Legal Aid’s director spotlights its most senior attorney Julie Marks answered her calling, but her heart kept her there By Jequette Noland, LAS Executive Director The Legal Aid Society of Birmingham was founded in 1952 to secure justice for and to protect the rights of the needy. As we celebrate our 70th anniversary this year, it is only fitting that we also celebrate the accomplishments of one of our dedicated senior attorneys who has been a part of Legal Aid’s history for 35 of those years. Julie Marks is a guardian ad litem (GAL) for Legal Aid in the Jefferson County Family Court Birmingham Division. She has served as a staff attorney, managing attorney and so much more including representing thousands of dependent children. Here is my conversation with her about her calling and what motivates her to continue.
Q: When you got the call to join Legal Aid, did you realize that this would be your true calling? A: When I got the call to come work at Legal
Aid, I thought it would be a good place to start and never envisioned myself staying here 35 years. I initially stayed because there was a young vibrant group that I worked with and socialized with. We ended up making lifelong friendships, but they left for other jobs. I stayed because of my kids. Over the years, I felt more and more that the children who I represented were ‘my kids.’ I try to make sure that I do not only do what is in their best interests in the court system, but also try to make sure that some special and normal life experiences are available to them.
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Left: Julie Marks, a guardian ad litem (GAL) for Legal Aid in the Jefferson County Family Court Birmingham Division. Right: The Legal Aid Society family court team.
Q: What is your most memorable case? A: My most memorable case includes the infamous case of the twins left in an abandoned home in Roebuck in 1993. Those children were just shy of 5 and were found locked in a room wearing only diapers. They weighed less than a normal 1 year old. Their parents had moved to a new home with their older children, leaving the twins with no food or water in a bedroom locked from the outside. The door to the home was locked. Luckily, the landlord came to mow the yard and saw one of the girls looking out the window. He broke into the home and found the malnourished children in the bedroom. The children gorged on food rushed over by well-intentioned neighbors. The children were then taken to Children’s Hospital where they were found to be malnourished and now sick from suddenly being fed the food by the neighbors.
The Department of Human Resources (DHR) became involved in this case, and all four of the children were removed from their parents. While there were relatives of these children, they had shown no interest and had not previously been involved in the children’s lives. When they did see these two children, they overlooked their appearance and did not investigate their welfare. I was appointed as a GAL to one of the four children. The GALs worked together to build our cases, even though the needs of each of the children differed and we each advocated for our individual child. I learned so much in preparing and trying that case. I learned the investigative skills necessary to prepare a large case. I learned a lot about DHR’s policies and procedures and hopefully, some of these changed based on our work on that case. Up to that time, if you called in a complaint or reported to DHR after hours, you would have to leave a message on a recorder. There was not a 24-hour response
BIRMINGHAM BAR BULLETIN
