Elliett Earhart of Westover, MD, has been named Mid-Shore Pro Bono’s first Sandy Brown Public Interest Intern.
The paid internship program was established in late 2021 to honor MSPB Past Executive Director Sandy Brown. The donor-funded program provides undergraduate and law school students with a stipend while learning in the areas of public interest law, non-profit management, community service, and basic work experience.The internship is one of the last requirements needed for Earhart to earn a Bachelor of Arts in Conflict Analysis and Dispute Resolution from Salisbury University. She currently holds a BA in Psychology from Salisbury University and is in the process of earning a Master of Science in Clinical Psychology and a Certificate in Behavioral Analysis from Capella University, with an anticipated August 2023 graduation. Earhart attended Somerset County Public Schools prior to her college experiences and plans to continue her education by earning a Doctorate (PsyD) in Clinical Psychology.
Earhart’s responsibilities during her four-month Mid-Shore Pro Bono internship include client intakes; attorney shadowing during law clinics and in court settings; appointment coordination with volunteer attorneys; various researching; and more, with all work done under an attorney’s supervision.Earhart says she’s grateful to be part of an organization that provides assistance with respect, dignity, and passion to those who need it the most. She’d like to develop and implement a 5 to 7-point survey as part of her internship to help assess the impact of having free civil legal services available to local communities.“One of the most rewarding parts of my internship is being able to watch the volunteer attorneys and legal staff interact with the client and give them available resources that they otherwise wouldn’t have access to,” said Earhart. “I’ll never forget the big smile of a client while she repeated how grateful she was for the help of our attorney and legal assistance during a recent Elder Law Clinic. I didn’t expect her reaction and how happy she was. It was a touching moment.”“We’re honored to have Elliett continuing her education with us, we need more people interested in psychology and counseling to work in the public interest field,” said Mid-Shore Pro Bono Executive Director Meredith Lathbury Girard. “We’re also grateful to the donors to our Sandy Brown Public Interest Internship fund so that we can provide a stipend to Elliett, and others like her.
”Girard says the nonprofit is uniquely positioned to expose students who are interested in the practice of law, social work, and public interest work through hands-on experiences working with rural, underserved, populations lacking the same resources as urban areas.“This program engages students in a wide range of legal-related experiences in a high quality and well-supervised professional setting,” she says. “And undergraduate students interested in law, justice, and criminal justice as well as other civic-minded careers will be exposed to hands-on experience in these areas as well.”Mid-Shore Pro Bono delivers a mission of helping Maryland’s Eastern Shore residents obtain access to legal assistance, with offices in Easton, Chestertown, and Salisbury, and more information at www.midshoreprobono.org.
