Practice Blawg » Pro Bono

Project Homeless Connect

Rinal Ray — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 16:27:14 +0000

What is Project Homeless Connect? This is how I describe it to potential law student volunteers: “There are dentists pulling teeth on one end, barbers cutting hair at the other end, and the legal team somewhere in the middle.” Project Homeless Connect is a one-stop shop of services for people experiencing homelessness, held three times a year in the metro and occasionally in greater Minnesota.

Every time I volunteer with the legal team at Project Homeless Connect, I leave awed, inspired, and humbled:

awed by the resilience and fortitude of the many Minnesotans experiencing homelessness (especially in the depths of winter)
inspired by the many volunteers, especially the busy private legal practitioners and paralegals, legal services attorneys, members of the bench, and law students who make time to volunteer
humbled by my privilege and the opportunity to use my skills and training to help others in need

When I volunteered, I assisted a young woman complete an intake and pro se divorce forms. Initially, she appeared apathetic and didn’t think that we would be able to help her. Nonetheless, 70 minutes, 24 pages, many questions, three lawyers and a law student later, she was all set to file her IFP and Divorce Petition. She had been seeking a divorce for several months. This divorce, from an incarcerated man she hasn’t seen in several years, means a fresh start for her.

While legal team leaders are still tallying up the numbers from last Monday’s event, I can tell you that last May, the volunteer legal professionals served 400+ people with 450+ legal issues in the areas of housing, family, criminal, youth, and various civil law issues.

The event challenges my perceptions of homelessness and is a great way to give back. More information on training and volunteering is on the Project website.

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Post tags: Homelessness, Legal Services

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Be the Judge

Andrew Steil — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 16:58:50 +0000

The MSBA High School Mock Trial program is a great way for Minnesota lawyers to give back to the local schools. Volunteers are needed to judge the trials this winter, held at local courthouses across the state. The time commitment is minimal but the payback, terrific.

Time Commitment – 8 hours, max
Volunteer judges are asked to spend three or four hours preparing for the trial; the trial itself lasts two hours. Volunteers are assigned to a trial in pairs. Judges Jim Dehn & Pete Cahill will facilitate a training on December 16 at 3:00. You can attend in person at the MSBA offices or by teleconference. The training has been approved for 1.5 CLE credits. For more information on judging, check the Mock Trial website.

Payback – be amazed, appreciated and meet some people too
The students and coach participants clearly spend hundreds of hours preparing the cases and learning how a trial really takes place beyond what they hear in media clips or on sensationalized television shows. Certain students master the Mock Trial Rules of Evidence. I was amazed to hear them argue evidentiary rules using the case facts and law.

I have had the wonderful opportunity to meet and judge trials with lawyers from throughout the state.

The students really appreciate the judges’ time and effort, and it is a great way to give back to your community.

Contact Emily Reilly, MSBA Mock Trial Manager at 612.278.6306 or email her, ereilly@mnbar.org, if you want to volunteer or get more information. Please join me and volunteer to judge. Working with dedicated high school students is a tremendous privilege. I cannot wait for another great High School Mock Trial year in 2012!

© Andrew Steil for Practice Blawg, 2011. | Permalink | No comments yet | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: mock trial, Volunteer

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Celebrate Pro Bono Oct 23 – 29!

Rinal Ray — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 15:53:37 +0000

For the better part of the last year, I’ve blogged about why you should do pro bono, how you might find a pro bono opportunity, and what to do to when you have a pro bono case. We are now approaching the Pro Bono Week, October 23-29, sponsored by the ABA Standing Committee on Pro Bono and Public Service.

During Pro Bono Week, we celebrate the privilege and opportunity to increase access to justice for all community members, challenge ourselves to take a pro bono case if we haven’t before, learn from peers about current issues and how to best serve and represent pro bono clients.

All across Minnesota, legal service offices, private firms, and MSBA Sections will join the national celebration through a series of clinics, CLEs, and other celebration events. To find an event near you, check out this interactive map featuring all of the Celebrate Pro Bono events across the country. For a list of Minnesota events from Wills for Heros to a Chili Cook-Off, visit projusticemn.org.

Some highlights:

MSBA’s Pro Bono CLE on Tuesday, October 25th will feature a welcome by Minnesota Supreme Court Chief Justice Lorie Gildea and MSBA President Brent Routman. The morning session will be a criminal expungement training by legal services attorneys guiding would-be pro bono attorneys through the step-by-step expungement process. Over the lunch hour, choose from one of seven breakout sessions at a local law firm — everything from Nonprofit Nuts & Bolts to Child Advocacy and the Juvenile Court System. Application has been made for 3.5 CLE credits, including 1 elimination of bias credit.
Legal Assistance of Olmsted County and United Way of Olmsted County are teaming up to host a Free Legal Clinic in Rochester in the areas of bankruptcy, child support, consumer, custody, employment, estate planning, expungement, foreclosures, housing, immigration, marriage dissolution, parenting time, social security, and unemployment.
Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi is collaborating with the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota to present The Naturalization Project CLE Training. Best part, the CLE is free if you are willing to take a pro bono case at the end of the training!

How will you celebrate Pro Bono Week?

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Bringing It All Back Home — a state-wide legal services virtual conference and CLE

Rinal Ray — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 21:34:29 +0000

Bringing It All Back Home, a state-wide virtual conference sponsored by the Minnesota Legal Services Coalition, started today. This concentrated series of webinars will provide 15 hours of virtual conference CLE by week’s end to legal services staff and volunteer attorneys across the state.

Throughout the week, you can tune into 14 individual webinars including:

There are sessions spanning many practice/skills areas, as well as sessions appropriate for non-attorney staff. On Friday, Oct. 14th, a link will be sent to all registrants for viewing the recorded statewide awards presentation.

Perhaps the best part (besides the video invitation) is that all sessions are free, you just need to register. Actually, sessions are freer than free because participants will receive a voucher to attend a complimentary, hour-long webinar in 2012. Can’t beat that!

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The Pro Bono Roller Coaster

Rinal Ray — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 16:19:06 +0000

I finished up two pro bono cases this week. One client received a great exemption result in a tax case. I wrapped up an overdue legal needs assessment for another, with the help of a Minnesota Justice Foundation volunteer law student. I’m on a pro bono high! At the end of the day, I left the office knowing the source of the big smile on my face. It really does feel good to give back!

As a perpetual pro bono preacher, at some point earlier this spring, I embarked on the ride myself. I took on a Nonprofit Legal Needs Assessment through LegalCORPS. At first, I was really excited for and energized by the opportunity. My initial client meeting went well and further motivated me.

I was trained, competent, passionate, and in most ways, ready. However, as determined as I was to carve out time in a busy schedule and really integrate pro bono into my day-to-day work life, it proved to be a bit more difficult than I first anticipated. I found myself pushing the pro bono work off to the next day, and the next, and the next — not because the client matter was not important to me, but it did not seem as urgent as the person waiting for me in my office or the email staring at me in my inbox.

After a week or so of this pattern, I decided I needed to change my approach. Here’s what I did:

1. Requested a volunteer law student to assist on a pro bono case. (Full disclosure — I am a Staff Attorney for the Minnesota Justice Foundation.) Law students can be really helpful and they’re hungry for practical experience. Requesting a volunteer law student to work with me on one of my pro bono cases was the best decision I made for that case. The student’s energy helped push me through, gave me an opportunity to share my knowledge, and supervision experience. Ultimately, the client benefitted from a better product. Paul, a rising 2L at the University of Minnesota, did great research, asked good questions, did the the initial drafting, and really took ownership of the pro bono project.

2. Set aside time on the calendar every week. Pro bono clients deserve the same attention and respect that paying clients deserve, so I set aside time for them, the way I would for other clients.

3. Self-imposed deadlines. Deadlines motivate me, and they’re good for my client, so I set some. Self-imposed deadlines are especially important when there is not a set of court or transactional timelines. The volunteer program will be happy, the client will be happy, and you can move on to the next pro bono case.

I know it can take a while to muster the nerve to climb aboard the pro bono rollercoaster. Once you survive the ride and reach a positive result for your client, you will feel great!

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