A2JC Dispatch – August 2026 Issue
The August Issue
In this month’s Dispatch, we spotlight the upcoming AI & A2J Summit co-hosted by the Maryland Access to Justice Commission and Maryland Legal Aid, and celebrate our current and recent Commissioners recognized on The Daily Record’s 2026 Maryland 500 list. At the local level, we cover a landmark Maryland Supreme Court ruling affirming children’s right to participate in home-removal hearings, and $80 million in federal funding dedicated to boosting rural healthcare access. Nationally, we examine an innovative AI expansion helping families access SNAP benefits, and the impact of new federal student loan caps on the public interest bar. You can find all these stories and more in this month’s Dispatch.
A2J Commission News
- Innovating for Justice: The AI & A2J Summit Coming Sept. 17 The Maryland Access to Justice Commission and Maryland Legal Aid are proud to host the first of its kind AI & A2J Summit on September 17, 2026. Focused primarily on the civil legal aid community, while also including key justice stakeholders including the Judiciary, MSBA and law schools, the Summit promises to be a practical, hands-on experience designed to cut through the tech hype and address real civil legal aid organization workflows. It will address key concerns with AI use, allow for demonstrations and testing of tech tools to address bottlenecks in real time, build organizational adoption frameworks, and launch an ongoing AI & A2J community of practice across Maryland. Sponsorship opportunities are currently available to help ensure this convening remains completely free for our civil legal aid community. Read more here and contact reena@msba.org for more information.
- A2JC Celebrates Commissioner Honorees of MD500 The Maryland Access to Justice Commission is thrilled to celebrate our current and recent Commissioners named to The Daily Record’s prestigious 2026 Maryland 500 list! We proudly congratulate Franklyn Baker, Sarah Coffey Bowes, Meredith Girard, Sharon Goldsmith, Renée Hutchins Laurent, Jessica Quincosa, LaVonda Reed, Victoria Schultz, and Anna Sholl for their exceptional leadership and dedicated advocacy across our state. To learn more about their remarkable achievements and individual recognition categories, read more here.
A2J Insights
- A2JC Is Seeking a Part-Time Communications Intern/Fellow/ Consultant/ Specialist A2JC is seeking a motivated part-time Communications Intern/Fellow/ Consultant/ Specialist to support our design, digital communications and website management. This is a great opportunity for a student or early-career professional interested in nonprofit communications, public interest law, design, marketing, and/or digital media to build hands-on experience while contributing directly to a mission-driven organization’s public voice.
- Celebrating Leadership in Access to Justice: 2026 Maryland 500 Honorees The Maryland Access to Justice Commission is thrilled to announce and congratulate our current and recent Commissioners and staff who have been named to The Daily Record’s 2026 Maryland 500! This prestigious honor recognizes the state’s most impactful leaders across business, higher education, law, and the nonprofit sector.
- Save the Date: AI & A2J Summit—Learning and Innovating Together Co-hosted by the Maryland Access to Justice Commission and Maryland Legal Aid, this summit is a practical, hands-on working session. It is designed to help civil legal aid organizations and justice stakeholders figure out how to responsibly and effectively use AI in their actual workflows.
Tips from Maryland Judiciary’s Access to Justice Department We are pleased to offer recurring content from the Maryland Judiciary’s Access to Justice Department as part of the A2J Dispatch.
- New Service Available for Court Visitors with Blindness or Low Vision The Maryland Judiciary now offers free use of Aira, a remote visual interpreter service, while in a Maryland court or commissioner location. Aira Explorer is an app-based service that is used by persons with blindness or low-vision to navigate physical spaces or websites. Aira provides professionally trained visual interpreters who guide users via their mobile device by providing directions and verbal instructions. Under a new contract that took effect July 1, the Judiciary is an Aira Access Partner, allowing use of the service for free to navigate Maryland court and commissioner locations, or when navigating the Judiciary’s website (mdcourts.gov) or the People’s Law Library of Maryland (peoples-law.org). To find out more visit: https://www.mdcourts.gov/courthelp/aira.
Local A2J News
- Over 100 Advocates, Elected Officials, and Faith Leaders Demand the Court to Uphold the Dignity Not Detention Act The coalition, including We Are CASA, gathered to oppose the proposed ICE detention facility in Elkridge and to call on the federal court to uphold the Dignity Not Detention Act, which ends private ICE detention in Maryland. At the hearing, the County argued that the permit was invalid from the outset.
- Medical Systems, Health Agencies Get $80 Million From Feds to Boost Rural Health Dozens of projects from county health departments, healthcare systems and Maryland hospitals will share $80 million in new federal funding to improve access to healthcare in Maryland’s rural communities, the Moore administration announced Monday.
- MVLS Special Education Team Shares Back-to-School IEP Guidance In a recent commentary, MVLS team members Payton Aldridge and D’Khyra McFadden offer guidance for families navigating special education services. They explain Individualized Education Programs, known as IEPs, and how they differ from 504 Plans.
- Children Have Right to Participate in Home-Removal Hearings, Maryland Court Rules Children have the right to attend court proceedings that determine if they will be taken from their homes and perhaps placed in foster care, the Maryland Supreme Court has ruled.
- A Maryland Man Won “Teacher of the Year.” Then ICE Grabbed Him at an Airport. University of Maryland School of Pharmacy instructor Berhanu Kibret was in Texas this month to attend an industry association annual meeting, where he had been honored as a teacher of the year, according to university officials.
National A2J News
- Frontline Justice and Josef Partner on Multi-State Rollout of AI to Protect Access to SNAP Benefits Frontline Justice, a national nonprofit dedicated to closing the access-to-justice gap through a new category of legal helpers called community justice workers, and Josef, a legal tech and automation company, announced the multi-state expansion of an AI assistant called Frontline Q to help justice workers more effectively assist families in navigating the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and challenging benefit denials.
- Student Loan Caps Harm Public Interest Bar—and Those They Serve The massive 2025 tax law caps how much graduate and professional students can borrow through the federal loan program. Law students are now limited to borrowing $50,000 a year, with a lifetime cap of $200,000.
- Legal Aid Scam Targets Border Residents Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid (TRLA) says the scam is targeting people seeking legal assistance, in which impostors are impersonating the nonprofit legal services organization and demanding payment from potential clients.
- North Carolina’s Threat to Legal Assistance for the Poor Republicans in the state legislature abruptly slashed funding for civil legal aid for low-income clients last month.
- Legal Aid Groups Sue Trump Administration Over $250 Fee Barrier for Abused and Abandoned Immigrant Children A coalition of California legal aid organizations filed a federal lawsuit challenging what they call an unlawful Trump administration policy that bars abused, neglected and abandoned immigrant children from seeking fee waivers when applying for Special Immigrant Juvenile Status.
- Lawyers Cannot Close the Justice Gap Alone Proposed Rule of Court 9.45.1 would authorize Community Justice Worker (CJW) programs, allowing trained nonlawyers, working under attorney supervision at authorized legal aid organizations, to provide limited legal assistance in defined practice areas.
- Thousands of Immigrant Children Risk Losing Lawyers After Trump Aid Cuts The Trump administration has severed ties with nearly a hundred legal organizations across the country that provide immigration advice and has been funneling kids into fast-tracked court hearings.