Site banner for Wisconsin

News

Recent Posts

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

Jeff Brown April 24, 2015

Making your voice heard

Wisconsin is one of only three states that makes no provision in its state budget for funding civil legal aid services to low income residents.Even if you’ve heard this statistic before, it continues to shock. The result is a legal system that struggles to provide equal justice to people who don’t understand the legal processes that could result in them losing access to housing, employment, their children, child support or

Jeff Brown February 3, 2015

Staff lawyer spotlight – Samir Jaber, Disability Rights Wisconsin

By Rita Lord Right after graduating from the University of Wisconsin Law School in 2012, Samir Jaber went to work with Disability Rights Wisconsin (DRW), a private nonprofit organization working to ensure the rights of those with disabilities. Jaber was attracted to a job in the area of social justice because “I was raised in a poor Milwaukee community where people lacked access to services in the justice system. My parents

Jeff Brown February 3, 2015

Volunteer spotlight – Wisconsin lawyers help out in Artesia

By Rita Lord In early 2014, amid a crush of thousands of Central American families caught crossing the border illegally, the federal government expanded the family detention system it had downsized just a few years ago. That set the stage for a remarkable effort to recruit volunteer lawyers from across the United States to travel to remote detention centers and provide legal representation to immigrant adults and children. In 2009,

Jeff Brown February 3, 2015

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

Jeff Brown October 30, 2014

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

Jeff Brown October 30, 2014

Lawyer for a day update

By Michael Gonring Milwaukee’s Lawyer for a Day program to have volunteer lawyers provide representation to victims seeking restraining order injunctions has now been up and running for 18 months. This is an update on our progress. During our first 18 months, 478 petitioners were referred to the program through Sojourner Family Peace Center and then screened by law students at Marquette University Law School. Injunctions were granted in 71

Jeff Brown October 29, 2014

Pro bono spotlight – Meghan Healy

By Rita Lord “My parents. Definitely, my parents,” responded Attorney Meghan Healy when asked what prompted her to become a volunteer in numerous social justice organizations. Meghan, her father Howard Healy and sister Kathleen Healy all practice with Di Renzo & Bomier in Neenah and all have volunteered for the Winnebago County Legal Clinic (pdf) since its inception in 2008. The clinic is held at three locations in the Fox Valley

Jeff Brown October 28, 2014

Pro Bono Honor Society membership raises the bar

As fall arrives, now is the time to start thinking about nominating the 2014 members of the Wisconsin Pro Bono Honor Society.  The Pro Bono Honor Society is an annual recognition program that was launched last year by the Wisconsin Access to Justice Commission and the State Bar of Wisconsin pro bono program as a way to salute the volunteer lawyers who help provide access to justice for low-income Wisconsin

Jeff Brown September 30, 2014

New funding for access to justice

This summer, thanks to a recent Wisconsin Supreme Court order, the Wisconsin Trust Account Foundation and the Access to Justice Commission will each have a new source of revenue to support their access to justice missions as of July 1, 2014. The funds will be generated by an increased fee that out of state lawyers must pay in order to practice on a temporary basis in a Wisconsin court. The fee

Jeff Brown July 23, 2014