Outstanding Advocates Honored at 2022 Legal Services Statewide Conference

The 2022 Legal Services Statewide Conference, Mental Health and Legal Practice: A Holistic View, marked the first in-person conference for the legal services community since 2019. With the effects of the pandemic still felt, the community was eager to recognize and celebrate the achievements of all legal services staff, as well as the outstanding efforts we look to for continued inspiration.

Lisa Cohen (MMLA)

On November 3rd, the statewide awards dinner at Arrowwood Resort and Conference Center provided an evening of camaraderie and laughter as conference attendees and guests gathered to honor their peers. Emcees Mary Kaczorek, managing attorney with Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid (MMLA), and Meghan Maes, lead family law attorney with Southern Minnesota Regional Legal Services (SMRLS), shared colleagues’ "shout-outs" with aplomb and hilarity while guiding an ample and long-overdue program of recognition.

Early in the program, Rachel Albertson, development & communications manager with Legal Aid Service of Northeastern Minnesota (LASNEM), shared a stirring and remarkable story illustrating the profound impact of the Justice Bus initiative on one client’s life.

Gregg Trautwein (LSNM)

Pillars of Justice
Lisa Cohen (MMLA) and Gregg Trautwein (LSNM) were both presented with the Minnesota Legal Services Coalition's Pillar of Justice Award in recognition of their undeterred and exceptional work in forwarding the cause of equal justice throughout their careers. Both were on hand to accept their awards and audience ovations.

Pro Bono Publico
MLSC also recognized Minnesota State Representative Jamie Becker-Finn with its Pro Bono Publico award for efforts to ensure the provision of civil legal services and to preserve the dignity of disadvantaged residents of Minnesota. Becker-Finn was unable to attend the conference, but video from one of the legislative hearings where she defends her bill to fund civil legal aid was shared with the audience.

Tamia Ruth Cramer (MMLA)

Dawn Carlson Family Advocate Award
Concluding the evening's awards ceremony, Anne Hoefgen, executive director of Legal Services of Northwest Minnesota (LSNM) presented the program’s Dawn Carlson Family Advocate Award posthumously to Tamia Ruth Cramer (MMLA). The award is presented in appreciation of the unsung heroes of family law practice who serve clients with low incomes. Tamia's husband, Michael, and daughter, Jessica were in attendance to accept her award. Tamia’s artwork, "For Their Courage" was displayed at the dinner.

LASNEM Staff Publish Scholarly Article in Mitchell Hamline Law Review

This summer, staff from the Legal Aid Service of Northeastern Minnesota (LASNEM), wrote a scholarly article about the profound impact of the Reach Justice Minnesota project in northeastern Minnesota. Specifically, Jude Schmit, staff attorney, and Rachel Albertson, development and communications manager, zeroed in on the year-old Justice Bus initiative and their article was published by the Mitchell Hamline Law Review.

In Witnessed From the Justice Bus: Covid Drove Equal Justice Off the Road, But Technology Grabbed the Wheel and Is Steering Us Into the Future, Schmit and Albertson, with a combined 22 years of experience at LASNEM, discuss the implementation of the Justice Bus and Legal Kiosk initiatives, which they oversaw, and how through leveraging technology LASNEM was able to reach clients in the rural areas they serve during the pandemic. Ultimately, it argues, “bridging the access-to-justice gap in rural Minnesota requires a multidimensional approach utilizing technology as the vehicle.”

Dori Rapaport, LASNEM executive director, explained “The challenges facing rural America predictably only intensified as the pandemic moved our justice system virtual. The lack of technology, access to broadband internet, and infrastructural poverty became glaring problems in how communities were now expected to access the justice system. However, as this newly published law review article describes, technology to reach rural communities has proven to be a solution with impact that has surpassed expectations. This important article gives real examples of how technology, namely in the forms of justice buses, kiosks, and virtual court, have bridged the divide for those seeking civil legal services in a more meaningful way than decades of other tried solutions.”

Witnessed From the Justice Bus: COVID Drove Equal Justice Off the Road, but Technology Grabbed the Wheel and Is Steering Us Into the Future

MMLA St. Cloud Named Impact Organization of the Year

The United Way of Central Minnesota recently honored Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid (MMLA) - Saint Cloud with its Impact Organization of the Year award.

The United Way recognizes many outstanding individuals and organizations throughout the year for their contributions to local and regional communities. With the 2022 Impact Organization of the Year Award, MMLA - St. Cloud was recognized for staff responsiveness to pandemic challenges through its work to meet the housing eviction crisis, and the development of creative partnership responses with the court system to handle the wave of evictions after the moratorium was lifted.

The development of consolidated multi-county housing court calendars, direct community outreach via the Justice Bus and Legal Kiosks, and the work of staff to help people get access to much needed health insurance were also praised with the award. Additionally, a significant impact was made through medical/legal partnerships with clinics in five communities, and a community partnership with Promise Neighborhood, a grassroots organization which serves low-income families and children.

Ann Cofell, deputy director of MMLA - St. Cloud, noted that the pandemic years have been particularly difficult for both clients and staff, but that everyone has pulled together—tech staff, finance people, intake staff, secretaries, paralegals, attorneys, supervisors—to innovate and meet the need.

“This award is particularly gratifying because it recognizes our work serving individuals, and the impact of that work on the community as a whole. The understanding that the work of Legal Aid keeping people housed, and fed, and healthy, and safe really makes the whole community stronger, and this award recognizes that,” Cofell said.

Providing Access to Justice Through Technology in Rural Communities

By Brooke Trottier, 2021 Student Fellow - Rural Summer Legal Corps; University of St. Thomas School of Law

Last summer, I served in the Rural Summer Legal Corps with Legal Aid Service of Northeastern Minnesota (LASNEM), a legal services organization that serves eleven counties in the Northeastern corner of the state, including the small town in which my family resides. I was drawn to this program due to its focus on providing access to justice through technology in rural communities.

Reach Justice Minnesota is a project of the Minnesota Legal Services Coalition. This project entails a series of initiatives, two of which I contributed to: the Legal Kiosk Project and Justice Buses.

The Legal Kiosk Project is a network consisting of more than 200 computers located in community partner host sites. These kiosks provide access to a self-help legal database and the application for regional legal aid, with select kiosks outfitted for video conferencing. In alignment with the growing challenges the COVID-19 pandemic brought upon the community, the end of Minnesota’s eviction moratorium saw district courts requiring parties attend Zoom court by video.

While at LASNEM, I focused on maximizing host site experiences with the legal kiosks. As community partners opened their offices to the public again, it was important to ensure that the kiosks were functioning, each site had the tools it needed, and we were available for any questions or concerns that arose. This led to a fun field trip where I drove across LASNEM’s service area and visited five host sites!

Another part of my work involved the Justice Bus, a mobile legal aid office affiliated with a regional legal aid office. I was responsible for ensuring LASNEM’s bus was well-equipped for providing legal aid services out of the bus: drafting internal policies, defining expectations and procedures, and connecting with community partners. This project culminated at the end of July, when the four regional Justice Buses met at the Minnesota State Capitol. It was quite the experience to see the project come to life, and to witness the Minnesota Attorney General’s and Minnesota Supreme Court Chief Justice’s support for the initiative.

“I not only have a renewed energy towards providing equitable access to justice and legal aid, but see a future for myself as a civil legal attorney.”

— Brooke Trottier, University of St. Thomas School of Law

The Justice Bus project required vast collaboration across the state: legal aid staff, attorneys and executive directors, community partners, technology support companies, and the Minnesota Judiciary. Although it could be difficult to coordinate involvement from each group, the value of collaboration was clear.

My Equal Justice Works Student Fellowship introduced me to the expansive reach of civil legal aid. I am immensely grateful for this experience and would recommend the Rural Summer Legal Corps to anyone who is considering a future in civil legal aid. This student fellowship was hands-on and allowed me to own my projects, while being supervised by experienced attorneys and legal staff.

Shared with permission of Equal Justice Works - Law School Engagement & Advocacy

Chief Justice Gildea, AG Ellison Join Legal Services Leaders to Announce Justice Bus Initiative

The executive directors of Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid (MMLA), Southern Minnesota Regional Legal Services (SMRLS), Legal Services of Northwest Minnesota (LSNM), and Legal Aid Service of Northeastern Minnesota (LASNEM) gathered at the State Capital yesterday to announce that Justice Buses will begin to deliver free, mobile legal aid across Minnesota. Joining them to announce the historic initiative were Lorie Gildea, Chief Justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court, and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison.

Spurred by a growing reckoning of the need for equal access to legal services across Minnesota, mobile mini-buses, staffed by attorneys from the four programs, will provide free services to citizens needing assistance with civil matters. They will offer people help obtaining rental assistance and forestalling evictions, as well as other legal issues arising from the pandemic.

During the press conference, Justice Gildea noted that “the Reach Justice program, and these Justice Buses, will allow lawyers and legal assistance to meet the people where they are, in their communities all around Minnesota. Through Reach Justice and the Justice Buses, we are breaking down barriers and we are increasing access to justice for all the people of Minnesota.”

Designed by the Minnesota Legal Services Coalition, the free legal clinics are modeled after similar successful programs popping up across the nation over the past few years. The idea of bringing free civil legal services where they are most needed is helping unlock the power of the law for everyone.

The buses were funded through a combination of grants including funding through the federal CARES Act. The buses are one part of Reach Justice Minnesota, a series of initiatives that leverage technology and emergency staffing to help protect Minnesotans’ basic civil and human rights. As the pandemic slowly abates, people are venturing out more and taking care of legal and other matters that had sat dormant for a year or more.

Speaking about the importance of access and of being acknowledged by the justice system, Attorney General Ellison remarked “These buses, justice on wheels, [are] a way for people to feel that sense that they live in a society that cares, where their voice will be heard…”

Each accessible mobile legal clinic features private and semi-private meeting spaces as well as commonly used legal forms and information. Four free mobile legal clinics will operate throughout Minnesota on an ongoing basis, stopping by community centers and events. Learn more about bringing a Justice Bus to your community event.