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Minnesota Volunteer Attorney Program |
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MinutesVAP Coordinators Meeting
In attendance: Tom Walsh, Sara Sommarstrom, Jenny Ryan, Mary Durand, Liz Carlson, Chris Haugen, Audrey Manteufel, Kathie Battle-Sayles, Judy King, Brad Thorsen, Sarah Shella-Stevens, Kathy Wingen, Debi Finseth, Mary Stoos, Pat Brummer, Elizabeth Melton, Suzanne Pontinen, Rochelle Schmidt, Angela Bostrom, Janine Laird, Caroline Palmer (MSBA Staff), Steve Hirsh (MSBA Staff), Emily Cooper (MSBA Staff) 1. Professor Deborah Schmedeman:The meeting started with a presentation by Professor Deborah Schmedemann of William Mitchell on the results of her sabbatical study on how and why people volunteer to provide pro bono services. A handout showing some of the results of her findings was provided to the participants. There were some interesting results from her study and good discussion amongst attendees. Additional information on Pro Bono statistics and findings can be found in the ABA report entitled: Support Justice: A Report on the Pro Bono Work of America’s Lawyers. A link to this August 2005 report can be found on www.ProJusticeMN.org/civillaw. Another book recommended by Professor Schmedeman is Pro Bono in Principle and in Practice: Public Service and the Professions, by Deborah L. Rhodes (you can find it on Amazon.com). 2. Individual Program ReportsMinnesota Justice FoundationSara Sommarstrom reported that MJF’s pro se divorce clinic in Mankato has been quite successful. MJF is working on an education project that will involve materials on child support. More individual pro bono attorneys have been asking for law student assistance. MJF noted that attorneys can do a lot of work with law students through email and that law students are available to draft briefs, do legal research (they get free access to Westlaw!) and more. Attorneys and legal aid organizations are encouraged to seek law student assistance on cases. Legal Aid of Dakota CountyJenny Ryan announced that LADC has seen progress. Last year there were 108 people on their wait list and only 80 attorneys. Now they are down to 30 people on the wait list and their panel of volunteers has grown to 175. They have also had more success in placing cases outside of family law such as collections, etc. Jenny noted that the pro bono award for the 1st district went to a retired attorney who really loved the award. She would like to see more recognition for retired attorneys who do pro bono work and said that there is some opportunity for retired attorneys to be highlighted in future publications like Bench & Bar but she needs more contacts and stories – anyone with names of retired attorneys who do pro bono work should contact her with information. Foley & MansfieldElizabeth Melton reported that her firm has been discussing allowing retired attorneys to use the firm’s resources to provide pro bono services. The pro bono coordinators at the large law firms have been working on a pro bono summit to get the larger law firms to work on two projects; the public policy issue of collateral consequences of criminal records on immigrants and working with a new project that MN Advocates is doing for Liberian immigrants. ChrysalisMary Durand announced that the safety project is going well. Chrysalis has hired an attorney to work full time on the project which has increased referrals and increased the number of volunteer attorneys by 50-60%. A new employment law clinic has begun and Chrysalis is developing a new legal advice clinic for child protection issues. This will be an advice-only clinic and will not involve representation at this time. Chrysalis is also looking to start a clinic site outside of Hennepin County and is considering Ramsey or Dakota counties for this. A new Spanish info session is also starting. Two new staff people have been hired – Liz Carlson is one and is working with family law attorneys on briefing services and including law students and paralegals in the programs. Legal Aid to Olmstead CountyAngela Bostrom reported that a new executive director has been hired for the agency. LAOC is working on providing free family law clinics and plans to sponsor four. LAOC is working with Chrysalis to sponsor a pro se divorce clinic. The agency is also working on more CLEs and the goal is more outreach and education for the general public. SMRLSKathie Battle-Sayles is new to SMRLS and introduced herself. She noted that SMRLS is working on a new initiative to provide low income senior citizens with legal education with the goal of eventually moving to an advice-only clinic. Southeast – Debi Finseth reports that a community education for seniors program is in the works for St. Paul. The program targets grandparent rights, health care directives and other topics of interest to seniors. SMRLS is looking for ways to connect with seniors in St. Paul which is more spread out than in outstate areas. SMRLS recently reached an agreement with attorneys at Hormel to take collection cases for seniors. Mary Stoos – SMRLS pro se divorce clinics are taking place once every other month and are only for uncontested divorces. The clinics are going very well and there is no longer anyone on the family law waiting list because all non-contested cases are sent to the clinic first. MJF requested copies of the screening material used for the clinics. Stoos reported a 99% success rate for the clinics so far and that the entire case, with all paperwork, can be done in 4 hours through the program. SMRLS is also holding CLEs on identity theft and other issues for seniors. Pat Brummer – reported that SMRLS has doubled the number of volunteer attorneys doing creditor letters and that law students are doing the typing. VLNBrad Thorsen noted that the AmeriCorps attorney program has been extended for another 3 years which means more assistance. There have been a number of staffing changes for VLN which include adding new resource attorneys, administrative support for the Spanish hotline with CLUES and adding new Spanish speaking case placement personnel. VLN recently adopted a new limited English policy for the office. Lots of new clinics to report: a new housing law clinic in North Mpls, a homeless youth clinich at Youthlink and the Spanish hotline is starting a Latino education presentation followed by advice from attorneys. The VLN waiting list is down for all types of cases and VLN won a non-profit award from MAP and MN Council of Non-Profits. Legal Aid Society of MinneapolisAudrey Manteufel noted that there will be some staffing changes with the current supervising family law attorney Dawn leaving and Jane Barnhard-McCoy taking over the position. Ten new volunteers were found for the organization from the new admittees. CMLSWilmar – Judy King reported that the recent CLE on guardianships was very well attended and there will be another CLE on child support in October. CMLS is working on a hospice project which assists hospice clients with health care directives and other issues. A new community education program is geared towards senior citizens in the 5th judicial district and is scheduled for October. CMLS is working with MJF to start some new pro se clinics as well. St. Cloud – Sarah Shella-Stevens noted that CMLS received a planning grant to determine client needs and what pro bono attorneys are interested in doing. The survey is complete and is now in the implementation stage. Hospice programs and community education were some of the areas mentioned by attorneys. CMLS has a new arrangement with the Sterns County board to have a staff attorney housed in the law library to provide assisted pro se services as part of a self-help project. St. Cloud – Kathy Wingen reports that the mediation program has grown and is getting a lot of requests and attorneys are taking the mediation cases even where they are full-blown custody cases. The credit clinic is still meeting two times per month and growing. CMLS is trying to get an outside credit company to also do a clinic to meet the need. The CMLS office staff has stepped up by doing most of the paperwork to make it easier for attorneys to handle pro bono bankruptcies which has helped to keep bringing in volunteer support. CMLS will hold a CLE on October 10 on immigration and domestic violence issues. CMLS has established a partnership with a senior center to provide legal issues seminars and it was very well received. The agency is trying to offer the seminar on a monthly basis. MSBACaroline Palmer announced that she is working on the first Pro Bono Report that will be published in 2007. This will outline pro bono programs in Minnesota and will be sent out electronically to all MSBA members. The report will also have around 1000 copies printed for handouts and mailings as needed. Caroline asked for anyone who wants to volunteer for the advisory board for the report to let her know as soon as possible. Email her at cpalmer@mnbar.org if interested. 3. Update from MSBA staff on new members and staff duties.Emily Cooper is the new Executive Director of MVAP and will be in charge of the meetings in the future. Emily is also handling ProJusticeMN.org. Caroline Palmer will be handling LAD and the pro bono roundtable as well as working as the Executive Director of LegalCorp. Steve Hirsh is the Access to Justice Director which means he is working with the legal services programs and LSAC and LTAB. Steve will also be working with LAD. 4. ProJusticeMN.orgEmily Cooper is now working on updating PJMN. A new redesign is in the works and has been through a number of testing phases. The new look of the site has been very well received by people in the testing phase and it will be much easier to use when it is released. It is scheduled for release during the first quarter of 2007. Emily will be working on updating the content of the website as well. She asked that VAP members start providing the following types of information:
a. Information to start a Volunteer of the Month recognition program on the site. Send in names, stories, photos and other information for recognizing volunteers or for success stories from your organization on various projects and cases. b. Calendar items. Send in information on CLEs, training programs, meetings, new clinics or anything else that should be in the calendar about your organization. c. Open cases. If you have open cases that need volunteers, send the info. d. Descriptions of clinics and programs. To update the site, all clinics that use volunteer attorneys as well as educational programs and other projects that use volunteers need to be cataloged and presented online. Emily requests that all organizations send in an initial list of all the programs that each organization sponsors and/or organizes. e. Forms, cases, statutes. One huge task for updating the content of the website will be updating the website Library and providing up to date forms, caselaw and statutes to help attorneys with pro bono cases get the best resources. Volunteers will be needed for this job! All information can be emailed to Emily at ecooper@mnbar.org. The goal is to make the website a very useful and popular resource for attorneys, law students and other legal professionals who want to volunteer their services as well as staff attorneys at legal aid organizations. Hopefully, all agencies will benefit from this resource. 5. MVAP Tech InitiativeEmily is working on the new technology initiative for legal agencies. This project is designed to identify technology needs and help meet those needs for various agencies. 6. Judicial Pro Bono AwardsThe 2006 judicial pro bono awards were recently announced. Caroline Palmer noted that the process for the awards needs to be more centralized. 7. Legal Services Planning CommitteeSteve Hirsh reported that LSAC and LTAB may be getting a new full-time staff person. There was discussion on where the money would come from to pay for this person and what the person would do. 8. Legal Assistance to the Disadvantaged Committee (LAD)Caroline Palmer reported that the proposal to give attorneys who provide pro bono services 1 CLE credit for every 6 hours of pro bono work up to a total of 6 credit hours in a 3-year reporting period, passed the MSBA Assembly and is now going to the Supreme Court for consideration. LAD is also working on a proposed rule that would waive the application fee for retirees or others who don’t practice law but would like to do pro bono work. This will probably not be presented until after the CLE rule is considered. 9. Pro Bono CouncilThe Pro Bono Council had a recent meeting and is working on self-definition. The next VAP Coordinators meeting is April 18, 2007 at 10:00 a.m. at the MSBA.
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