Posted by Suraj A. Vyas | 2 min read
We are now entering our second year in business! In our first year, we had the privilege to be recognized by our colleagues and clients through awards from professional organizations including Super Lawyers and Avvo. We negotiated several contracts with large entities like Facebook and Harvard University. However, I want to focus our first birthday post on something more important: Pro bono publico. Creating the firm right after law school meant we had to build our client base from the ground up. As such, we knew we wouldn’t be tremendously busy at first. So, what did we do? Pro bono work. Volunteering is not a requirement for Maryland attorneys, but our firm believes that legal help should be easily accessible to all people regardless of their economic status. We are proud to say that we have performed a whopping 130 hours of FREE legal work on behalf of our pro bono clients since last year. That’s over double the recommended yearly amount by the State of Maryland! Adding up the fees and costs, that’s over $45,000 of legal help given away for free to those in need! We are committed to maintaining our pledge to help others and give back to the community this upcoming year and every year after. We hope our numbers get even more staggering as the years pass.
Recently, we’ve dipped our toe into a new initiative where we provide free or low-cost legal help to qualifying owners who find themselves fighting a case involving their pet. We love animals and we want to fight on behalf of the furry, scaly, feathery, or whatever else creature you love that doesn’t have a voice for itself. Although this initiative is in a soft launch and we aren’t taking on too many clients for this at the moment, we definitely want to expand on it as we learn more over the coming months and years.
We want to take risks while we are still a young firm growing and chart a path all our own. We want to present pro bono work as an appealing and fulfilling practice to the newer generation of attorneys and the general public. Exactly how we do that is still under wraps for now, but keep an eye out for us in a couple more places this upcoming year as we broaden our reach and promote positive change in unexpected ways. We have quite a few things cooking, some short-term and others long-term. We can’t wait for you to see what’s next!
Thank you to Disability Rights Maryland, Homeless Persons Representation Project, and Maryland Volunteer Lawyers Service for the work you do each and every day to make the world a better place. A very special thank you to all of our clients, colleagues, family members, and friends for an amazing first year and the unmatched support you provided. We could not have done it without you!
