Marquette Volunteer Legal Clinics: Remote Services & Professional Responsibilities September 2020 Law Student and Lawyer Volunteer Training
Three main WHY WE OFFER THESE HOW WE (YOU) SERVICES PROVIDE THE SERVICES topics in today’s training WHAT ETHICAL RULES APPLY IN BRIEF LEGAL ADVICE SETTINGS
IF YOU CANNOT One will NOT be provided AFFORD AN for you in civil matters. ATTORNEY...
The cost of accessing justice Filing fees: Service fees: Attorney’s fees: $98 for small claims actions $75 for three attempts by Often hourly Milwaukee Co. Sheriff’s Office $198 for divorce with children Sometimes with a retainer $188 for divorce without children
State-Allocated Funding For Free Legal Aid
Legal Aid Can Save Costs ◦ Housing: Prevent evictions and foreclosures ◦ Health: Promote health & prevent illness by helping with benefits or remedying conditions that caused the problems ◦ Domestic Violence: Prevent recurrence resulting in fewer hospital visits ◦ Seniors: Prevents guardianships, financial abuse, and consume fraud ◦ Veterans and Military Families: Assists with benefits claims Inadequate-Funding ≠ Cost-Savings
MVLC Mission To serve the Milwaukee community in Marquette’s tradition of service by increasing access to justice while providing learning and mentoring opportunities for law students.
◦ Legal Aid Society of Milwaukee ◦ Legal Action of Wisconsin ◦ Centro Legal MVLC is part of ◦ LOTUS Legal Clinic a broader civil ◦ Metro Milwaukee Mediation Services legal aid ◦ Civitas Law Group community ◦ Kids Matter, Inc. ◦ Catholic Charities Legal Services for Immigrants ◦ …and more!
Referrals ◦ Before referring to another service, please consult with a supervisor. ◦ Clients are pre-screened before having an appointment with the MVLC and are referred to other more robust services when possible.
How the Zoom clinic operates ◦ Clients call a main number and are referred to a variety of services, including the Marquette Volunteer Legal Clinics. ◦ Volunteers receive an email the day before their shift containing the link to the Zoom meeting they’ll attend and a brief synopsis of each client’s legal matter. ◦ Law student, lawyers, and supervisors gather on Zoom 10-minutes before start time in a virtual “main office.” ◦ Supervisors place student/lawyer teams into virtual meeting rooms (Zoom “breakout rooms”). Clients are assigned to those meeting rooms as they arrive. ◦ The students and attorneys may return to the “main office” at any time to consult with supervisor and facilitators.
Example 1: Client info you receive before your shift: Family / Divorce – Assigned to ____ (Lawyer) & _____ (Law student) Getting divorced and judge asked her to complete a form about her child. She does not understand the form and why she needs to fill it out. Has a court date for October 8 at 1:20PM and the Judge told her the form is due by the end of September. Family / Placement - Assigned to ____ (Lawyer) & _____ (Law student) Client has an order from 2018. She has two questions: (1) What are the consequences of not paying into an account she was ordered to pay into for the child? (2) Father was withholding child was client due to Covid-19 concerns. Can she now withhold the child from him? Family / Divorce - Assigned to ____ (Lawyer) & _____ (Law student) Client and her spouse have a moving business together. She wants to ask about how they should divide it. Also has questions about dividing vehicles and whether CS liens from spouse's arrears will attach to cars that are going to become "just hers" after the divorce.
Example 2: Client info you receive before your shift: Civil / Eviction – Assigned to ____ (Lawyer) & _____ (Law student) Landlord told client she is being evicted due to non-payment of rent effective next Monday. Client has not received anything in writing about this. Can the landlord evict the client now? Civil / Housing - Assigned to ____ (Lawyer) & _____ (Law student) Client is pregnant. Her doctor told her she cannot walk up stairs. She lives on the third floor of her apartment and landlord said she could not move to a first-floor unit even though one is open. What can she do? Civil / Contract - Assigned to ____ (Lawyer) & _____ (Law student) Client is a nurse on a Covid floor. She previously signed a contract to teach exercise classes. It is no longer safe for her to teach exercise classes. The gym told her she will have to buy her way out of the contract or they will sue her.
Zoom “Break-out” Rooms: managed by clinic supervisors ROOM 2: ROOM 3: ROOM 1: FAMILY LAW CIVIL LAW FAMILY LAW FORMS ADVICE FAMILY FORMS CLIENT FAMILY CIVIL LAW LAW CLIENT CLIENT
Greet the client Host and Make introductions Explain the limits of the Client Intake clinic Gather intake info The Law Have “Gold Guides” and other clinic Researcher Student Role materials at your fingertips Listen to the client Listener and and attorney and ask clarifying questions Client File Take client-friendly Manager notes during the meeting
The law student acts as host and conducts client intake 1) Make introductions of yourself and the attorney (first names only) Welcome to the Marquette Volunteer Legal Clinic. My name is Angela and I am a law student. Richard is also here as a law student. Mary is our volunteer attorney today. First, I am going to explain the limits of our service. 2) Explain the limits of our service We are a brief legal advice and referral service. We cannot take ongoing cases or represent you in court. We will do our best to answer your questions and get as much as possible accomplished in the time we have today. However, some legal matters are too complicated to be resolved with brief legal advice and we will let you know if that is the case here. Everything we discuss will be kept confidential. I will be taking notes for you during the meeting and they will be emailed to you as soon as we finish along with a link to an evaluation form for you to complete if you are willing. Do you have any questions about the limits of our service? {Continued on next slide}
The law student acts as host and conducts client intake {Continued from previous slide} 3) Conduct a brief client intake interview Before we talk about the issue that brought you here today, I need to gather a few pieces of information from you. ü Make sure you have the client’s name, date of birth, email, phone #, and mailing address all accurately captured on page 1 of the intake ü On page 2 of the intake, start by saying “The next five questions are optional. If you do not want to answer any question, just say ‘skip.’ The information you share is used ONLY for our clinics to collect statistical data.” Then ask the demographic questions about the client’s identity, income, etc. ü Once you have moved through the optional questions on page 2, transition to the interview about the client’s substantive issue.
Have the Gold Guides and MVLC Updates at your fingertips The Law Student as Have the MJC forms webpage at your fingertips Researcher Pop out of the Zoom “breakout meeting room” to consult with the supervisors as needed
Asking clarifying questions of both the client and the attorney can help everyone involved The Law •If you don’t understand something the client or attorney said, ask! Student as The law student shares their screen and has the appropriate tabs pulled up in advance Listener and File •Work collaboratively with the attorney to find the relevant resources Manager The law student takes notes for the clinic and for the client and navigates online resources •Law student and lawyers work together to make sure the client notes are high quality and thorough before the client meeting concludes.
READ THE MVLC CONSULT WITH PROVIDE THE UPDATES TAB SUPERVISORS AS BRIEF LEGAL BEFORE EACH OFTEN AS YOU’D ADVICE TO THE CLINIC LIKE CLIENT The Lawyer Role ENSURE THE TAKE CARE NOTES ARE WELL WHEN DONE BEFORE PROVIDING THEY ARE CLIENT SUBMITTED REFERRALS
MVLC UPDATES & GOLD GUIDES Review the MVLC Updates before each shift. Review the relevant Gold Guides based on the client synopses you receive.
Notetaking: A Joint Effort ◦ Law students take client notes during the visit ◦ Lawyers review them before they are submitted ◦ Notes are the client’s guide AND are relied on by future volunteers should a client return ◦ Notetaking Guide linked in training materials
Limited Scope Representation: Ethical Rules Limited scope Some special rules does not mean for brief legal limited ethical advice clinic responsibility setting
What ethical rules apply to brief legal advice? ◦ All of them! ◦ Confidentiality, SCR 20:1.6 ◦ Competence, SCR 20:1.1 ◦ Limited Scope Representation, SCR 20:1.2 ◦ Requires informed consent: 20:1.0(f) ◦ Informed consent for brief legal advice does not require client signature ◦ Conflicts of Interest, SCR 20:6.5 ◦ Special rule for brief advice clinics ◦ Ghostwriting, SCR 20:1.2(cm) ◦ Communicating with Person Represented by Counsel, SCR 20:4.2
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