MJF’s 2021 Advocate Award goes to Gregg Trautwein, administrator at Legal Services of Northwest Minnesota - Moorhead. Trautwein graduated from Moorhead State University in 1980 with a degree in accounting, and within a week began his career with Northwest Minnesota Legal Services, now known as Legal Services of Northwest Minnesota (LSNM). He had no idea what legal aid was all about, and certainly wasn’t expecting the program to be targeted for elimination by the federal government the following year. Fortunately, legal aid survived, receiving “just” a 25% reduction in funding, and within a couple of years, funding from the state has filled this gap.
In the late 80’s, with a wife and two small children to support, and a legal aid salary that wasn’t quite enough to survive on, he began preparing income tax returns in the evenings and on weekends, while also taking and passing the CPA exam. It was during this time that LSNM began to transition from a purely “judicare” program, to a combination judicare/staff attorney program, adding attorneys to their administrative office in Moorhead, while opening branch offices in Bemidji in 1989, and Alexandria in 1992. In 2003, in addition to his job at LSNM, Trautwein “temporarily” took on the role of financial administrator at Anishinabe Legal Services, to combine financial resources. This lasted 15 years!
Today, LSNM is a thriving program reaching clients wherever they may be, with three staffed offices, a Judicare/PAI component, several remote/virtual advocate offices, 59 legal kiosks throughout NW Minnesota, and a traveling Justice Bus. For Trautwein, it’s been a very satisfying career to have been a part of this, knowing he can eventually “walk off into the sunset,” with LSNM continuing to meet the needs of low-income clients for years to come.
Also to be honored at the 2021 MJF celebration are Private Practice Pro Bono winners Jerry Blackwell, Blackwell Burke P.A., Steven Schleicher, Maslon LLP, and Lola Velazquez-Aguilu, Medtronic, for their pro bono work on the prosecution team for the trial of Derek Chauvin. Law Student awards go to Samantha Prins (University of St. Thomas School of Law), Brigid Kelly (University of Minnesota Law School) and Brenda Pfahnl (Mitchell Hamline School of Law). Register for the awards celebration.