Legal Services State Support — Connecting the Legal Aid Community

By Erika Boyer-Kern, MSW, LISW, Southern Minnesota Regional Legal Services

Housing attorneys at Southern Minnesota Regional Legal Services (SMRLS) have long recognized that legal solutions alone are not enough to address housing instability. Peter Hemberger, Supervising Housing Attorney at SMRLS says of the social work program “As housing attorneys we would solve the legal issue. Maybe we would get someone extra time in their home, maybe we would get the eviction dismissed, but that doesn’t solve the reason they are facing this issue to begin with – social workers can look at those non-legal problems and start to offer solutions.”

Social workers focus on housing at SMRLS was strategic and in response to the current crisis that is playing out across Minnesota – rising rents, increased rates of homelessness, and not enough resources to fill the need.  In response, the social work program was started in January of 2024 by hiring a social worker in the SMRLS Mankato office. Now, SMRLS has hired a social worker in their St. Paul office and is set to hire a social worker out of their Rochester office in the next couple of months.

The Minnesota Judicial Branch announced via news release on April 17, 2025, that Minnesota Supreme Court Chief Justice Natalie Hudson had signed an order appointing members to the new State Board of Civil Legal Aid. The order, signed on April 11, introduced the 11 members: six appointed by the Supreme Court and five appointed by the governor. The State Board of Civil Legal Aid was created to ensure quality advocacy for persons unable to afford private counsel.

The Minnesota Supreme Court-appointed members of the new Board are Emily Cooper, Katy Drahos, Jeremy Lane, John Murphy, Suumra Shariff, and Christopher Wendt. The governor’s appointees are Tarryl Clark, John Gordon, Holley Horrell, Anna Pottratz Acosta and Korey Wahwassuck.

Two recent stories by MPR News report that low-income renters in Greater Minnesota communities such as Bemidji are increasingly living in unsafe buildings and facing potential housing displacement.  The issues are related to inspection processes that have been more “lenient” outside of the Twin Cities, even when substandard living conditions exist. MPR also found that sometimes there are no rental inspections at all, and that renters living in substandard housing have little recourse beyond a lawsuit. Add in a housing shortage, and no state law that requires a city to have a rental license ordinance, and it the problems must be addressed city by city.

In Bemidji, a patchwork inspection approach by several agencies often spells miscommunication and vital information not reaching the levels needed to address residents’ living conditions. According to legal aid attorneys across Minnesota, buildings with low-income tenants have serious problems that go unrepaired for long periods of time. And because of housing shortages, inspectors must frequently choose between enforcing code violations and displacing renters with nowhere to go.

On Thursday, April 10, 2025, the University of St. Thomas School of Law will debut its AI Summit series with “AI and Access to Justice.” The presentation, a Law Journal Editor-in-Chief lecture, will take place on campus from 12:30 - 2:00 p.m. and registration is free of charge.

As artificial intelligence (AI) brings unprecedented opportunities to the legal justice community, it also brings significant risks. This lecture will explore the critical challenge of leveraging AI to address the ongoing challenges in justice access. Learn about how AI is currently being used to reduce barriers, alongside a discussion of some of the associated risks. Attendees will leave with practical guidelines for the ethical and effective use of AI, and a clearer understanding of its role in improving access to justice.

The summit will feature a talk by J. Singleton, Program Manager at Legal Services State Support. "I'm excited to speak with the students and faculty at the University of St. Thomas School of Law about how we can all work together to make sure technological advances such as generative AI are used to improve access to justice for everyone," she said.

A mere three weeks ago, Southern Minnesota Regional Legal Services (SMRLS) was informed by their building’s owner that services, including electricity, would be shut off because of unpaid utility bills. With little time to react, the 115-year-old legal services provider was faced with the stress of relocating 72 staff members impacted by the building closure. Though Mayor Carter was able to negotiate keeping the lights on until April 1, SMRLS officially closed its offices in the Alliance Bank Center in St. Paul on Wednesday, March 26, 2025.

Most of SMRLS’ work representing clients in civil legal cases was handled through its downtown Alliance Bank Center location for the past 20 years, so finding a new, accessible, and safe location is paramount. Candace Miller Lopez, development director with SMRLS, has estimated $500,000 in unanticipated costs for relocation. Until a new primary location is found, Lopez said the office’s attorneys will work remotely, or from the SMRLS’ smaller satellite offices on University Avenue and Syndicate Street.

On March 12, 2025, Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid (Legal Aid) announced that its long-time grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) had been cancelled. Legal Aid was informed in late February that their $425K grant —used to help tenants facing discrimination and sexual harassment by landlords—would no longer be available, leaving countless Minnesotans without the support needed to litigate their rights under the Fair Housing Act.

Although the federal grant is just one funding source, and only a part of Legal Aid’s overall budget, it funded the entire fair housing program. Over the past 30 consecutive years of receiving the grant, Legal Aid has provided protection for clients facing discrimination due to their religion, race, disability, section 8 housing status, and more. In 2019, with the Department of Justice, they won a landmark sexual harassment case resulting in $736,000 in damages to victims and a $14,000 civil penalty to the United States.

In a federal district court case filed by Southern Minnesota Regional Legal Services (SMRLS) last year, their client was disqualified from receiving SNAP benefits after being accused of committing an Intentional Program Violation and subsequently signing the form to accept the disqualification and waive her right to a hearing.

McLeod County Health and Human Services is a local government agency which administers SNAP benefits to eligible McLeod County residents on behalf of MN DHS. McLeod County alleged that SMRLS’ client committed fraud in violation of program rules by not reporting part-time caretaker work performed for her landlord as income. The county investigator decided that the client committed an "intentional program violation" and went to the client’s house with an administrative disqualification hearing waiver form and asked the client to sign it. The client signed the form, having no understanding of what it meant, only to realize later that she had agreed that she committed fraud, waived her right to a hearing, and would be disqualified from benefits. When the client contacted SMRLS, more than 30 days had passed since the waiver was signed so it could no longer be revoked.

All staff and pro bono attorneys working through civil legal aid organizations should be aware of the statutory changes to the court fee waiver process that were put in place in 2024. Both the legislature and the courts have moved away from the Latin “in forma pauperis” or “IFP” and now use “fee waiver” for more clarity. In addition, Minn. Stat. § 563.01 subd. 3 now includes multiple ways for low-income clients represented by civil legal aid to receive a fee waiver in their court case. They are:

In a recent episode of LSC’s Talk Justice podcast, legal aid and tech experts discuss self-help legal kiosks. Legal aid’s limited resources make it impossible to provide meaningful services to every person who needs them. Many providers create and share educational materials and self-help resources online to help fill the gaps, but those without access to a personal computer or smartphone may not be able to access these resources.  Self-help legal kiosks offer adaptable access in community settings.

Each year, the Minnesota State Bar Association (MSBA) honors those who exemplify the legacy of Bernard P. Becker, a champion of legal rights for the vulnerable and those living in poverty.

Three Becker Legal Services Staff awards are presented annually to attorneys, paralegals, administrators, or other staff employed by a private, nonprofit agency that provides legal services to eligible low-income clients. The Becker Student Volunteer Award is presented to a law student who has demonstrated a commitment to the provision of legal services to people with low-incomes. These awards recognize the dedicated service and notable achievements of four recipients and include an award of $500-$550.

In a succinct and incisive discussion of housing reform, Julia Zwak, managing attorney of the Minneapolis housing unit of Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid (MMLA), shares her practical knowledge and a call for more reform with Bench and Bar magazine of Minnesota.

Zwak gives an overview of the historic 2023 legislative session in which eviction reforms aimed at protecting tenants with low incomes included a 14-day pre-filing notice for non-payment of rent evictions, elimination of a pay-to-defend practice, and full disclosure of all fees in a lease agreement. Additional reforms were enacted during the 2024 session. Accompanying Zwak’s highlights is an infographic summarizing key housing laws and significant reforms in effect as of January 1, 2025.

The Minnesota State Bar Association (MSBA) is proud to recognize members who provide 50 or more hours of pro bono legal services per year, and these members are designated as North Star Lawyers. More than just personal recognition, certifying as a North Star Lawyer shows your peers that pro bono is important, valuable, and possible in today's busy world. The MSBA is committed to reducing barriers to civil justice for low-income Minnesotans by connecting members with opportunities to serve legal services clients. Through presentations, trainings, recognition, and articles, the MSBA promotes the value and importance of pro bono work, as expressed in Rule 6.1 of the Rules of Professional Conduct.

The deadline for certifying your 2024 pro bono hours is March 15, 2025. Certified North Star Lawyers are included on the MSBA’s annual roster published in Bench & Bar of Minnesota magazine, and if you enter where you provided your pro bono service, Minnesota State Bar Foundation (MSBF) grantee organizations will be entered in a drawing for a $5,000 North Star grant.