SARAH COFFEY BOWES

Civil Justice Inc.

Sarah Coffey Bowes has spent more than two decades working to ensure that low-income Marylanders have meaningful access to the legal system. As executive director of Civil Justice Inc. — a position she has held since 2019 — Bowes has transformed the organization into a nationally recognized leader in access-to-justice programming, including leading a 70% increase in Civil Justice’s budget over six years.

Her career began in direct legal services, representing low-income clients facing eviction and housing instability at the Homeless Persons Representation Project and Maryland Legal Aid. She then spent nearly a decade as managing director of the Maryland Court Help Centers, which she helped build from a four-employee pilot into a statewide network with six offices and 35 staff. Under her leadership, the centers expanded services to include phone and live chat, extended their hours and broadened their scope to cover family law, foreclosure and a wide range of civil legal issues. Today the centers help nearly 200,000 Marylanders annually.

At Civil Justice, Bowes launched new direct legal services programming, including the Legal Clinic for Small Businesses in partnership with the Maryland State Bar Association, providing legal support to small business owners who would otherwise be unable to afford it. Among her most significant contributions is her leadership of the Maryland Justice Passport, a trauma-informed technology platform that helps Marylanders navigate the legal system and connect with legal help, which received the 2025 American Legal Technology Award for Access to Justice and has drawn national attention as a model for how technology can be deployed with compassion and intentionality to serve vulnerable populations.

She also spearheaded the Coordinated Intake System for Access to Counsel in Evictions, developed in partnership with United Way of Central Maryland, which matches tenants facing eviction with representation across 10 legal services organizations. In 2025 alone, the system helped more than 2,700 Marylanders access eviction representation, with an 86% case placement rate.

Bowes earned a Juris Doctor from the University of Maryland School of Law, where she received the Ward, Kershaw Award for Client Advocacy. She serves on the Maryland Access to Justice Commission and the Maryland State Bar Association’s Affordable Law Task Force, and chairs the Legal Technology Subcommittee of the Innovations in Tiered Legal Services Task Force — a joint initiative of the Maryland Judiciary, the Maryland State Bar Association and the Maryland Access to Justice Commission aimed at tackling the justice gap head-on by finding new, innovative ways to meet the civil legal needs of Marylanders who are currently going unserved by attorneys.

Outside of her professional work, Bowes has mentored two law clerks whose achievements have been truly impressive, driven by a deep dedication to community and justice. She has supported both through references and mentorship as they have gone on to law school.

“Adversity has a way of clarifying what matters most,” Bowes said. “For me, it only strengthened my belief that access to justice isn’t abstract — it’s personal and it’s urgent.”