MJF Returning to Offices
Welcome to Fall Semester!
MJF staff attorneys look forward to meeting with students, either in-person, by phone, or via Zoom! We are following the law schools’ guidance regarding safety, including vaccination.
We send best wishes to former Mitchell Hamline staff attorney Sara Thomas, who has moved to Central Minnesota Legal Services to practice family law. We’ll miss your presence on our team, Sara! Our new Mitchell Hamline staff attorney Becky Beerling will start on October 5th. We are excited for you to meet her! Until then, Mitchell Hamline students and agencies who have worked with Sara, please email mitchellhamline@mnjustice.org — our team is monitoring this email and will get back to you!
2021 Summer Fellows
MJF’s oldest program, the Summer Fellowship Program (SFP), continues to benefit and serve three crucial groups of MJF stakeholders: law students, partner agencies, and Minnesotans with limited access to justice. During the summer of 2021, MJF funded 19 full-time, paid fellowships across the Twin Cities metro area and in greater Minnesota.
The following agencies hosted MJF Summer Fellows in 2021:
Central Minnesota Legal Services
Children’s Law Center of Minnesota
Council on American-Islamic Relations Minnesota
Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota
Legal Assistance of Dakota County
Legal Rights Center
Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid — Minnesota Disability Law Center
Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid — Housing Unit/Housing Discrimination Law Project
Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid — Immigration Project
Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy
Rainbow Health
Southern Minnesota Regional Legal Services — Housing Unit
Southern Minnesota Regional Legal Services — Economic Justice Unit
Standpoint
Anishinabe Legal Services
Legal Aid Service of Northeastern Minnesota
Legal Services of Northwest Minnesota
White Earth Tribal Court
Southern Minnesota Regional Legal Services — Mankato
MJF Fellows gained hands-on legal experience and expanded the services capacities of their host agencies. To learn more about the experiences of MJF’s Summer Fellows and the impact of their legal service on behalf of their clients, join us at MJF’s virtual Annual Awards Celebration on October 27, 2021, where excerpts from their Fellowship Reflection Essays will be incorporated into the program. After the program, you can find the excerpted quotes from our Fellows posted on MJF’s website.
Also, MJF is already working on the Summer Fellowship Program for summer 2022! The host agency application is now open, and applications from agencies are due October 1, 2021 at 5:00 PM. MJF will seek law student input on the selection of Fellowship host agencies, so students, please look out for additional information about that this fall. If you are a lawyer or a staff person at a public interest agency/organization, click here to access the agency application and apply to host a Summer Fellow funded by MJF next year! Don’t miss out!
Navigating Public Interest – and Save the Date for Tri-Pie!
Navigating Public Interest Workshop
Each year, MJF hosts sessions for incoming 1Ls at all of the Minnesota law schools to learn more about MJF, about how to become involved with pro bono volunteering, and to learn more about the Minnesota public interest law sector.
This year we hosted two virtual events in August. More than 80 people joined the MN Justice Foundation staff for these events and we were excited to welcome attorneys from a variety of public interest agencies.
A special thank you to Matt Eichenlaub, HOME Line; Andrew Gordon, Legal Rights Center; Christy Hall, Gender Justice; Joshua Ladd, MMLA’s Disability Law Center; Beau Rara, MMLA/Legal Rights Center; and Luis Rangel Morales, Neighborhood Justice Center for their time and wisdom shared with our incoming 1L students. The law students were inspired by the stories our panelists told and are excited to join the legal community working for access to justice for all.
Save the Dates: Tri-School Public Interest Expo (Tri-PIE)
MJF is hosting our annual Tri-School Public Interest Expo (Tri-PIE) in November. Tri-PIE is a networking event that is an opportunity for all Minnesota law students and agencies to connect, for law students to ask questions about the work of attorneys and organizations, and for agencies to promote any opportunities they might have for future student involvement in their work.
This year, due in part to the pandemic and also to engage a wider range of agencies and students, we are hosting TWO Tri-PIE events. An in-person event will be hosted at the University of St. Thomas School of Law in their atrium on November 2, 2021 (1101 Harmon Place, Minneapolis, MN 55403) and a virtual event will be hosted via Zoom on November 9, 2021. Both events will run from 4:00 PM – 6:00 PM.
Agencies can RSVP here.
Students can RSVP here.