Terrence Artis, J.D. '99
Twenty years ago, a vacant warehouse occupied a contaminated site at the corner of Payson Street and Windsor Avenue, in a blighted section of west Baltimore. With the help of UBalt Law’s Community Development Clinic, neighboring New Shiloh Baptist Church created a legal entity that would raze the warehouse and create a vibrant three-block community that today includes affordable and senior housing, a day care center and multipurpose space.
It was UBalt Law alumnus Terrence Artis, J.D. ’99, who brought the project to UBalt’s clinic. Artis, who is now associate general counsel at the Maryland Commission on Civil Rights, was on the New Shiloh board and knew that the clinic’s student-attorneys could help the church set up a development corporation to manage the large-scale project. The student-attorneys also trained New Shiloh leadership in navigating these legal issues for themselves.
UB’s law clinics impact the community through direct action, as in this instance, but also as catalysts for legal reform.
Over the years, UBalt clinics influenced changes by working to amend family law to allow spousal abuse as a ground for divorce, helping draft and pass a bill making Baltimore City water more affordable, successfully advocating for laws improving tenant rights, and more.
Clinic student-attorneys also hosted expungement fairs for citizens convicted of minor offenses, taught middle school students about the laws related to sexting and intimate partner violence, and secured additional special education services for children in Baltimore City schools.
