Pro Bono/Community Outreach
Pro Bono
Goodell, DeVries, Leech & Dann, LLP is committed to providing quality legal services to all members of our community, regardless of ability to pay. Nearly all of our lawyers have generously contributed time and/or money to the pro bono effort.
Partner Thomas J. Waxter, III currently serves as the firm’s Pro Bono coordinator, and works with Maryland Volunteer Legal Services (MVLS) and other organizations to provide regular opportunities for partners and associates alike to take part in pro bono representation and help better the lives of others. MVLS is the largest organization in Maryland providing legal services to the working poor who do not qualify for legal aid. Our partner, Susan T. Preston, serves as the Vice President of the MVLS Board of Directors, and is Chairperson of its fundraising committee. Through referrals from MVLS and other organizations, our attorneys represent indigent clients on a pro bono basis in an extensive variety of cases, including matters relating to child custody and family law, estate and probate, landlord-tenant disputes, wage, employment and educational issues, liability defenses, bankruptcy, and debt instruments.
In 2009, the firm undertook an active role in the Veteran's Benefits Project, which is run through the Homeless Persons Representation Project, Inc. in Baltimore. The Veteran’s Benefit Project assists Veterans, who very often are homeless and living in local shelters, in obtaining service-related benefits for which they may be eligible. About a dozen of our lawyers received formal training and became certified through the Veteran’s Benefit Project. Our attorneys work in teams and are currently representing Veterans in this administrative process.
Additional examples of the pro bono work provided by our attorneys include:
- Successful representation of domestic violence victims for the House of Ruth - In one case, our associate helped one victim gain and keep a restraining order against her ex-boyfriend. In another case, the attorney was successful in evicting an abusive boyfriend from the victim’s apartment;
- Representation of an uninsured, young woman in connection with a motor vehicle accident;
- Representation of individuals in a civil suit to collect insurance for damage to their home;
- Representation of husband, assisting him in obtaining wife’s life insurance policy benefits after her death;
- Representation of discharged employee in employment-related dispute;
- On-going legal counsel to elder parishioners;
- Assisting people in homeless shelters to obtain legal resources according to their needs;
- For over 30 years one partner has provided regular legal support for a man-in-need; and
- Various minor traffic court matters.
Additionally, our attorneys devote hundreds of hours to community service each year, serving on boards of numerous non-profit organizations, and providing counsel and active support. Some representative organizations include:
- Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Maryland
- Committee of the Second Annual Campaign to End Homelessness
- Debtor Assistance Project for the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Maryland
- Equal Justice Council
- Governor’s Commission on Emergency Medical Services
- Lawyers Campaign Against Hunger
- Maryland Volunteer Lawyers Services
- Susan G. Komen Foundation, Maryland Affiliate
- Transplant Resources Center
- Voices of Children
Community Outreach
In addition to the time our attorneys invest in representing pro bono clients and through contributions and memberships with reputable organizations providing legal services to the poor, our individual attorneys and staff are proud to strengthen our community through voluntary non-legal efforts.
GDLD is a strong supporter of My Sister’s Place Women’s Center which provides a host of services to women and their children including housing referrals, health care services, education and life skills training, benefits advice and enrollment, case management, emergency financial assistance, financial literacy programming, personal services and three meals each day.
Since 2004, our staff collects and delivers new toys, clothes, and holiday wish-list items for “adopted” families through the St. Ambrose Outreach Center. Every year the firm sponsors a successful campaign, raising funds for United Way of Central Maryland. Throughout the year, our employees donate money, which the firm matches, for a “denim day” so that employees can wear jeans to work and the funds raised are donated to the Maryland Food Bank or other worthy charitable organizations. Since 2001, GDLD annually sponsors employees to participate in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. For the past two years, the firm's team at the Race has been over 100 people strong. In memory of losing a beloved staff member to breast cancer in 2007, GDLD has become a Silver Sponsor of the Maryland Race for the Cure. Members of our staff have participated in rebuilding school play yards and gardens as part of our local Association of Legal Administrators’ Community Challenge. Moreover, we have participated or supported the Maryland Law Links Program since its inception in 1995. In this Program, which is sponsored by the Maryland State Bar Association, inner city school students selected by their teachers are interviewed for a limited number of paid summer internship positions at local law firms. The interns are given the opportunity to observe the practice of law and perform clerical functions to encourage them to further their education beyond high school. Further, many GDLD employees donate time in their local communities by serving as coaches, catechists, and in other leadership roles in civic and charitable forums.
Moreover, the firm has a long history of generously supporting many worthwhile charitable endeavors with monetary contributions. In addition to supporting our local and regional communities, the firm and its employees generously contribute to the victims of natural disasters across the globe. To read about our attorney Maureen Dodd's experience with the Disaster Volunteers of Ghana, click here.
