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Volunteer Attorney Opportunities

Crow Wing County Eviction Clinic

Meet Carrie Schneider, PAI Director

Upcoming Clinics

October 2019

LASNEM's PAI Program Update:

Volunteer Attorney Opportunities

The Private Attorney Involvement (PAI) program is up and running! A sincere thank you to the volunteer attorneys who continue to serve clients in need. Your work is invaluable and we cannot close the access to justice gap without you.

Our PAI program’s mission is to engage attorneys from the private bar to expand access to civil legal services in our eleven-county area: Aitkin, Carlton, Cass, Cook, Crow Wing, Itasca, Kanabec, Koochiching, Lake, Pine, and St. Louis. The program’s goal is to provide high quality legal services to eligible clients in all areas of poverty law. Our priorities are areas of law that impact an individual’s safety, stability or security.

How To Get Involved

Advice Panel - Attorneys on the Advice Panel would be available to offer brief phone or in-person advice to clients. These cases are triaged so that the volunteer attorney can perform basic legal research or review and then provide advice to the client with a minimal time commitment.

Clinics- The “Ask an Attorney” program will transform into subject matter clinics. LASNEM currently hosts clinics and other community events where private attorney involvement is critical to the success of the program. Some events include: monthly criminal expungement clinics, child support clinics, divorce clinics, and tenant education classes. If you are interested in aiding at these, or other clinics, or have other ideas for community events that PAI could develop, please let us know.

Brief Service - Brief service cases are meant for the attorney that wants to do more than make an advice phone call but may not have the time commitment to provide full representation. This can include drafting a simple legal document or writing a demand letter to a third party.

Extended Representation - These cases are for the attorneys that want to make meaningful and effective change in a client’s life. They are often a larger time commitment – both in number of hours and the overall time for which the case will stretch. These are cases when an attorney has provided representation and counsel to the client throughout the term of their legal proceeding or through the preparation of complex legal documents.

Judicare - Attorneys may also be approved to provide representation through Judicare. LASNEM compensates Judicare attorneys at a rate of $75.00 per hour. The attorney is paid directly by LASNEM and can count the hours as pro bono services. These cases typically require longer time commitment, i.e. divorce, custody, guardianship, or bankruptcy.

We are actively placing clients throughout our eleven-county service area. Family law attorneys are always in need, but we also have clients who need assistance in other areas - real estate, employment, tax forfeiture, general civil, bankruptcy/consumer credit, and housing. If you are interested in volunteering your time and talent to assist clients in need, please contact us at PAI@lasnem.org .

And finally, a note about conflicts - LASNEM checks all potential cases for conflicts. At intake any direct staff conflict case is routed to PAI for full intake and potential placement. To further ensure the confidentiality of client information, the PAI staff will office separately from staff programs. There is also a virtual wall between PAI cases and staff program cases. PAI staff will only be able to access PAI cases and will not have access to staff program cases – the reverse is also true. If you have any questions about conflicts, please contact Carrie at cschneider@lasnem.org or (218) 613-8115.

Thank you for your commitment to pro bono!

LASNEM Staff Program Highlight:

Crow Wing County Eviction Clinic

Evictions are traumatic, life-altering, complex legal matters that move quickly through the court process. Within 14 days from being served a Summons, a tenant can be ordered out of their home. Within 7 days of a hearing a person can be court ordered to be moved out of their home. 7 days. Can you imagine?

If you have children, a job, household belongings, can you imagine coordinating all of that to move within 7 days? Taking time off of work without losing your job? Comforting your children while you try to find somewhere to live, knowing that the current eviction is publicly accessible information already out there for any new landlord to see. Packing your belongings, finding a place to store them. Finding money for a deposit and first months rent to pay if you are lucky enough to apply, be accepted and there is an available unit? Landlords are not required to give your deposit back for 21 days after you move out, so that will not help you. Try to imagine the mental, physical and emotional stress that eviction actions put on people and families.

Many people face eviction actions in Minnesota unrepresented and not knowing the law or their rights or defenses while the landlord has an attorney. Research shows the outcomes of tenants who do not receive legal counsel in eviction cases are grim at best.

LASNEM's Brainerd office began an Eviction Clinic in Crow Wing County in April 2019. Attorney's and staff are present at the Crow Wing Judicial Center every Wednesday prior to the 2 p.m. eviction court calendar. LASNEM staff complete applications for tenants and an attorney is present to meet with the tenant at the courthouse and provide services to unrepresented tenants, including representation.

Representation of tenants in an eviction action significantly increases the chance of possible legal defenses, settlement, expungement and other benefits that dramatically impact a tenants ability to secure future housing. Safe and stable housing is imperative for individuals, families and communities as housing impacts almost every aspect of life. LASNEM continues to implement innovative ways to address this issue and reach tenants in need.

Meet the Staff of LASNEM

This issue spotlights:

Carrie Schneider, PAI Director

I am Carrie Schneider, the Director of Private Attorney Involvement. I am thrilled to be a part of LASNEM and this new program. My legal career in Duluth began at the Public Defender’s office where I represented indigent adults and juveniles charged with criminal offenses. It was difficult to leave my clients and the good work of the Public Defender’s office, but the opportunity to help create this new program was an opportunity I could not pass up.

Being an attorney is not my first career. I ran restaurants in Seattle - if you think being a Twins fan is heartbreaking, you should try the Seattle Mariners. I also worked in collections management for the National Park Service and the Library of Congress. In 2011 I left Seattle and returned to the Midwest to attend law school at Hamline. During law school I was fortunate to clerk at the Office of Administrative Hearings and the Second District Public Defender’s Office. After law school I headed to Mankato and clerked for Judge Krista Jass. In October 2015 I had an interview with the Public Defender’s office in Duluth and the rest, as they say, is history. I love living in Duluth and hiking with my dog, Willa (who really wants me to play tug of war instead of writing this). Working together I look forward to creating a robust network of volunteer attorneys to provide pro bono civil legal services in our region. No one should be denied access to the justice system for lack of financial resources. If you are interested in becoming a volunteer attorney, please be in touch. I can be reached at (218) 623-8115 or cschneider@lasnem.org .

Upcoming Clinics

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