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Advocate spotlight – Karen Bauer

The Legal Aid Society of Milwaukee (LAS) was founded in 1916 “to do all things necessary for the prevention of injustice.” It is one of the nation’s oldest, continuously operating, public interest law firms, and it provides free legal assistance to needy Milwaukee County residents with civil legal problems. Karen Bauer, a staff attorney with LAS, handles foreclosure defense, consumer law and student loan law cases. “Student loan law is kind

Volunteer spotlight: Melinda Giftos and Anthony Jurek

The Student Expulsion Prevention Project (StEPP) was started with a small grant from the State Bar of Wisconsin’s Pro Bono Initiative. The goal of the project is to keep more kids in school and reduce the minority achievement gap that results from the disproportionate number of minority students being expelled. StEPP coordinates trained volunteer lawyers who represent children who are facing expulsion or suspension from a school district. The program

A crucial source of help for the elderly

By Kate Schilling Greater Wisconsin Agency on Aging Resources (GWAAR) is a nonprofit agency committed to supporting the successful delivery of programs and services to seniors in 70 counties and 11 tribes in Wisconsin. The legal issues that our seniors face are complex. Wisconsin may be unique in how it provides access to Elder Benefit Specialists in every county with legal backup provided by GWAAR. Everyone has heard that our population is

Provider profile – Legal Action of Wisconsin

  The legal problems faced by low-income people often threaten them with dire consequences: eviction, loss of income, domestic violence, loss of health care, homelessness, repossession of vehicles (which can result in the loss of employment) and more. These are the problems that Legal Action of Wisconsin (LAW) helps over 8,000 people address each year. While the cases usually do not involve large sums of money, the outcomes for poor

Working harder for Wisconsin veterans

As a part of our ongoing effort to improve the delivery of civil legal services for Wisconsin residents in need, the Wisconsin Access to Justice Commission has begun working with the Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs, Army OneSource, and our other stakeholders to develop additional legal resources for assisting our veterans. This effort will be led by Commission member Jeff Unger, who also serves as Transition Assistance Advisor with the Wisconsin National

Provider spotlight: Kids Matter

Kids Matter Inc. was founded in 2000 to help abused and neglected youth in the greater Milwaukee area. It is a small agency with a big mission. Kids Matter is the only legal services agency providing non-GAL civil legal services within the child welfare system and for informal kinship families in Wisconsin. In addition to providing direct legal services for children and families, Kids Matter provides free legal information to

Avoiding compassion fatigue

      Keeping Legal Minds Intact: Mitigating Compassion Fatigue By Linda Albert*, LCSW, CSAC This is an excerpt of an article published in The Wisconsin Defender magazine, Winter/Spring 2009. It is reprinted with permission. What is compassion fatigue? There are several different terms often used to refer to the same phenomenon; to name a few: compassion fatigue, vicarious trauma, secondary traumatic stress, second hand shock and secondary stress reaction.

Wisconsin equal justice conference recap

The Wisconsin Equal Justice Conference is an education forum for advocates on access to justice issues related to low-income and disadvantaged clients. More than 120 people attended this year’s biennial conference in Milwaukee on March 6, 2015. Sponsored by the State Bar of Wisconsin Legal Assistance Committee and Public Interest Law Section, as well as the Wisconsin Access to Justice Commission, the conference offered a variety of presentations on topics of interest

Using family court to obtain immigration relief for minors

By Marsha M. Mansfield and Stacy Taeuber (This article was first published by the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law and is reprinted with permission.) The Immigrant Justice Clinic at the University of Wisconsin Law School was created in 2012 to provide a sound clinical experience for law students and quality pro bono representation for Wisconsin’s growing immigrant population. The Clinic works closely with the National Immigrant Justice Center in Chicago to represent immigrants in

Provider spotlight – Community Justice, Inc.

By Jennifer Binkley Community Justice Inc. (CJI) is a nonprofit law firm that provides people with access to justice by offering affordable legal services from qualified and dedicated attorneys. Our attorneys work with low-income families and individuals to secure fair representation in court, protecting the legal rights of those who would otherwise face the system alone. While that usually means taking on cases directly, CJI attorneys have often worked to