You should always seek information about an attorney's experience and ask questions during the initial meeting. It's a very good idea to ask the lawyer how many years of experience they have. An official United States government website, GoVa.gov, can provide you with information about the lawyers in your area. This is how you know what official websites use.
The .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States. If you are deaf, have hearing or speech problems, call 7-1-1 to access telecommunications relay services. There are many organizations that provide legal services in Capitol Heights, Maryland such as The Archdiocesan Legal Network of Catholic Charities (ALN), Bread for the City's Legal Clinic, The House of the Pact, The Washington Legal Services Division, The Arc of the District of Columbia, Inc., Counseling and Referral Clinic for the Bar Pro Bono Program D. C., Bar Pro Bono Program Clinic Night Pro Bono D.
C., Pro Bono Bar Association Divorce Clinic Pro-Seplus, Prince George's County Bar Foundation, Inc., Lawyers for Children America (LFCA), The Legal Aid Society of the District of Columbia (LAS), The Legal Counsel for the Elderly (LCE), The Legal Services of Northern Virginia (LSNV), The Free Resource Center of Maryland, Inc., Pro Bono Program of the Montgomery County Lawyers Foundation, The Multidoor Dispute Resolution Division of the D. C., Washington Superior Court Legal Homeless Clinic (WLCH), Washington Homeless Legal Clinic, Inc., and Empowered Women Against Violence, Inc. Excluded from male-dominated associations, women formed their own groups dedicated to female lawyers such as the Maryland Women's Bar Association and its predecessor organizations. Starting with the inaugural course in 1992, the Select Committee and the Maryland State Bar Association submitted a curriculum on gender equity for the mandatory professionalism course for new admissions. Organizations such as The Alliance work to improve women lawyers of color by providing opportunities to network, advise young lawyers and law students and “grow professionally in a comfortable and collegial environment” according to Michelle K., President of The Alliance. Women were not admitted to the Maryland bar until nearly two hundred years later when Etta Haynie Maddox became the first woman to wear the mantle in 1902. The Committee's empirical approach along with a survey that showed that 85% of women were actually in favor of jury service in Maryland was critical to the success of the jury bill that passed the following year. Before practicing law became a “profession” men and women of colonial Maryland brought their own cases to court or appointed someone without legal training to handle their businesses.
The 125th anniversary of the Maryland State Bar Association provides an opportunity to consider the experience of female lawyers within the association and profession and the role of gender-specific collegial organizations in the future. In 1929 four members of the Women Lawyers Association (the forerunner of the Maryland Women's Bar Association) applied to be members of the Baltimore City Bar Association. Building on a legacy of exclusion first through admission to the Bar Association and then through membership in bar associations made up of men women lawyers eventually gained acceptance by forming their own groups and advocating for causes that affect women. Lawyers strongly disagree about how their law firms promote long-term careers for women. After passage of the Nineteenth Amendment Maryland continued to deny women right to participate in judicial system through jury service. The percentage of female lawyers has slowly increased in recent years according to ABA's National Lawyer Population Survey a tally conducted by licensing agencies in every state. The Franklyn Bourne Bar Association which is dedicated to advancement of African-American lawyers (both men and women) in Prince George and Montgomery Counties also conducted a survey which found that half of female lawyers (50%) said they had experienced unwanted sexual conduct at work and one in four women said they avoided reporting sexual harassment for fear of retaliation.
