Gavin Grossman ’23 (l) and Caroline Salim ’24 (r) with their client after a successful rent court defense in Baltimore City District Court
Since its launch this spring with a full enrollment of eight students, the Eviction Prevention Clinic at the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law has hit the ground running. Less than three months in, the student teams of two have already prevented three evictions.
Gavin Grossman ’23 is one of those students. Since his 1L summer, he has worked part-time in the Office of the Attorney General, Higher Education Division. While the job is great experience for a law student, it doesn’t get him into court or face to face with clients. He knew the Eviction Prevention Clinic would.
Plus, with an eye to a career in labor and employment law, Grossman appreciated the chance to start having a positive impact in the community even before graduating. “I liked the idea of helping people in Baltimore City,” he says. “Our clients are our neighbors, and when they come to us, they are vulnerable, and they need help.”
Grossman and his clinic partner Caroline Salim ’24 learned the ropes fast when they were assigned their first case. With a court date less than a week after their initial client meeting, they were in a flurry of preparation, which resulted in a winning judgment for their client in rent court. “I will never forget the smile on her face,” reflects Grossman.
He credits clinic director Dan Rosenberg and staff attorney Matt Smith with providing them with the support they needed to be successful.
Rosenberg comes to Maryland Carey Law after seven years at Maryland Legal Aid where he saw Maryland’s eviction crisis first-hand, along with a demand for counsel that consistently exceeded the agency’s capacity. In Baltimore City alone, approximately 140,000 eviction cases are filed each year. Rosenberg’s goal with the clinic is to give students the tools to represent clients in cases that include failure to pay rent, breach of lease, tenant holding over, constructive eviction, rent escrow, retaliatory eviction, and subsidy termination matters.
Additionally, during the one-semester class, he and Smith are helping students explore broader issues of access to justice, human rights, and housing policy as they develop practical lawyering skills, including interviewing and counseling, oral and written advocacy, negotiation, case planning, and developing legal strategy.
The clinic meets twice a week as a group, once in a seminar format in which Rosenberg and Smith give lessons in specific practice skills, such as how to handle discovery and conduct direct and cross-examinations. Other class time is designated for the teams to discuss their cases and moot them with a supportive audience. The clinic also takes field trips to observe in court and has presented testimony to the Maryland Legislature on housing legislation.
According to Rosenberg, his job is a joy because of the quality of the students at Maryland Carey Law. “They are enthusiastic and engaged,” he says. “I realized very quickly that I could trust them with the responsibility of taking on their own cases.”
And that is why Grossman says that Rosenberg and Smith “made the experience” for him.
“They have made it a good environment because they give us a lot of work to do,” says the 3L. “They trust us with a lot of responsibility, but they are not going to let us sink or swim. They are there to support us.”