Anne Boyle

The Project

Anne will work at the Pro Bono Resource Center (PBRC) of Maryland, under their Courtroom Advocacy Project’s Housing Justice Program, to provide pro bono representation to tenants facing housing instability.

As rental costs rise steeply, evictions due to an inability to pay rent are skyrocketing. The vast majority of tenants facing a legal threat to their housing situation lack counsel, which could mean the difference between remaining in their home or losing it. Despite the high rents, many tenants also live in dangerous conditions and do not know they have the right to demand a safe home. As is so often the case, these problems disproportionately affect low-income and minority communities.

Having grown up with a single mother who could not afford to own her own home, Anne knows what it’s like to lack control over your housing. The power imbalance between tenants and landlords is unjust; she wants to help even that imbalance through providing free legal services to those who need them.

Fellowship Plans

Anne will participate in PBRC’s rent clinic, where attorneys provide day-of-court, limited-scope representation to tenants in district courts for Baltimore City and County. She will also take on an in-house caseload of landlord/tenant cases, including tenant holding over, breach of lease, and escrow cases. Finally, she will help recruit, train, mentor, and support the PBRC’s many volunteer attorneys.