Last week, Venable and Maryland Legal Aid announced that they won a landmark decision in the Court of Appeals of Maryland establishing the power of the juvenile court in Maryland child welfare cases to order state agencies to provide needed services and care for clients. This decision reverses a 35-year-old line of intermediate appellate cases under which some judges declined to order state agencies to provide specific services, citing separation of powers concerns. Juvenile courts in Maryland will now have more leeway to order state agencies to provide needed services.
Venable partner and Maryland Legal Aid alum Mitch Mirviss briefed and argued the appeals pro bono. News of the victory was featured in The Daily Record on December 29, 2015 and WCBC Radio on December 30.