The Minnesota Disability Law Center (MDLC) of Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid is co-counsel in a new lawsuit representing people with disabilities who seek waivers to fund community-based services.
The lawsuit alleges that the Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) has let disabled Minnesotans languish on waiting lists for extended periods without knowing that adequate waiver funds are available to pay for the services they need.
“By letting millions of dollars that were intended to fund the waiver programs go unspent year after year, DHS unnecessarily placed eligible individuals with disabilities on waiting lists that blocked them from gaining access to the services and supports they need to live and work in their communities,” said Pamela Hoopes, legal director of MDLC. Read the Star Tribune article.
Registration Opens for 2015 Legal Services Statewide Conference
The Minnesota Legal Services Coalition Hosts "Knowing Our Clients" November 4- 6, 2015, Alexandria, MN
State Support is excited to announce that registration is now open for the 2015 Legal Services Statewide Conference: Knowing Our Clients. The conference will be held at Arrowwood Resort and Conference Center in Alexandria, MN from Wednesday, November 4 to Friday, November 6, 2015. Sessions will cover a variety of topics designed to help legal services staff better understand the issues facing their clients, including capacity limitations, disabilities, and cultural barriers, among others.
Conference attendees will be able to choose from 21 sessions offering 17.25 hours of Standard, 3.5 hours of Elimination of Bias, 1.0 hour of Ethics and 1.5 hours of Law Office Management CLE credit. Up to 10.25 CLE credit hours can be earned by a conference participant for the duration of the conference.
A special keynote presentation on Wednesday evening officially kicks off the conference, as Hector R. Matascastillo, Co-founder and Owner of Matascastillo Psychotherapy and Consultation Services, presents PTSD: A Personal and Professional Perspective.
Thursday's opening plenary on November 5th, will be given by Heather Simonich, M.A., Eastern Operations Director for PATH of North Dakota, a treatment, foster care, and behavioral health center located in Fargo, North Dakota. Ms. Simonich will present Understanding Child Traumatic Stress: Implications for Legal Professionals, in which she will discuss the increased need for legal professionals to better understand child traumatic stress (CTS) and how it manifests in the legal system.
Friday's closing plenary, Cognitive Bias: What It Is and Why It Matters, will be presented by Jill Gaulding, Co-founder and Legal Director of Gender Justice. Ms. Gaulding will lead participants in an exploration of the nature of cognitive bias and the many ways it affects the lives of our clients and their experience in the legal system.
New this year is our schedule-at-glance integrated app, which allows participants to tailor a schedule for themselves using their mobile phone, tablet, or desktop.
For the full schedule, session descriptions and trainers, social activities, and to register, visit the 2015 State Conference hub on ProJusticeMN.org.
10 Years Later: Minnesota's Pro Bono Services After Katrina
In the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Minnesota legal aid and pro bono attorneys wasted no time pulling together legal resources and offering their time and expertise to those affected by the storm, both here, and in Louisiana.
According to census estimates, approximately 2,000 displaced victims relocated to Minnesota. More than 960 applications for Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) assistance by Katrina victims were filed from Minnesota about a month after 2005 Labor Day weekend disaster.
The state’s effort to offer pro bono legal services was organized by the Minnesota State Bar Association, and Jeremy Lane, executive director of Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid at the time, recalls that local lawyers helped with filling out applications for FEMA assistance, bankruptcy and unemployment benefits, and intervened when insurance companies appeared to stall.
"According to the bar association, more than 100 evacuees in Minnesota got free assistance by the end of September 2005 — a response Lane says 'still makes me proud to be a Minnesotan when I think back on it 10 years later.’” Read the Star Tribune article.
Homeless Artist Wins State Fair Competition with Help of SMRLS Attorney and Blue Ribbon Artist
Being homeless did not stop St. Paul artist Ricardo Flores from creating his first piece of “crop art,” and entering it in the State Fair competition. To top it all off, he won a blue ribbon.
It undoubtedly helped that Laura Melnick, senior attorney with Southern Minnesota Regional Legal Services, and a volunteer at Saint Paul’s Listening House, spotted Flores’s creativity and encouraged him. Melnick, a five-time State Fair “best of show” ribbon holder for crop art, showed Flores her technique. As a legal aid attorney, volunteer, and artist, Melnick exemplifies commitment to low-income Minnesotans. Read the full story. #WeAreLegalAid
Legal Services Advocacy Project Releases Annual Session Summaries
The Legal Services Advocacy Project (LSAP) is pleased to present its 2015 Session Summaries. These summaries cover a variety of substantive areas, and the specific changes to Minnesota law made by the 2015 Legislature that are of most relevance to the lives of low-income and financially-fragile Minnesotans, and the attorneys and advocates who represent them. They are divided by area of substantive law, and contain the name and contact information for the LSAP attorney who is the lead in that substantive area. Stay tuned for additional updates. Click here to download the Session Summaries.