Emily Jenkins of Chester, Md. has recently been named a Maryland Legal Services Corporation Housing Fellow at Mid-Shore Pro Bono, where the third-year University of Baltimore School of Law student works directly with staff attorneys to handle a variety of landlord and tenant matters.

MLSC is a statewide funder of civil legal aid and the administrator of the Maryland Access to Counsel in Evictions program.

Jenkins graduated from Radford University with a bachelor’s degree in political science, concentrating in law, justice, and society with a minor in international studies. Jenkins plans to pursue public interest work or begin a career in real estate law after law school.

“I am thankful for the opportunity to join Mid-Shore Pro Bono as a Housing Fellow,” said Jenkins. “I have been given the opportunity to advocate for those who are unable to afford legal representation and help break down the cultural, geographic, and economic barriers within the civil justice system.”

Jenkins’ experience includes working as part of a research team for the United Nations Principles for Responsible Management Education’s Anti-Poverty Working Group. The working group’s Anti-Poverty Toolkit is envisioned to be a clearing house of open, online educational resources for scholars around the world to access, share, and update to raise standards of teaching and research in the field of anti-poverty.

“We’re grateful for Emily’s talents and world experiences while providing free legal help for people who otherwise wouldn’t have representation,” said Mid-Shore Pro Bono Executive Director Meredith Lathbury-Girard, Esq. “Emily’s internship is also a great example of collaboration, with funding through Maryland’s Access to Tenant Counsel program in partnership with the University of Baltimore.”

Mid-Shore Pro Bono announced the expansion of its tenant counsel services in August, with grant funding from Maryland Legal Services Corporation and Equal Justice Works helping to provide access to pro-bono legal services for tenants facing eviction.

Mid-Shore Pro Bono’s tenant counsel services help tenants who have received a notice of failure to pay rent and can address other issues including breach of lease, tenant hold-overs, rent escrow, constructive evictions, subsidy terminations, and more.