BreakingGround Story: The UMBC Expungement Clinic
Having a criminal record can present significant obstacles to employment, housing, scholarships, financial aid, and more. This is true even with an arrest record where charges were dropped, the infraction was minor, or the record contains juvenile offenses. To address some of these barriers, the UMBC Expungement Clinic was organized by Molly Timko and Jessica Cook in partnership with Maryland Legal Aid and the Baltimore County Bar Association Pro Bono Committee. A recipient of the BreakingGround grant, the clinic helped individuals in the community with prior criminal charges obtain free legal guidance and expungement services.
The idea to organize an expungement clinic first originated at Loyola University Maryland, where it is a recurring event that has aided over a hundred clients. When Cook first heard about the event and after Timko actually volunteered at the Loyola clinic, they both knew it was something they had to replicate at UMBC, which was done with the help of the Center for Democracy and Civic Life’s BreakingGround grant. The BreakingGround grant was launched in 2012 to support innovations on campus that foster civic agency, the capacity to initiate and make meaningful contributions to social change. Since its launch, BreakingGround has helped numerous faculty, staff, and students make meaningful contributions in and beyond our UMBC community.
Organizing a grassroots event like this did present challenges, given that Timko and Cook were the only official planners. While they juggled various concerns for almost a year, many of these concerns subsided with the support of community groups both on and off campus, including Government Relations & Community Affairs, Trisha Wells from the Volunteer Income Tax Association, Maryland Legal Aid, the BCBA Pro Bono Committee, and the Loyola Pre-Law Advisor. The clinic would also not have been possible without its volunteers. On the day of the clinic, volunteer lawyers, some of whom were UMBC alumni, advised clients on possibly expungeable charges, prepared expungement petitions, and filed petitions for clients from low-income backgrounds. Student volunteers managed smaller tasks throughout the process and shadowed lawyers with client permission, all the while engaging in a rewarding networking opportunity with alumni and volunteer attorneys.
By the time the clinic came to a close, 24 expungement petitions had been filed, presenting a second-chance for so many individuals whose lives had become defined by a minor charge on their record. Student volunteers shared how rewarding it was to witness first hand how the law can be used for good. In fact, students also gained valuable insight pertaining to their own career goals, with one student expressing that they “...felt empowered to go into this field because several attorneys started off as social work majors, like [them]self.” Overall, the UMBC Expungement Clinic organized by Molly Timko and Jessica Cook not only opened doors for countless community members stifled by minor charges on their records, but also opened the eyes of many students to their capacity to create meaningful change within their own communities.