For those who visit the Park Rapids Area Library in northern Minnesota, a free legal kiosk station is now available to help them address their legal issues. Originally a partnership between Legal Services of Northwest Minnesota (LSNM) and the MAHUBE-OTWA Community Action Partnership, renovations at the community center’s office prompted the suggestion to relocate at the public library.
The library’s branch manager, Jodi Schultz, agreed it was a great location for a kiosk, which is now located in the library’s upstairs meeting room. Kelly Wencl, communication and outreach coordinator for LSNM, said “These legal kiosks are mini-tech centers that are hosted by community partners, and allow for video access to an attorney or courthouses, along with printers, scanners, etc. The kiosks will provide safe access to legal information and legal aid lawyers across our service area.” Wencl noted that there are over 250 legal kiosks across Minnesota with nearly 60 located in northwest Minnesota, including at the Fergus Falls and Bemidji public libraries.
In addition to such uses as attending a court hearing remotely, meeting with a legal aid attorney, printing and emailing documents, or filling out forms, Wencl explained, “the kiosk can be used by community members for a wide variety of things, such as telehealth appointments or job interviews. It is not limited in capacity to only legal topics, information and resources.”
Reservations for the kiosk are recommended and can be made by calling the Park Rapids Library. Read more in Free, legal ‘mini-tech center’ moves into Park Rapids Library.
LSC Innovations in Technology Conference Videos Now Available
For those unable to attend LSC’s recent Innovations in Technology Conference (ITC) in Phoenix, you’re in luck. Videos from many of the conference sessions are now available on LSC’s YouTube channel.
In LSC’s Tech Download newsletter announcing the availability of the videos, several notable sessions were recommended to readers including Deserts No More featuring Rachel Albertson, development and communications manager with Legal Aid Service of Northeastern Minnesota (LASNEM). Albertson, along with fellow panelists from the Lagniappe Law Lab and the Louisiana State Bar Association, discuss the digital divide and the existence of legal deserts in more isolated communities. They explain how to make user-friendly choices that accommodate the realities of limited resources and tackle geographic barriers to justice, as well as how their organizations created partnerships connecting rural locales to a continuum of virtual and in-person services.
Other available videos include Googling Justice, a session on SEO optimization for legal aid organizations, and Next Generation Eviction Diversion Programs, which looks at how courts are designed to provide community-driven solutions for landlords and tenants that are propelled by technology.
In addition to LSC’s YouTube channel, it’s popular “Talk Justice” podcast features recent tech-focused episodes including “A Recap of LSC’s Innovations in Technology Conference”, recorded live during this year’s ITC, and “Technological Improvements in Pro Bono Services.” All episodes of “Talk Justice” are available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher and other podcast platforms.
LASNEM Featured in January/February 2023 Edition of Duluthian Magazine
In “Striving to Provide Safety, Security, and Stability,” Duluthian Magazine offers its readers a thorough introduction to the far-reaching work of the Legal Aid Service of Northeastern Minnesota (LASNEM).
The publication’s overview begins with LASNEM’s 1952 charter by members of the local bar association and delves into how the organization’s mission has remained primary, as its services and priorities have expanded.
With a service area of 27,683 square miles, LASNEM is led by executive director Dori Rapaport and a staff of dedicated professionals serving eleven counties with offices in Duluth, Brainerd, Grand Rapids, Virginia and Pine City.
The article explains how much of LASNEM’s advocacy work accelerated during the pandemic with unprecedented opportunities to respond to client needs with more precision, speed, and efficacy. Some of the projects discussed include virtual housing court and staff expansion through virtual services, the Legal Kiosk and Justice Bus initiatives for meeting clients where they are, incorporation of a business improvement model that includes a call center intake process, and other outreach efforts aimed at “taking it to the streets” to raise awareness of legal aid and the importance of funding civil legal services.
“We want people to understand the critical nature of the work we do,” Rapaport said. Read the article (PDF).
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.”
The Legal Kiosk Project Bridges the Divide Across Minnesota
On Monday, Minnesota Lawyer introduced the wider legal community to The Legal Kiosk Project, launched this past spring. The Project, a Reach Justice Minnesota initiative, is a statewide network of nearly 270 community-based computer kiosks stationed in a variety of community locations and offering the public the ability to apply for civil legal aid services, access legal resources, and, in some cases, attend online meetings and remote court hearings in privacy.
The article delves into the project’s construction and its impetus — to utilize technology to bridge the physical divide created by the pandemic, as well as the existing and historic digital divide that routinely impacts communities with limited internet access.
Ann Cofell, deputy director of Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid (MMLA) - St. Cloud, and Heather Vlieger, grants manager for MMLA, discuss how the idea for the kiosks developed and the significant impact they’ve had so far. For example, Project CARE, an initiative of MMLA’s St. Cloud’s office, has used the kiosks to work directly with those seeking health insurance to help them apply for coverage. Kiosks are also available at domestic violence shelters across the Minnesota and survivors can talk to an attorney about sensitive topics from the comfort and safety of the shelter.
With technology, additional staffing, and essential community partnerships, The Legal Kiosk Project is reaching communities throughout Minnesota to provide legal help during this unprecedented time, and it will continue when the pandemic is over. Cofell and Vlieger will give a presentation about the project to a national audience next year at the American Bar Association’s Equal Justice Conference in Minneapolis.
Read “With internet kiosks, legal help is a few clicks away” in Minnesota Lawyer.