Equal Justice Works Fellow - Hybrid

Job Description

Job Description

Maryland Legal Aid (MLA) announces a full-time, two-year Equal Justice Works (EJW) Attorney Fellowship (EJW Fellow) who will work closely with MLA colleagues to implement this statewide, ground-breaking law that will provide a right to legal assistance and representation to tenants facing eviction or termination of their housing subsidy. The EJW Fellowships are immediately available for hire.

The EJW Fellows’ work will be directly supervised by the chief attorney for the Cecil / Harford office in collaboration with the Advocacy Director of Human Right to Housing and Deputy Advocacy Director of the Tenant Right to Counsel Project in MLA’s Statewide Advocacy Support (SAS) Unit. This two-year position is funded by Equal Justice Works, Maryland Legal Services Corporation, and MLA.

The EJW Fellow will be required to work two days per week in the Cecil / Harford office. The Fellow will implement access to counsel through same-day representation in district court and conduct targeted outreach efforts to increase the visibility and utilization of ACE and MLA’s role.

General Information : Maryland Legal Aid (MLA) has operated under the Access to Counsel in Evictions Program since October 2022, implementing the right to counsel in eviction proceedings and housing subsidy terminations. We dramatically increased our representation in landlord-tenant matters through our phased rollout of the Tenant Right to Counsel Project (TRCP). We provide legal representation for all case types covered under the law; however, our priority population is tenants living in subsidized housing, as eviction judgments pose severe consequences.

Cecil County is experiencing significant gaps in housing justice services due to a lack of service provision. MLA has implemented same-day representation in other jurisdictions, ensuring tenants receive immediate legal assistance. This has proven to be an effective strategy for preventing involuntary displacement. However, same-day representation alone does not reach tenants facing subsidy terminations at the same rate.

For this purpose, MLA seeks an organized, proactive, and collaborative individual as an EJW Attorney Fellow who can assist in developing MLA’s approach to this work and help execute its implementation. Excellent candidates are attorneys interested in serving low-income clients, specifically addressing tenants’ needs to promote housing stability and providing tenants’ access to counsel as outlined in the Maryland State law. In addition, the EJW Fellow candidate will have a foundational knowledge of housing-related legal issues and experience working in community settings with tenants and service providers alike. Candidates will also have the opportunity to learn about national best practices through training provided by MLA and Equal Justice Works, which provides programmatic support and training for the EJW Attorney Fellows through its Housing Justice Program.

MLA’s and EJW’s Collaboration to Provide Access to Counsel in Evictions

To implement the work noted above, MLA has been selected by Equal Justice Works as an implementing partner of Equal Justice Works’ Housing Justice Program. Equal Justice Works is the nation’s largest facilitator of opportunities in public interest law. The Equal Justice Works Housing Justice Program is a program comprised of Attorney EJW Fellows and EJW Organizer Fellows who, over the course of a two-year EJW Fellowship term, will be part of a targeted initiative to address the justice gap in Maryland through responsive, context-specific innovations and interventions focused on housing justice. Specifically, EJW Attorney Fellows and Organizer Fellows will serve at one of the participating community-based and / or legal services organizations and work as a unified front to fight a variety of injustices related to housing instability and involuntary displacement in Maryland, particularly due to eviction.

An Equal Justice Works EJW Fellowship is an opportunity to transform your passion for equal justice into a career. As a Housing Justice Program Fellow, you will be part of a prestigious program that, since its inception in 2019 in Virginia, has successfully improved housing stability in served communities by preventing more than 4,000 tenants from being evicted and conducting education and outreach efforts for more than 40,000 people. Most critically, former EJW Fellows of the Housing Justice Program helped generate momentum for tenants to have the right to be represented by counsel in housing cases – a legal right to counsel – something that seemed inconceivable in Virginia just two years ago. Building on the success of EJW Fellows in Virginia, Equal Justice Works is expanding the Housing Justice Program to Maryland.

As a Fellow, you will develop experience and skills to be a leader in social justice while promoting tenant protections and working directly with households experiencing housing instability. As a cohort, EJW Fellows are expected to participate in peer-to-peer learning and required training delivered by Equal Justice Works and training partners throughout the year. In addition, EJW Fellows will attend Equal Justice Works’ Leadership Development Training in October 2025 and 2026.

Each selected Fellow will be employed by Maryland Legal Aid to fulfill all EJW Fellowship duties at a local and / or state level. Each Fellow will report to MLA’s Assistant Director of Advocacy for the Access to Counsel in Evictions (ACE) Program for day-to-day supervision, mentoring, and performance evaluation.

Duties and Responsibilities :

• Providing direct legal services addressing civil legal issues that arise from housing instability for low-income households, especially in eviction / unlawful detainer and housing subsidy termination cases – legal screening, advice, brief service, full-scope representation, and pro bono assistance through legal clinics and referrals. The candidate will focus on representation and community education in Cecil County.
• Maintaining an active caseload of representation and advice cases that may require in-person or remote court appearances, depending on the jurisdiction.
• Participating in MLA’s day of court program to provide advice and representation to low-income tenants in collaboration with other legal services programs.
• Conducting community outreach to reach clients in need of services.
• Identifying larger trends and issues for clients and working with MLA and other colleagues to develop strategies and research national best practices to respond to those trends and needs.
• Building key stakeholder relationships in furtherance of the EJW Fellowship objectives.
• Creating, fostering, and cultivating partnerships among legal services providers, tenant associations, community social services providers, and other community-based entities.
• Strategizing, planning and conducting training and outreach to communities and community organizations in furtherance of housing stability and affordability for low-income community members; engaging in peer-to-peer learning with other Equal Justice Works Housing Justice Program EJW Fellows.
• Actively contributing to and participating in Housing Justice Program cohort activities (resource exchanges, mandatory webinars and conference calls, and training events, including Equal Justice Works Leadership Development Training in Fall 2025 and 2026.
• Exercising leadership competencies as an Equal Justice Works Fellow.
• Contributing to required programmatic reporting and overall program evaluation.

Qualifications :

NOTE : All EJW Fellows are expected to fulfill the entire duration of the EJW Fellowship and will be required to sign the EJW Fellowship Agreement with Equal Justice Works.

WORK ENVIRONMENT

Work duties are performed in a hybrid environment : two days in person in Cecil County in district court and community settings and three days remote with regular interaction via telephone, videoconferencing, instant messaging, and email. A regional office will provide access to work supplies.

BENEFITS

The current salary range for the staff attorney position is $76,812 - $118,565. Staff attorneys will be paid by MLA’s Workers Union’s current salary scale, which is subject to revision annually through collective bargaining negotiations. For example :

Salary placements for attorneys are on the earliest date of admission to a U.S. state bar, assuming eligibility to practice (either under the Maryland bar or under Rule 15 if another state bar) and continuous full-time legal work experience following the date of admission. In addition, MLA provides employees with a generous benefits package that includes health, dental, vision, life insurance, a 401(k)-retirement plan, two weeks paid time off, sick leave, 14 annual paid holidays, a hybrid work arrangement, and more.

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS

Maryland Legal Aid is committed to equity, justice, and inclusion. As an equal opportunity employer, MLA seeks to hire individuals from diverse backgrounds and perspectives that reflect the communities we serve, including people with disabilities, people of color, women, and members of traditionally underrepresented groups.