e-Newsletter: March Edition
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Minnesota Legal Services Coalition Announces New “Start-to-Finish” Expungement Tool for Pro Bono Attorneys
The Minnesota Legal Services Coalition (MLSC) announced today the availability of a new, interactive online resource to help pro bono attorneys pursue criminal expungement on behalf of indigent clients. The “Criminal Expungement Start-to-Finish” program provides a crash course on expungement statutes and case law. It uses HotDocs® software to draft and print a set of pleadings and letters tailored to suit each client’s criminal record.
Criminal records can exclude individuals from housing and employment opportunities for decades, long after the individual has completed criminal penalties. These disadvantages contribute to a cycle of powerlessness, poverty and often recidivism. Even if charges were dropped against a defendant, the record remains for any potential employer or landlord to see. Not only does this place a burden on the justice system and taxpayers, it can also weaken communities, neighborhoods and families.
The “Criminal Expungement Start-to-Finish” program lets pro bono attorneys with no prior expungement experience empower their clients to become fully productive members of society. The tool can be found live on Minnesota’s statewide Pro Bono attorney website, ProJusticeMN.org, at http://www.projusticemn.org/civillaw/library/item.300777 and is available at no cost to website members.
- Criminal Expungement Start-to-Finish: Automated Court Form Assembly Interviews: Civil Law
- WEBINAR: Representing Tenants of Public Housing and Section 8 in Housing Court: Civil Law
- Hennepin County Rental License Ordinances: Civil Law
- Court Forms for Guardianship & Conservatorship: Civil Law
- VLN Tip of the Month - Ten Suggestions for Attorneys Advising Pro Se Parties Appearing In Court: Civil Law
Additional Resources You May Have Forgotten About . . .
- Assisting Clients with Criminal Records: Webinar: Civil Law
- Automated In Forma Pauperis (IFP): Petition and Order: Civil Law
- Fraud Disqualification Hearings for Public Benefits Recipients: Practice Aids: Civil Law
- Fair Housing / Housing Discrimination: Complaints: Civil Law
- Handling a Disability Case for Fibromyalgia & Pain Disorders: CLE Materials: Civil Law
- Lawhelpmn.org Offers Free Tax Resources For The Public: PRLog
With the recession pushing more Americans into poverty, LawHelpMN.org offers critical help in learning about and obtaining much-needed tax credits. LawHelpMN.org, part of the national LawHelp.org network of nonprofit legal information portals, offers a variety of free tools and information for those grappling with tax preparation.
- Once You Go Pro Bono, You Never Go Back? Above the Law
A 2009 Georgetown Law grad, Russ Ferguson, has penned a column for the conservative American Spectator suggesting that deferred associates who have signed up to work in the public interest may not want to take Biglaw spots when they open up to them.
- An Advocate for Equal Justice New York Times
Providing poor defendants effective appointed counsel is more than a constitutional obligation. It is a concrete measure of the nation’s commitment to equal justice under law. Yet indigent defense offices across the nation have been allowed to sink into crisis. They have fallen victim to insufficient financing, overwhelming caseloads and a slew of policies that hamper effective representation.
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