zero. IOLTA now accounts for only 12 percent of MLSC funding. An increase in court filing fee surcharges enacted in 2010 by the Maryland General Assembly to address the IOLTA shortfall averted a significant crisis in the state’s legal services delivery system at that time, but fell short of projected revenues.

The 2010 legislation contained a three-year “sunset” provision which is scheduled to take effect June 30, 2013. “The sunset has left MLSC teetering at the edge of a fiscal cliff,” Erlichman said. “Should the provision take effect, MLSC would face a catastrophic loss of approximately $6 million, representing 40 percent of its revenue.”

Erlichman told its grantees that MLSC is seeking repeal of the sunset, noting that “such a loss would decimate our ability to address the legal needs of low-income Marylanders at a time of unprecedented need.”

Programs such as the House of Ruth, the Legal Aid Bureau, the Maryland Disability Law Center, the Maryland Volunteer Lawyers Service, the Homeless Persons Representation Project and county and regional programs throughout Maryland rely on MLSC to fund programs that provide legal assistance to Marylanders struggling with mortgage foreclosures, food stamp applications, veterans’ benefits, domestic violence, and other serious legal issues.

“We face real and immediate challenges as we seek to maintain essential services,” said Chairman Glenn F. Ivey. “We’ll be working closely and tirelessly with our many partners to make sure we hold onto current funding, and pursue increased resources to avoid the need for further cuts and help meet the increasing demand.”

MLSC was established by the Maryland General Assembly in 1982 to receive and distribute funds to nonprofit organizations that provide civil legal assistance to low-income persons. It is governed by a nine-member Board of Directors appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the Senate. From its inception, MLSC has made grants totaling over $182 million to help provide services to nearly 2 million low-income Marylanders needing help with issues involving family, housing, consumer, employment, health care and other civil legal matters.

Credit Card Payments and IOLTA Accounts

Beginning January 2013, if the tax identification number and name on file for the lawyer or law firm with the IRS do not exactly match the tax identification number and name of the lawyer or law firm provided to the credit card processing company, a mismatch will be declared. If a mismatch has occurred, a 28% withholding penalty, from their gross credit card sales, for the previous year will occur. The 28% withholding penalty will then be submitted to the IRS. Section 6050W does not make a distinction between credit card transaction deposits made to a trust or IOLTA bank account and an attorney’s operating account. For attorneys who have mismatched information, a 28% penalty could cause an overdraft in their IOLTA account, resulting in an ethical violation.

Important Information for Attorneys Who Accept Credit Card Payments

Changes in the law regarding the reporting of credit card transactions have the potential to negatively impact IOLTA accounts and lead to ethical violations by lawyers.

• Pursuant to the Housing Assistance Tax Act of 2008, credit card processing companies are required to verify and match each merchant’s federal tax identification number and her legal name with those found on file with the IRS. An EXACT match is required.

• For the purposes of this requirement, lawyers who accept credit card payments are considered “merchants.”

• If there is NOT an exact match between the information provided to the credit card processing company and the information on file with the IRS, there are serious consequences:

• Beginning January 2013, the IRS will impose a 28% withholding penalty on all credit card transactions, including those that the lawyer directs to her IOLTA account.
• If client funds that should be in the IOLTA account are withheld due to the lawyer’s failure to act and thus are not available to the client on demand, ethical issues are raised.

• The credit card processing company should have received information from the IRS if a mismatch occurred and already notified the lawyer of the problem. However, it is not known if all processing companies have provided such notice.

Steps lawyers can take now to avoid an ethical violation in 2013:

• Contact the credit card processor to determine that a match occurred

• Correct mismatches if informed of one

For more information on this issue, see https://www.lawpay.com/news/irs6050w.pdf.

In honor of the 30th anniversary of the Maryland Legal Services Corporation (MLSC), Senator Benjamin L. Cardin lauded MLSC’s accomplishments in the Congressional Record on December 20, 2012. Cardin stated, “As chairman of Maryland Legal Services Corporation from 1988-1995, I know firsthand the extraordinary service they provide to Marylanders.” He noted the increased importance of MLSC’s mission as more people are in need of civil legal services and gave examples of people around the state that have benefited from services by the nonprofit legal services organizations that receive funding from MLSC. See the entire statement in the Congressional Record of the 112th Congress: Senate, Vol. 158, No. 165.

January 2, 2013 – Nonprofit organizations interested in continuing or seeking funding from the Maryland Legal Services Corporation (MLSC) for civil legal services to low-income persons for Fiscal Year 2014 (July 1, 2013– June 30, 2014) must submit an application no later than March 15, 2013.

MLSC will hold a meeting to discuss the grant application process, general funding policies and the forecast for MLSC’s FY 2014 funding level with grantees and other interested persons on Friday, January 25, 10:30 a.m. in the Wheeler Auditorium at the Enoch Pratt Free Library, Central Branch, 400 Cathedral Street, Baltimore. MLSC grant application packets will be distributed at the meeting.

Please contact Tiffany Devonshire at MLSC (410-576-9494, ext. 1003 or tdevonshire@mlsc.org) in advance of the meeting if you need grant application materials in alternate format (such as Braille or large print) or have questions. For more information about the grant process, see Grants.

Directions

December 13, 2012, Baltimore, MD – Governor Martin O’Malley has appointed Mark F. Scurti to the Maryland Legal Services Corporation’s nine-member Board of Directors for the remainder of a three-year term.

Mr. Scurti, a member of Pessin Katz Law, PA, concentrates his practice in bankruptcy proceedings, debt restructuring and same-sex law as well as estate planning and family law. He is a past president of the Bar Association of Baltimore City and has served on the Maryland State Bar Association Board of Governors and bar sections and committees. Mr. Scurti provides numerous hours of pro bono counsel and is a past board member of the Pro Bono Resource Center. He graduated from the University of Baltimore School of Law and has been practicing law for over 20 years.

MLSC was established by the Maryland General Assembly in 1982 to receive and distribute funds to nonprofit organizations that provide civil legal assistance to low-income persons. It is governed by a nine-member Board of Directors appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the Senate. From its inception, MLSC has made grants totaling over $182 million to help provide services in nearly 2 million legal matters for Maryland’s families in areas of family, housing, consumer, employment, health care and other civil legal matters.

Maryland Legal Services Corporation
Celebrating 30 Years
Annual Awards Reception
Monday, December 3, 2012
5:30 – 7:30 p.m.
Radisson Plaza Lord Baltimore, Calvert Ball Room, 20 West Baltimore Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
Directions

Join us to honor the leadership and outstanding advocacy of:

Herbert S. Garten • Peter A. Holland • Brenda Bratton Blom • Lisae C. Jordan • John Wheeler • Maryland Office of the Attorney General

Tickets: General – $60; MLSC Grantee Staff and Law Students – $40

Contribution Opportunities: $2,500 – 30th Anniversary Partner (10 tickets); $1,000 – Patron (4 tickets); $500 – Donor (2 tickets); $250 – Sponsor (1 ticket)

You may make a contribution or purchase tickets using the reception reply card and returning it with your check to: Maryland Legal Services Corporation, 15 Charles Plaza, Suite 102, Baltimore, MD 21201.

For more information about sponsorship and registration contact:
Harriet Robinson, hrobinson@mlsc.org or 410-576-9494, ext. 1004.

30th Anniversary Partners, Patrons, Donors, and Sponsors will be recognized in The Daily Record, at the Annual Awards Reception and in our Annual Report. Contributions must be received by November 28. Please provide name/organization as it should appear in the publications. You will receive a receipt for your contribution, indicating the amount that is tax deductible.

October 16, 2012 –The 2012 MLSC Legal Services Award recipients have been selected by the Maryland Legal Services Corporation’s (MLSC) Board of Directors, and will be honored at MLSC’s annual awards reception, Celebrating Thirty Years, on Monday, December 3, 2012, 5:30-7:30 PM at the Radisson Plaza Lord Baltimore Hotel.

The Robert M. Bell Medal for Access to Justice, named for the chief judge of the Maryland Court of Appeals, was created in 2004 to honor members of the bench or bar who have displayed an extraordinary commitment to furthering access to justice for the poor. MLSC will present this esteemed award to Herbert S. Garten of Fedder and Garten, PA. Garten is the third recipient of the Bell Medal, as MLSC only bestows this honor “when warranted.”

Peter A. Holland of the Holland Law Firm will receive the Arthur W. Machen, Jr. Award for his significant contributions in the area of consumer law. This award is given annually to an attorney, usually in private practice, who has rendered extraordinary service by providing civil legal services to the poor or by improving the civil legal services delivery system for such persons.

The Benjamin L. Cardin Distinguished Service Award recognizes outstanding public interest attorneys who are regularly involved in providing, promoting, or managing civil legal services. MLSC’s 2012 honorees are Brenda Bratton Blom, professor at the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law, and Lisae C. Jordan, acting executive director of Maryland Coalition Against Sexual Assault.

This year’s William L. Marbury Outstanding Advocate Award, for a non-attorney who has demonstrated outstanding service representing the rights and legal needs of low-income persons, will be presented to John Wheeler for his exemplary service as an intake specialist and paralegal at the Maryland Disability Law Center for the past 30 years.

The Maryland Office of the Attorney General has been named as this year’s recipient of the Herbert S. Garten Public Citizen Award for its long-standing leadership in access to justice initiatives. The Garten Award honors an entity or organization not regularly engaged in the delivery of legal services to low-income persons for its ongoing leadership in access to justice. MLSC annually solicits nominations for its legal services awards throughout Maryland’s legal community, including bar associations, legal services programs and other interested persons and organizations.

MLSC was established by the Maryland General Assembly in 1982 to receive and distribute funds to nonprofit organizations that provide civil legal assistance to low-income persons. From its inception, MLSC has made grants totaling over $164 million to help provide services in nearly 2 million legal matters for Maryland’s families in areas of family, housing, consumer, employment, health care and other civil legal matters.

Media Sponsor: The Daily Record

August 8, 2012, Baltimore, MD – Governor Martin O’Malley has appointed M. Natalie McSherry of Baltimore to the Maryland Legal Services Corporation’s nine-member Board of Directors for a three-year term beginning July 1, 2012.

Ms. McSherry, a principal at Kramon & Graham, PA, concentrates her practice in commercial litigation and health care. Her legal practice has spanned more than 30 years since graduating from the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law. She has served in the American Bar Association, Maryland State Bar Association and the Bar Association of Baltimore City as well as the Maryland State Board of Law Examiners. Ms. McSherry was elected to the American College of Trial Lawyers and has been listed in Best Lawyers in America and Maryland Super Lawyers. She has provided extensive pro bono services and most recently served on the board of Maryland Volunteer Lawyers Service.

MLSC was established by the Maryland General Assembly in 1982 to receive and distribute funds to nonprofit organizations that provide civil legal assistance to low-income persons. It is governed by a nine-member Board of Directors appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the Senate. From its inception, MLSC has made grants totaling over $164 million to help provide services in nearly 2 million legal matters for Maryland’s families in areas of family, housing, consumer, employment, health care and other civil legal matters.