This week, Jim Sandman announced he will be stepping down as President of Legal Services Corporation, the largest funder of civil legal aid for low-income people in the country. Legal Aid is grateful for Jim’s contributions to making justice a reality for so many Americans and for his tireless advocacy for access to justice issues. Read more →

The Legal Aid Society of the District of Columbia was saddened to learn of the passing of civil rights activist J. Charles Jones on December 27, 2019. In 1966, Mr. Jones led a four-day, 64-mile march around the Beltway to protest housing segregation near capital-area military installations. That protest, along with his staging of sit-ins at the Pentagon, helped spur Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara in 1967 to ban military personnel from living in segregated housing near Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland. Read more →

This week Legal Aid Domestic Violence/Family Law Unit Supervising Attorney Trisha Monroe will be honored at Washington Council of Lawyers’s 2019 Awards Ceremony with its Legal Services Award.

The Legal Services Award has been bestowed annually since 2014 to those attorneys who have made extraordinary contributions to enhancing access to justice for our client community. Indeed, our very own Jodi Feldman was the inaugural recipient of the award in 2014. Read more →

As reported in several news outlets last week (including the Washington Post, the City Paper, and DCist), the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Columbia recently approved a significant settlement for tenants at a property that was formerly owned by Sanford Capital. Legal Aid represented thirty-two tenants who will receive substantial compensation, totaling over $407,000, for having to endure severe housing code violations and security risks when Sanford Capital owned the property. Read more →

As Domestic Violence Awareness Month comes to a close, Legal Aid continues our discussion of “coercive control” – an often unseen, but critical, aspect in many domestic violence cases. Specifically, abusers may exploit external forms of oppression – such as racism, homophobia, patriarchal norms, and xenophobia – to assert and maintain control over victims. These forces contribute to the vast under-reporting of domestic violence in the LGBT community, communities of color, and immigrant communities. Read more →

We are thrilled that pro bono attorney Maryam Casbarro who represents clients referred from Legal Aid was featured in this year’s lead DC Pro Bono Week Profile. In the profile, Maryam shares what has inspired her to work with survivors of domestic violence and how pro bono work has helped her hone her professional skills and make her a better lawyer.

If you are interested in hearing directly from Maryam about her experiences representing survivors of domestic violence, we encourage you to attend Pro Bono Goes Local, a DC Pro Bono Week kick-off breakfast celebration this Wednesday, October 16, from 8:30-9:30 a.m., at Crowell & Moring, 1001 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW. Maryam is one of four pro bono attorneys who will be featured at this special event. Read more →

The Legal Aid Society of the District of Columbia is pleased to announce that Candace Mitchell has joined Legal Aid as the inaugural Steptoe Housing Law Fellow!

As part of Legal Aid’s Housing Law Unit, Ms. Mitchell will represent low-income tenants to prevent evictions and preserve access to safe and affordable housing in the District.

“We are thrilled to have such a skilled public advocate in Ms. Mitchell as the first Steptoe Housing Law Fellow,” said Paul Lee, Pro Bono Counsel at Steptoe. “In supporting this fellowship, our goal with Legal Aid is to expand pro bono legal services available for the preservation of affordable housing in the District.” Read more →

Last week marked the beginning of this year’s Domestic Violence Awareness Month, which has been observed every October for over thirty years. Legal Aid is proud to stand by domestic violence survivors and bring attention to this very important issue.

Legal Aid’s Domestic Violence/Family Law Unit represents domestic violence and sexual assault survivors in civil protection order cases and various family law matters. However, in order to get a civil protection order here in DC, a domestic violence survivor must show that their abuser committed a crime – usually an assault, a threat to do bodily harm, or a sexual assault. Read more →

DC Pro Bono Week 2019 is just around the corner, October 20-26. And there are a full slate of events and affiliated trainings scheduled throughout October for folks who want to learn more about what pro bono opportunities are available throughout the city. Please help spread the word!

Here are just a few highlights that may be of particular interest to Legal Aid’s pro bono partners:

Kick off DC Pro Bono Week at Pro Bono Goes Local, a breakfast celebration featuring Chief Judges of the D.C. Courts and other special guests, on October 16, from 8:30-9:30 a.m., at Crowell & Moring. We have convened a panel of all stars to highlight their pro bono experiences in a dynamic lightning talk format that we hope will spark your enthusiasm for local pro bono. Read more →

For decades, individuals working in the District have suffered the sudden and destabilizing effects of wage garnishment, a legal process used by creditors to force a person’s employer to divert a portion of their paycheck every pay period to pay down a civil money judgment. Because of the District’s severely outdated law, garnishment from these judgments – often the result of years-old debt collection lawsuits involving credit cards or consumer loans, housing-related debt, or medical bills – has historically caused workers in the District to see up to 25% of every paycheck disappear, with little to no notice. This wreaks havoc on their ability to make the rent, pay for food, and cover other basic necessities, as pay period after pay period, portions of their paychecks are taken away. Read more →