A recent edition of Attorney at Law Magazine features the people comprising Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid’s first point of contact for those seeking legal help — the intake staff. The article “On the Front Line at Legal Aid ,” by Leykn Schmatz, shines a light on the team that fields thousands of calls and conducts over 1200 interviews each month.

The fast-paced work of these perceptive and efficient interviewers requires a comprehensive knowledge of eligibility criteria and common legal issues across the poverty law continuum, as well as a strong sense of justice and empathy.

“We listen to the caller’s story and translate their personal crisis into a legal problem,” says Intake Supervisor Luci Russell. “If a client calls and says their landlord is a terrible person, that’s not a legal problem. If they have black mold and the heat doesn’t work, then we have a case.” Read more at Attorney at Law Magazine Minnesota.