Pro-Bono Corner:
Spotlighting… The Homeless Person’s Representation Project
Ashley H. Hou & Shawn Goldfaden Co-Chairs for Pro-Bono Committee

          The Homeless Person’s Representation Project’s (HPRP) mission is to eliminate, ameliorate and prevent homelessness in Maryland. It does this by sending lawyers to those places where the poor congregate--shelters, day labor pools, welfare offices--and providing direct representation in legal disputes. 

          HPRP's outreach to shelters and soup kitchens is done exclusively by volunteer attorneys and paralegals.  HPRP schedules the visits, and provides training, a pro bono manual, malpractice insurance and back-up legal support.  Individual attorneys generally go out to shelters or soup kitchens every other month.  In addition to placing individual attorneys at shelters, the Adopt-An-Intake-Site Program gives law firms the opportunity to commit to serving a specific shelter on a monthly basis. A third way to assist is to serve on the HPRP Panel, where referrals can be made to attorneys with specialized areas of practice such as employment discrimination and bankruptcy. 

          HPRP does provide training for the attorneys serving as volunteers.  Cases generally involve family law issues, public benefits, landlord-tenant, public housing and bankruptcy. 

          If you or your law firm is interested in providing pro bono legal services at a shelter or soup kitchen, please contact HPRP’s Pro Bono Coordinator, Amelia Lazarus or check out their website at www.hprplaw.org.

Announcements:  Looking for some committee members
 

          The Pro-Bono Committee is looking for some members to help with finding, organizing and implementing pro-bono activities throughout Maryland for the young lawyers.  If you would like to be on the committee, please contact Ashley H. Hou at hou_ashley@hotmail.com or Shawn Goldfaden at shawng@steelsoft.com.  If you are interested in seeing your organization spotlighted in The Advocate or if you would like to share an interesting experience you had while providing pro bono representation, please contact Gwendolyn Tate at gst@lubbert.com.