This summer, Mary Kaczorek was honored by the Hennepin County Bar Association (HCBA) with its 2023 Excellence Award for Improving Access to Justice. The award was in recognition of Kaczorek’s outstanding leadership of the housing unit at Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid (MMLA) during the height of the pandemic, as well as her legislative advocacy for remote court hearings and eviction reform.

This fall, Kaczorek transitioned to MMLA’s consumer unit and will turn her attention to the prevention of home foreclosures on Minnesotans who’ve lost home equity in scams or are dealing with predatory financing terms.

In its Breaking the Ice series, Minnesota Lawyer gets to know one of legal aid’s most passionate advocates a little better. Read Breaking the Ice: Housing advocacy brings award, gratitude.