The team at Maryland Legal Aid's Upper Eastern Shore office may be small, but they are effective and dedicated to serving their clients. On a daily basis, you'll hear Office Manager, and sometime office social director, Cheryl Barkley-Chiccone on the phone gathering information for a client's case.

"The staff of the Upper Eastern Shore office is smart, hard-working and dedicated to providing our clients with an understanding of their rights and a way to assert them," says Chief Attorney Bill Leahy. "Cheryl, Lou and Rachel also have assisted Maryland Legal Aid by serving as chairs or co-chairs of the Helping Hands Fund and Housing and Workers' Rights Task Forces. In a small office it is essential that people get along with and respect each other. Not only does that happen here, but we really like each other and function well as a team."

The Upper Eastern Shore office recently moved to a new location in Easton, MD, and an official grand opening is scheduled for Thursday, October 15th. Read more below about the Upper Eastern Shore team.

William "Bill" R. Leahy, Chief Attorney 

• Chief Attorney
• Joined Maryland Legal Aid in March 1987; left in November 1994; then returned again in April 2000
• Member of the Public Benefits, Elder Law, and Consumer Task Forces
• Specializes in Social Security Disability cases
• Loves history and studies it as much as he can; plays acoustic guitar

Louis W. Dorsey, Jr., Paralegal

• With Maryland Legal Aid since November 1998
• Senior Paralegal-Human Rights Project, Co-Chairs Workers' Rights Task Force, Administrator of Helping Hands Fund
• Loves Hot Rods/Drag Racing, Golf, and Horses ("sometimes I think I should have been a cowboy")

Rachel Wolpert, Staff Attorney

• Joined Maryland Legal Aid in March 2008
• Co-Chairs Housing Task Force; member of the Human Rights Work Group, Housing Human Rights Project, and the Talbot County Bar Association
• Huge fan of playing, coaching, and watching soccer, the color orange, and University of Kentucky basketball..."Go 'Cats!"

Cheryl Barkley-Chiccone, Office Manager 

• With Maryland Legal Aid since February 1997
• Speaks Spanish;Loves to cook and entertain; and is a fan of spicy cuisine.Lived in Guatemala for 3 years and Colombia, South America for 6 months, and is writing a book about those adventures!