Loyola partners with Maryland Legal Aid to hold third expungement clinic on York Road
Loyola University Maryland will join Maryland Legal Aid to hold an expungement clinic Sunday, March 26, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. The clinic will take place in a parking lot at 5104 York Road in Baltimore, the location of Loyola’s Govans Farmers’ Market.
“The criminal records expungement clinic is a chance for members of the nearby community to meet with an attorney in order to have criminal records expunged,” said Matt Beverlin, Ph.D., visiting assistant professor of political science. “The goal is to have a petition for expungement drawn up after meeting with an attorney and they’ll leave with that document in hand.”
Clinic volunteers—including Loyola students and attorneys who are alumni and friends of Loyola—will offer one-on-one assistance to participants, advising them on legal matters and preparing petitions on-site. Supported by Loyola’s Center for Community, Service, and Justice, the clinic provides students an opportunity for service learning, a critical part of Loyola’s mission and Jesuit liberal arts education.
“This event has been successful in the past, and we’re looking forward to this one,” said Gia Grier McGinnis, Dr.PH., executive director of the Center for Community, Service, and Justice. “It provides the opportunity for people to walk away on the road to having certain criminal charges off their record.”
Loyola’s Center for Community, Service, and Justice partners with community organizations and provides academic courses, community development, scholarship, service experiences, and social justice programming. The center leads Loyola’s York Road Initiative, a community development effort in the York Road neighborhoods of Baltimore, where the expungement clinic will take place.
“The only requirement is that these be Maryland records, not federal or from another state. There might be further qualifications to have a record expunged, but that is what the attorneys are there to assist people in determining,” Beverlin said.
This event will mark the third expungement clinic Loyola University Maryland and Maryland Legal Aid have partnered to host. Nearly a hundred clients were aided in the past two events and 135 petitions were issued.
Clinic volunteers will help participants on a first-come, first-served basis. No appointment needed.