Why Support VLN?

Who we are

The importance of VLN's services

What the staff do

Why those in poverty need legal services?

How VLN is unique

How VLN helps beyond Hennepin County, Minnesota

Please consider giving to VLN today

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Who we are: Established in 1966, Volunteer Lawyers Network (VLN) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit providing free civil legal services to low-income persons through volunteer attorneys. In short, VLN engages the vast human resources of the private bar in addressing some of the most pressing legal issues facing those in poverty.

The importance of VLN's services: Those in poverty often have no access to an attorney to help them with their legal issues . . . but they need the help more acutely because they are living so close to the edge. Unscrupulous landlords, creditors and others target the poor disproportionately; banking on the chances they will not have legal help. Last year, VLN pro bono volunteers helped more than 6,000 clients solve issues such as the following:

  • Not being paid wages they’ve earned
  • Withholding of security deposits without cause
  • Being sued for debt amounts they do not owe
  • Being sued for accidents of cars they do not own
  • Failure of landlords to provide safe and habitable housing
  • Mortgage foreclosures based on illegal practices
  • Abusive spouses and lack of safety and financial security
  • Obtaining custody of their grandchildren

What the VLN staff do. VLN staff members work hard to encourage and enable private attorneys to assist low-income clients by:

  • Screening prospective clients for income and issue eligibility
  • Obtaining important client information and relevant paperwork
  • Linking clients with attorneys in the areas in which the attorneys wish to volunteer
  • Educating attorneys on issues facing people in poverty, including through our CLE programs
  • Supplying forms, pleadings, and resources on issues common to persons in poverty
  • Providing mentor attorneys and, in family and housing areas, VLN resource attorneys
  • Linking attorneys with law student and paralegal volunteers to leverage attorney time when possible
  • Providing malpractice coverage for VLN clients and cases

Why those in poverty need legal services. Those in poverty need legal services more than the average person, yet their access to legal services is minimal. Some reasons those in poverty need legal services include:

  • They are at increased risk for being targeted for exploitation (such as failure to return security deposits or make necessary repairs to apartments by unscrupulous landlords, etc.;
  • They have fewer personal resources (including knowledge, time, and money) to access the court system;
  • They have virtually no financial safety cushion leaving them vulnerable to loss of housing, health insurance, custody, etc…..
  • Despite the fact that even one unaddressed legal problem can have a devastating impact on one’s life; currently three quarters of the legal needs of the disadvantaged remain unaddressed in Minnesota. (MN Legal Services Planning Commission).

 

How VLN is unique

  • Unlike legal aid, VLN engages the vast resources of the private bar, encouraging and enabling private attorneys to engage their unique skills and expertise in addressing some of the most pressing issues those in poverty face. No organization in the state of Minnesota connects more volunteer attorneys with low income clients in need. (In 2008, VLN volunteers provided legal services to more than 6,000 clients!)
  • Unlike individual law firm pro bono departments, VLN builds metro-wide collaborations and creates timely and relevant legal resources that are shared by all in the metro area.
  • Unlike other volunteer attorney programs in the metro area, VLN focuses its services to protect basic human needs, including shelter, sustenance, safety, and child custody.
  • VLN collaborates with a wide range of other legal services organizations to ensure that legal services to the community as a whole are provided as efficiently and effectively as possible, including Legal Aid Society of Minneapolis, Central Minnesota Legal Services, CLUES, and the Fourth Judicial Self Help Center.
  • VLN is able to respond quickly to emerging trends in client needs, especially in the current economic downturn. VLN is large enough to have efficiencies of scale and its own system of client intake yet
  • VLN offers a wide range of volunteer opportunities to attorneys, paralegals and law students, including numerous clinic and assisted pro se workshop models

How VLN helps beyond Hennepin County, Minnesota.

While VLN concentrates in Hennepin County, we contribute in a number of ways to legal services across the state, including:

  • Linea Legal Latina ( VLN’s Spanish Hotline service) has offices in both Ramsey and Hennepin Counties and is available to clients throughout Minnesota.
  • VLN administers a weekly bankruptcy legal advice clinic at the Minneapolis and St. Paul federal courthouses.
  • In collaboration with the Minnesota Legal Services Coalition, VLN routinely puts on web-based/online CLEs accessible to all attorneys in the state.
  • VLN liberally distributes its legal resources through postings on our own and others’ websites.
  • VLN also screens cases and provides lawyers for eligible clients on a statewide basis through four projects: Bankruptcy Screening Project; Bankruptcy Filings; Bankruptcy Adversary Project; Administrative Law.
  • VLN is a nationally recognized leader in pro bono services. VLN staff are routinely asked to give presentations to national audiences and invited to participate on national committees.

Please consider giving to VLN today. Your contribution will ensure that a needy individual or family gets the help they need to stay afloat. Thank you!

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