Volunteer your time, Ben Rosenberg begs lawyers

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Ben Rosenberg of Rosenberg Martin Greenberg had a pretty strong reaction to contributor Joe Surkiewicz’s column in this week’s Maryland Lawyer section. Surkiewicz, the director of communications at Maryland Legal Aid, wrote about the tremendous need for more volunteer lawyers.

Rosenberg, co-chair of the Legal Aid’s Equal Justice Council, which works to fund Legal Aid, called me Monday afternoon to enthusiastically second Surkiewicz’s message.

“As a result of a number of factors, all of which have sort of come together in sort of like a perfect storm, the demand for legal services to the underrepresented and people who can’t afford legal representation has exploded, while at the same time what we had thought of as a stable funding source has imploded, and that’s the IOLTA funding,” Rosenberg said.

Interest on lawyer trust accounts goes to support legal representation for the needy, but when those rates plummeted, the money dried up.

“The only logical and possible source for that, to fill that need, has to come from the private bar,” Rosenberg said. “Who else is there? No one else is qualified to do it. While the lawyers in Maryland have done a good job up to now, everyone needs to do a better job.”

“People view things like this in terms of, it’s someone else’s problem,” Rosenberg continued.

But really, he said, lawyers are officers of the court, and with that comes the responsibility of making sure people who need civil representation get it.

The “gold standard” for pro bono work is 50 hours a year, but Rosenberg concedes that that’s a lot. Commit to handling at least one matter, he advises.

Where to start? Call the Maryland Volunteer Lawyers Service to find out what opportunities are available, and, if you need additional training, the Pro Bono Resource Center, Rosenberg said.