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As a lawyer with Maryland Legal Aid, Andrew Rabinowitz JD ’12 focuses on “eviction prevention”—what he considers his call to public service.

By Alice Duncanson

When Maryland native Andrew Rabinowitz JD ’12 first set foot on Barry University’s campus as a prospective law student, something just felt right. “I looked at my dad and said, ‘I think I’m supposed to go here,’” recalls Rabinowitz, noting how welcomed he felt as a Jewish man at a Catholic university. It was a similar feeling he’d shared with his father while first visiting Maryland’s Frostburg State University, where he spent his undergraduate years triple-majoring in political science, law and society, and sociology.

"He used to litigate against almost every single staff member he now manages."

Part of what excited him about Barry was the university’s service-oriented mission and social justice values. The son of two civil servants—his mother in admissions for nursing programs at Johns Hopkins University and then University of Maryland, and his father a social worker at a Washington DC-area armed services retirement home—Rabinowitz looked forward to completing the School of Law’s required service hours. After graduating from college the year before, he’d been working in a law office during the day, making sure the career felt like a good fit before committing to law school, and delivering food at night. The highlight at the end of his evenings? Finding someone homeless and hungry in downtown Baltimore to gift with the restaurant’s mis-ordered food.

"Rabinowitz thinks back to those Baltimore nights when he handed out leftover food to people in need. He saw their humanity in those moments, and he isn’t surprised how his career has turned out."

But despite his desire to serve others, Rabinowitz also found himself longing for financial success as an attorney. While he hadn’t always believed in him- self academically as an undergraduate, he pushed himself at Barry. “I would challenge myself, saying, ‘You’re going to get an A in this class to prove to yourself that you can do this kind of work.’ I hit my stride at Barry and found ways to succeed.

As a law student, hungry for a high-powered job and big paycheck, Rabinowitz would never have guessed that the tension he felt between his drive for success and innate desire to help others would play out over his career in an extraordinary way—and ultimately position him at the center of a national social justice movement to keep people from being evicted from their homes.

A circuitous path to public service

After earning his JD from Barry, Rabinowitz’s law career started with a couple of years doing personal injury and family law for a Baltimore-area attorney known for his TV commercials. While the work was not what he wanted to do long-term, Rabinowitz learned what it meant to advocate for people in need. “It was my first taste at helping the underprivileged. We advertised to low-income people who had been in accidents, and the majority of the time we were helping people who had legitimate cases but couldn’t get service in other places. I felt really good about the work I did there.” Even though his boss was splashed all over television ads with a corny tagline (“Don’t urinate on me and tell me it’s raining”), he imparted an important lesson. “As weird as it sounds, he taught me about being ethical. If there was ever a situation where the firm wound up with more money than the client, he’d insist on reducing his fee.”

Eventually, Rabinowitz carried that lesson—as well as advice to “kill them with kindness” from his mentor and former employer, attorney Carl Gold—with him to a civil litigator/ landlord tenant attorney position with a major Maryland firm. The majority of his cases involved suing people for rent after they’d vacated properties
or doing landlord-tenant work to get people out of properties. “Ninety-five percent of my practice was working for landlords, with very few tenants represented,” says Rabinowitz. “I got really good at it. I prided myself on it. A judge once called me the fairest debt collector in the city. ‘What a compliment,’ I said to myself.”

Looking back on it, Rabinowitz admits he heard the “calling” for public service about five years into his career. “They say to work in public service is to hear the call and answer that call,” he says, remembering a speech in which U.S. Congressional Representative Kweisi Mfume (representing the 7th District of Maryland) encouraged public service. “It struck me like a lightning bolt. My parents were able to provide a nice life for my sister and me, and I realized that by answering that call, I could do something to provide for others.”

When his civil litigator job took a turn in a more serious direction—the firm offered him a partnership— Rabinowitz took the opportunity to heed the call he’d been trying to ignore. “I took a hard look at my life and asked, ‘Is this what you want to do for the next 10 to 30 years?’ I thought about what I really wanted to do— and what made me feel good about being at Barry.” Instead of taking the position of partner, he decided to pursue a staff attorney position with Maryland Legal Aid, thinking he could use his skills to assist with the housing crisis for a year or two. “It just hit me like a ton of bricks that the other side needs help really, really badly. It’s not a level playing field. And being the nicest debt collector is only good to a certain point.”

Maryland Legal Aid called about his application and upped the ante. Rather than the staff attorney position, they asked if Rabinowitz would interview for supervisor. Within a year, he was promoted to chief attorney. He used to litigate against almost every single staff member he now manages. “Throughout my career, I have tried to treat everyone as fairly as possible. I’ve never burned a single bridge.”

Switching sides to effect change

Today, Rabinowitz does eviction prevention—having “switched sides” to represent tenants. “It’s a really nice change of pace, and it’s fun to see my old clients on the other side. They appreciate that I’m a reasonable attorney, and if there’s something to be worked out, I’m going to do the best I can for my clients.”

It’s gratifying work when it turns out in his clients’ favor—like when he helped a mother of six navigate the system to move to a safer location after her landlord became abusive. Both she and Rabinowitz cried tears of joy after court. “Those successes carry you for months,” he says. But the losses? “Those are hard when you have to tell someone, ‘You’re going to be homeless. You’re going to have to go to a shelter tonight.’”

And, because Maryland is one of just three states in the nation that guarantee a right to counsel in eviction proceedings, Rabinowitz and his colleagues find themselves on the front lines of eviction prevention work—and are setting new precedents for the rest of the country. “There’s a nationwide shift coming, and we are at the forefront of it here in Maryland. It’s so amazing to have switched sides while these laws are being passed.” Still, with major new investments in their work, the pressure is on. “Legal Aid and other providers are being tasked with advocating for these tenants, and we’re essentially creating a new branch of defense. We’re under a huge microscope to show that this money is going to a good cause and effecting change.”

“I’m where I’m supposed to be”

Rabinowitz credits his Barry School of Law education with preparing him for the challenges he has encountered on his professional journey. Law school was a very difficult, sometimes lonely experience, he recalls, but one in which he discovered who he really was—and what he is truly capable of. “I found out who I was and gained an understanding of what my values were for the first time. I made plenty of mistakes in law school, but that was the place to make them. I grew to be a person I liked while I was there.” He hopes that current students at Barry can find the path that’s right for them too. “There’s no wrong time to start the right career.”

Rabinowitz thinks back to those Baltimore nights when he handed out leftover food to people in need. He saw their humanity in those moments, and he isn’t surprised how his career has turned out. “Based on my history, I should have ended up here a lot sooner than I did,” laughs Rabinowitz, motioning to his office at Maryland Legal Aid’s bustling head- quarters. “But ultimately, I’m where I’m supposed to be.”

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Home Security

As a lawyer with Maryland Legal Aid, Andrew Rabinowitz JD ’12 focuses on “eviction prevention”—what he considers his call to public service.

A circuitous path to public service

Switching sides to effect change

“I’m where I’m supposed to be”

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