Housing
Hennepin County Government Center
Housing Court (17th Floor)
300 South Sixth Street
Minneapolis, MN
Fredrikson & Byron volunteer lawyers team up with lawyers from Legal Aid of Minneapolis to provide various services to low-income clients in Hennepin County who have been served with court papers in eviction cases, have housing repair problems, privacy violations, who have had their utilities shut off or have been locked out of their place of residence. Fredrikson lawyers who currently volunteer include: Katie Cole, Mark Vyvyan, Keri McWilliams, Sten-Erik Hoidal, and Zach Olson.
Legal Access Point
This program is organized as a public service by the Hennepin County Bar Association and Volunteer Lawyers Network.
Persons talk to a lawyer for free at the Self Help Service Center at the Hennepin County Government Center courthouse. Volunteer lawyers from Fredrikson & Byron listen to legal concerns and offer guidance. The most common legal issues that clients bring to the clinic include consumer issues, landlord-tenant disputes, probate, family law, and criminal law. During this session, a lawyer may help the client:
- Focus on the legal issues that are part of the client’s concern;
- Help the client understand the area of law related to the client’s concern;
- Suggest alternatives open to the client;
- Tell the client how to take the next steps to deal with the legal issue; or
- Refer the client to a law clinic or lawyer referral service to get the expert advice the client needs.
Fredrikson & Byron volunteer lawyers who currently volunteer include: Cindy Moyer, Tim O’Shea, Lindsay Sokolowski, Joe Sokolowski, and Todd Guerrero.
Clinic Hours: Clients are seen on a first-come, first-served basis, with no appointments necessary at the Hennepin County Government Center. For more information and clinic times, please go to the following link: Self-Help Service Desk.
Linea Legal Latina
Linea Legal Latina (LLL) is a unique partnership that was created when Pat Kelly, a shareholder in Fredrikson & Byron’s International Law group and a long-time board member of Comunidades Latinas Unidas En Servicio (CLUES), was asked to assist clients of CLUES with legal issues. Most of these clients spoke little or no English and needed to speak with a lawyer in their native language in order to better understand legal issues. From this request, a new program was initiated in the Twin Cities – a call-in line for Spanish speakers who needed to find the best possible resources available to address the unique needs of this group of individuals. A unique collaboration was put together to address the needs: representatives from social, legal, and private organizations came together to form Linea Legal. The program operates as a hotline on Tuesdays from 11:00 – 1:00 p.m. Calls are answered by volunteer lawyers who determine the best possible resource available to address the needs of the client. All referrals are made to organizations where resources are available in Spanish. If a client needs to see a lawyer for brief advice, an appointment is made to do so on the following Thursday. Clinic is held at the offices of CLUES in both Minneapolis and St. Paul.
Currently, LLL collaborates with the Minnesota Hispanic Bar Association, Volunteer Lawyers Network, the Minnesota Justice Foundation, Chrysalis, a Center for Women, the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota, Southern Minnesota Regional Legal Services, Central Minnesota Legal Services, and more. Current volunteers from Fredrikson & Byron include: Pat Kelly and Luis Reséndiz.
Legal Seminar Series
Working with Neighborhood Development Center (NDC), Fredrikson & Byron volunteer lawyers present a series of legal workshops for small business owners or people considering starting a small business. These workshops cover topics relevant to issues facing new entrepreneurs, including Choice of Entity, Commercial Leases, Intellectual Property, Employment Issues, Immigration Issues, and A Guide to the IRS. The workshops are held at Rondo Library in St. Paul and the North Regional Library in north Minneapolis.
Consumer Protection Workshop
Fredrikson & Byron Helps Build Unbundled Services Clinic
With the increased need to provide pro bono legal services in these difficult economic times, many courts and pro bono programs have developed brief advice clinics or Self-Help Service Desks in an effort to assist people with their legal needs. These clinics normally serve two primary functions – the first is to assist clients who have questions about a perceived legal situation, provide them with procedural advice, and direct them to proper legal services for further assistance. The second function is to assist the court by confirming that the client does, in fact, have a case with merit and one that the court can address. Many volunteer lawyers, however, feel somewhat frustrated with the system knowing (as confirmed by research) that many clients who do have legitimate legal needs are often overwhelmed or do not always have the capacity or cultural knowledge to follow the procedural recommendations of the lawyers.
Fredrikson & Byron and Volunteer Lawyers Network (VLN), a local pro bono organization, have partnered to develop a new clinic model, called the Consumer Protection Workshop, in which law firm lawyers and paralegals help clients with drafting, filing, and serving select civil forms on an assisted pro se basis. These forms, most of which are related to collections lawsuits, include Answers to a Complaint, Motions to Vacate, Garnishment Exemption forms, and Judgment Collections.
VLN pre-screens clients for financial eligibility and appropriate case type, collects the client paperwork and prepares the boilerplate language on the appropriate legal form for the attorney’s review. Fredrikson & Byron lawyers then meet with the client for an hour or so to discuss the case or situation and determine the best course of action. Working with the paralegal, the lawyer completes the appropriate pleading. The lawyer then explains the next steps in the process – what the client needs to do, what to expect, etc. Clients are encouraged to call VLN should they need further assistance.
Over the past number of months, many clients have benefited from this new project. Recently for example, a pro bono volunteer met with a man who was being sued for nonpayment of rent. The claim stemmed from a complicated November 2006 lease issue. The man had tried for more than two years, without success, to resolve the issue on his own and had recently received a Summons and Complaint. Frustrated and worried, he came to the clinic where he and the volunteer lawyer were able to discuss the issue at length. Fortunately, after a quick phone call in which the lawyer volunteer explained the situation to the lawyer for the other side, the matter was resolved. While sometimes a phone call can resolve problems, most of the clients who attend the clinic need assistance filling out Answers to Complaints or Motions to Vacate Judgments. From initial reviews, it appears that more than 80% of clients who receive this service have a positive outcome in their case (as determined by whether or not the plaintiff pursues the lawsuit) resulting from brief but efficient use of the volunteer attorney’s time. Additionally, the volunteers who have participated in this program feel that they have contributed substantive assistance to clients who, without the volunteer attorney’s assistance, might not have correctly filed documents or defended their rights.
“While I have enjoyed volunteering at brief advice clinics for several years, I have often worried that the clients I assist may not have completely understood or had sufficient skills to follow through with the advice I had given them. Through this new project, I now have time to explain the legal options to the client, and also to help the client draft their pleadings - for example, an Answer or Motion. I also feel good knowing that the client has the opportunity to receive follow-up assistance if needed. I know that when the client leaves the clinic, I have helped both the client and the court system itself.” – John Koneck, Managing Partner and pro bono volunteer lawyer, Fredrikson & Byron.
Fredrikson lawyers volunteering to assist include: Grant Fairbairn, Greg Karpenko, John Koneck, Patrick Mahlberg, Dave Marshall, Steve Quam, Chris Stafford, and Teresa Thompson.
Fredrikson paralegals who are assisting include: Leslie Anderson, Jane Ball, Carolyn Coverdale, and Barb Fritz.