Washington Lawyer - November/December 2024 - 26

MEMBER SPOTLIGHT
Murray Scheel BRINGS HELPING
HEART TO LAW
By John Murph
G
rowing up, there were indications
that Murray Scheel
would end up a mechanical
engineer, not a lawyer. His
mother worked for an aircraft organization,
his father for an automotive
sales and repair company, and
his stepfather for Boeing as a flight
test engineer.
" I loved math. I loved figuring out how things
worked, mechanisms and all, " says Scheel, a managing
attorney for the D.C. Bar Pro Bono Center.
That interest shifted around mid-adolescence,
when Scheel gravitated toward human drama
and how people deal with crisis. " I was interested
in theater, drama, and literature. That led to
my interest in philosophy, " says Scheel, and
eventually to Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania,
where he earned a bachelor's degree in
religion with a minor in philosophy.
Years later, when he relocated to Washington,
D.C., in 1990, Scheel began to see law as a marriage
between engineering and philosophy.
" Law is often like a mechanism - a lot of moving
parts that all relate to one another in a certain
way, " he explains. " Going to law school was
a little bit like opening the hood on society and
seeing how all these different parts move and
how you can fix [problems] by changing interrelated
parts. "
" It's about human relationships and society,
and sometimes finding a way forward where it
did not seem like there was any way forward, "
he adds.
In the decades since moving to the nation's
capital, Scheel has managed to combine his
passion for philosophy, social work background,
law degree, and volunteer work in the
LGBTQ+ community to make an impact on the
26 WASHINGTON LAWYER
* NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2024
lives of others. Today he is a strong advocate
for low-income seniors in the District, leading
the Pro Bono Center's newly launched Future
Planning & Probate Program.
LEGAL CHAMPION FOR THE ELDERLY
Scheel's advocacy in elder law runs deep. From
2013 to 2022, he worked for Whitman-Walker
Legal Services, serving as senior staff attorney
for elder law for nearly eight years and as deputy
director for six months.
Scheel assisted patients at the Whitman-Walker
Clinic, many of whom were members of the
LGBTQ+ community and/or people living with
HIV, who needed help drafting future planning
documents such as wills, health care powers of
attorney, and general powers of attorney. The
work was rewarding but at times frustrating for
Scheel, who wanted to help more people.
" I would routinely get inquiries from people
who would come up to me in the Probate Division
at [D.C. Superior Court] and say, 'Can you
help me? I am confused. I do not know what to
do,' " Scheel says. " But they did not fit into our
specific client profile, so I could not take them
on as a client. "
" At the time I was doing this, I found out that in
the world of low-income legal service provision
and pro bono services, there were not that
many organizations focusing on future planning
for incapacity and wealth succession, "
Scheel adds. In 2022 he joined Justice in Aging,
a legal advocacy organization fighting senior
poverty through law, and then the D.C. Bar Pro
Bono Center in 2024.
In creating the Pro Bono Center's Future Planning
& Probate Program, Scheel recommended
John Murph
Washington Lawyer - November/December 2024

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