Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid (MMLA) hosts five community-based legal clinics throughout Minneapolis: African Community Services, the Brian Coyle Center, Children’s Hospital, Division of Indian Work, and the Harrison Neighborhood Association. A staff attorney is on site at each clinic, two days a week, meeting with community members and representing them in a variety of civil matters. Clinic attorneys are generalists, practicing family, housing, immigration, benefits, and consumer law. By partnering with community-based organizations, the lawyer client relationship begins from a place of trust and humility.
Southern Minnesota Regional Legal Services (SMRLS) partners with MMLA to host their Healthcare Legal Partnership (HLP) with Children’s Hospital. Through this HLP, Children’s providers make direct referrals for free legal services through a patient’s medical records. Oftentimes (though not always), the issue directly affects the patient’s health. SMRLS and MMLA take these cases together, according to their respective geographic service areas. MMLA’s Children’s HLP is based in Minneapolis, while SMRLS’s HLP is located in St. Paul.
This clinic offering with the U of M works alongside MMLA’s Community Clinics Program and SMRLS’s Children’s HLP. This clinic hosts seven students, five for each MMLA clinic site, plus two for SMRLS’s HLP. Under the supervision of Clinic Staff Attorneys, students will work out of the clinic sites, conducting intake, assisting with case work, doing outreach, and (if certified to practice) representing clients. They will encounter a wide variety of civil case types, with many possible approaches, from brief services and advice through complex litigation.
The class will last the entire school year. In addition to day-to-day casework, students will partner with Children’s Hospital to work on a larger project focusing on the connect between clients’ rights and community health. Each week, students will join a two-hour class. During the first hour, students will share their experiences and receive feedback. During the second hour, students will receive training on the areas of law they encounter at the clinics.
Students will earn 6 credits, working an average of 10 hours per week at the clinic sites. MMLA’s Community Clinics Supervising Attorney Matthew Hulstein will provide overarching feedback, including hosting the weekly class. Mr. Hulstein will also conduct a mid-point and final evaluation, each semester. The respective Clinic Staff Attorneys will provide day-to-day supervision. Two Student Directors (one at MMLA and the other at SMRLS) will coordinate the work.
Questions can be referred to MMLA’s Clinics Supervising Attorney, Matthew Hulstein: mhulstein@mylegalaid.org / 612-746-3606.
NOTE: This course requires certification pursuant to the student practice rule and is open to JD students only.