Newsletter

Summer 2017 Newsletter

2017 Annual Awards Celebration

On Wednesday, November 15, 2017, MJF will host its 35th Anniversary Awards Celebration, at which we honor outstanding individuals in the Minnesota legal community.

Awards will be given in the following categories;

  • Law Student Volunteer Awards (one from each of the three Minnesota Law Schools)
  • Private Practice Lawyer Award
  • Advocate Award
  • Direct Legal Service Award

Our keynote speaker will be the Honorable David L. Lillehaug, Justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court.

David L. Lillehaug has been an Associate Justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court since his appointment by Governor Mark Dayton in 2013. He was elected to a six-year term in 2014. He is the only current Justice to come to the Court directly from private practice. He brought to the Court 30 years of litigation experience, including serving as United States Attorney for the District of Minnesota, the federal government’s chief prosecutor and civil lawyer in the state. Deeply committed to pro bono, Lillehaug was one of the early members of MJF’s Board of Directors and chaired the organization’s first community fundraiser.

Justice Lillehaug will be speaking on the topic of ‘The Minnesota Pro Bono Tradition.”

Tickets can be purchased by emailing MJF administrator Pat Harrigan. Prices are:

$75 for individuals
$40 for nonprofit public service employees
$25 for students

Please visit our Annual Awards Celebration page for more information.


2017 Attractive Nuisance Tour

On Friday, May 19, 2017, MJF, in partnership with the Minnesota Music Coalition, hosted our annual Attractive Nuisance Tour at the Crooked Pint Ale House in Minneapolis.

The Attractive Nuisance Tour is a benefit concert to help local organizations provide legal services to the disadvantaged. Each band has at least one lawyer, law student, or judge in it. Since 2003, the Attractive Nuisance Tour has raised money for Minnesota legal nonprofits the only way they know how—through maximum rock ‘n roll!

Thank you to this year’s bands: DC Higgs and Blue Volcano, Noisy Withdrawal, Nuggets Hootenanny (w/ The Long Goodbyes), and The Lockpicks.

And thank you to our sponsors! Premium Sponsors: Fox Rothschild, LLP; Fredrikson & Byron, PA; Robins Kaplan, LLP. Top Shelf Sponsor:
Collins, Buckley, Sauntry & Haugh, PLLP. Call Sponsors: Winthrop & Weinstine, PA; Nichols Kaster, PLLP.

ANT also featured free HeadFlyer beer, courtesy of Monroe Moxness Berg.

Photo by Yolanda Wilson.


2017 Summer Clerkships

Congratulations to MJF’s 2017 Summer Clerks!

2017 Minnesota Justice Foundation Summer Clerkship Program employers and summer clerks:

Central Minnesota Legal Services — Anna Street (University of St. Thomas)
Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid – Minnesota Disability Law Center — Michael Ge (University of Minnesota)
Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid – Housing Discrimination Law Project — Patricia Dana (University of St. Thomas)
Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid – Youth Law Project — Dorothy Summers (University of St. Thomas)
Minneapolis Department of Civil Rights/Complaint Investigations Division — Kari Beaudry (Mitchell Hamline)
Minnesota AIDS Project — Kathryn Bjorklund (University of Minnesota)
Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy — Georgette Marling (University of Minnesota)
Neighborhood Justice Center — Nicole Faas (University of Minnesota)
Standpoint — Noah Finn (University of Minnesota)
Southern Minnesota Regional Legal Services — Refugee, Immigrant and Migrant Services — Leif Christopherson (University of Minnesota)
Southern Minnesota Regional Legal Services – Government Benefits — Lora Fike (Mitchell Hamline)
Tubman — Mariah Gatzow (University of Minnesota)
Anishinabe Legal Services (Bemidji area) — Robert Wild (University of Minnesota)
Legal Aid Service of Northeastern Minnesota (Duluth) — Michael Hagley (Mitchell Hamline)
Legal Services of Northwest Minnesota — Megan Parks (University of St. Thomas)
Southern Minnesota Regional Legal Services (SMRLS) – Southwest Region (Mankato) — Anna Heisler (University of St. Thomas)

University of St. Thomas Law School Public Interest Law Fellowship employers and summer clerks:
Duluth City Attorney’s Office – Brandon Engblom
US Attorney’s Office for the Western District of NY – Hakeem Jackson
Public Defender 1st District (Hastings) – Melissa Bumanglag

Mitchell Hamline School of Law Public Interest Law Fellowship employers and summer clerks:
Public Defender 2nd District (St. Paul) – Sara Thomas
Public Defender 10th District (Anoka) – Hannah Martin

University of Minnesota Law School Public Interest Clerkship employers and summer clerks:
Second Judicial District Public Defender’s Office — Snowden Stieber
Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy — Nicholas Redmond