Legal Services Staff Among MJF's 2015 Outstanding Service Award Winners

The Minnesota Justice Foundation (MJF) has announced the winners of its annual Outstanding Service Awards. Among the honorees are Minnesota Legal Services Coalition staff who will be recognized on November 11, 2015, at MJF's Annual Awards Celebration, along with outstanding law student and pro bono winners from the Minnesota legal community.

MJF's Advocate Award will go to paralegal Mary Shequen Smith of Anishinabe Legal Services in Cass Lake, and its Direct Legal Service Award will go to staff attorney Barbara (BJ) Kuhn of Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid - Minneapolis. Read more about MJF's annual event.

Law Students Use Language Skills to Help Improve Access to Justice

State Support was the lucky beneficiary of more than 140 volunteer hours from incoming first year law students participating in the Minnesota Justice Foundation's Pre-Orientation Service Project. Over three weeks in August, five law student volunteers worked in the office translating Education for Justice (E4J) fact sheets on a variety of topics into French and Hmong. Nou Her (1L, Mitchell Hamline) also recorded audio versions of fact sheets in Hmong, to help better reach community members who may not be literate. Four French-speaking volunteers, Nke Bokolo (1L, University of Minnesota), Olivia Judd (1L, University of Minnesota), Taylor Mayhall (1L, University of Minnesota) and Jessica Siakel (1L, University of St. Thomas) translated an astounding 26 fact sheets, which tripled the number of fact sheets available in French. E4J fact sheets are the most used of all legal information resources on LawHelpMN.org.  All five students expressed their enthusiasm for being able to use their language skills to help make legal information more accessible, and their gratitude for the opportunity to volunteer.  State Support and the legal services community are truly grateful to them and MJF for their tremendous help!

State Support works with MJF to continually find law student translation volunteers to keep our fact sheets updated and available in a variety of languages. This summer volunteer Matthew Hart (2L, University of Minnesota) translated recently updated employment law fact sheets into Spanish, and volunteer Nari Oh (2L, University of Minnesota) is continuing work on our growing Korean language fact sheet repertoire. If you know someone interested in translation work on fact sheets, State Support would love to have their assistance with this project. To volunteer, please contact Emily Good at egood@mnlegalservices.org or 651-842-6913.  

Accolades For Two Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid Attorneys

Dorinda Wider and Riann Meyer, both staff attorneys with Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid (MMLA), were recently distinguished for their outstanding advocacy in Minnesota.

Last month, Riann Meyer, staff attorney with the Saint Cloud office of MMLA, was featured as an Up and Coming Attorney in Minnesota Lawyer. Cited for her role as the lead civil attorney for the Stearns County Domestic Violence Court, Riann was recognized for her skilled provision of advice and representation to close to 80 victims of severe violence at any one time. Read more at Minnesota Lawyer.

Dorinda Wider, staff attorney with the Minneapolis office of MMLA, will be honored next month with the 11th Anniversary Century College Gender and Social Change Award 2015.  Recipients of the award have worked to embody feminist principles of social justice and to empower or increase opportunities for diverse, underrepresented groups in the community. Central to their work is the way gender intersects with race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, sexuality, and disability. Dorinda's 30-plus years of work to effect positive outcomes for the disadvantaged through litigation and policy advocacy clearly demonstrate the essence of everything the award seeks to highlight, and inspires others to use the law to pursue equality and social justice.

Stay Informed About Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF)

The federal Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program is critical to ensuring that low-income Minnesotans continue to have access to dedicated and experienced legal aid attorneys. Concerned that many students would be forced to forgo careers in low-paying but socially valuable careers because of staggering education debt, PSLF was enacted in 2007 to encourage and reward students who enter public service careers. The program provides for discharge of the remaining balance on federal education loans after ten years of qualifying loan payments while working in public service. Learn more about the issues as Congress seeks to reauthorize PSLF at http://www.americanbar.org/advocacy/governmental_legislative_work/loan4giveness.html or by contacting Heather Rastorfer Vlieger, Executive Director of the Loan Repayment Assistance Program of Minnesota, at HeatherRV@statebar.gen.mn.us.

Celebrate Minnesota Pro Bono During National Pro Bono Week – October 25 - 31

The National Pro Bono Celebration, sponsored by the American Bar Association Standing Committee on Pro Bono and Public Service, is scheduled for the week of October 25-31, 2015. It is a coordinated effort to showcase the work and impact of pro bono lawyers across the country. The week is also dedicated to encouraging pro bono service by lawyers to meet the increasing need for representation of low-income and vulnerable clients in civil legal matters.

As part of the National Pro Bono Celebration, the Minnesota State Bar Association is coordinating a series of civil legal clinics, continuing legal education programs and celebrations across the state to honor the work of Minnesota lawyers who provide pro bono representation throughout the year, and to highlight opportunities for pro bono service to those who cannot afford legal assistance. For a full listing of related CLE and events, visit ProJusticeMN.org/ProBonoWeek.