On June 23, 2021, Maryland Legal Aid (MLA) released its 2020 Annual Report, which featured a section on Venable’s Gerry Treanor Pro Bono Fellowship. Since 2016, Venable and MLA have engaged in a unique partnership that allows a Venable associate to work at MLA for six months at a time while Venable continues to cover the cost of the attorney’s salary.
Chris Conn, an associate in Venable’s Corporate Practice in the Baltimore office, served as a pro bono fellow in MLA’s Baltimore City Housing/Consumer Unit beginning in December 2020. “Working at MLA during the COVID-19 pandemic has been a transformational and humbling experience,” Conn shared. “The pandemic has had an outsized effect on many of MLA’s clients, and I am grateful for the opportunity to advocate on their behalf.”
“I also cannot say enough good things about the team that MLA has assembled. In addition to providing high-quality legal services to their clients, MLA’s lawyers and staff have found time to be terrific mentors and instructors,” Conn continued. “I am so thankful for their willingness to always discuss the challenging legal issues that impact clients on a daily basis.”
MLA is a private, nonprofit law firm that provides free civil legal services from 12 offices to people in Baltimore City and Maryland's 23 counties. As Maryland’s third-largest law firm, MLA handles cases involving a wide range of issues, including family, housing, government benefits, healthcare, employment, and consumer law.