Volunteer Resources
VLN provides many skill-based and legal resources to support high-quality services to your VLN clients.
General Resources for Volunteering:
- Sign up for a Volunteer Orientation. Volunteer Orientations are held twice a month via Zoom. Registration is required.
- Upcoming CLEs. Our CLEs include trainings on substantive law issues common to people living in poverty both generally and in specific areas of law.
Additional Trainings:
- Helping Clients in Poverty Overcome Barriers to Equal Justice: This essential three-page summary includes the most important concepts from the 4.0-hour Breaking Poverty Barriers to Equal Justice curriculum, based on the work of Dr. Donna Beegle. For the additional impact of race, see The Impact of Race in Pro Bono Services.
- Guide for Working with Gender Diverse Clients: This document goes over the challenges LGBTQ+ people may face in daily life, how these challenges can affect gender diverse clients when seeking legal services, and tips for volunteers on how best to support gender diverse clients.
Forms for VLN Cases:
- Representation Agreement (and in Spanish)
- Extended/Full Representation Case Closing Form
- Clinic and Phone Advice Report Form
Interpreting Services
VLN also provides interpreting services for telephone and face-to-face meetings at no cost to volunteers or clients. To request a documents for how to request an interpreter and guidelines for using telephone interpreters, please contact the program manager for the program you are volunteering in.
If you need help beyond these, please contact the case placement coordinator or program manager in the area where you are volunteering.
Credit for Pro Bono (including Mentoring)
Attorneys volunteering through VLN may report one CLE credit for every six hours of pro bono work through VLN. This includes, for example, volunteering on full representation cases, at clinics, and/or to mentor another VLN volunteer. For every three-year reporting cycle, attorneys volunteering through VLN can claim up to six credits this way. For more information, see CLE Credit for Pro Bono.
Malpractice Insurance Information
VLN provides malpractice insurance for all pro bono representations undertaken through VLN. To qualify for VLN’s malpractice insurance, an attorney must have completed a registration form, been approved for volunteering, and have a client obtained through VLN. Obtained through VLN includes clients seen at VLN clinics or referred to the attorney as a VLN client by a VLN staff person. If you receive a malpractice complaint, an ethics complaint, notice of an ethics investigation, or think you may need to utilize VLN’s malpractice insurance, please contact VLN’s Executive Director, Tom Walsh by email at tom.walsh@vlnmn.org or at (612) 752-6675 as soon as possible.
Retiring Attorneys
Retiring or retired attorneys (62+ years old) with emeritus status may provide pro bono legal representations to VLN pro bono clients without having to pay the annual registration fee necessary for an active license to practice law. See Become an Emeritus Pro Bono Attorney through VLN and the Affidavit of Emeritus Status.
LawHelpMN.org
LawHelpMN.org provides answers to legal questions, contact information for legal aid offices, and links to courthouses and local community organizations. The site features fact sheets written for low-income clients about poverty law issues. These handouts can help explain legal issues to clients or be used as a starting point to educate attorneys on new legal topics.
ProJusticeMN.org
ProJusticeMN.org provides sample pleadings, online document assembly tools, and recorded training sessions on a wide variety of poverty law issues. VLN highly encourages all of our volunteers to register with and use ProJusticeMN.org. Access to the website is free, but registration is required.
Hennepin County Bar Association
The Volunteer Lawyers Network (VLN) is the pro bono arm of the Hennepin County Bar Association. For decades, the HCBA has had a unique partnership with VLN, providing core funding and promoting VLN as HCBA members’ primary resource for connecting with opportunities to fulfill pro bono obligations. More information about the benefits of bar membership and how to join can be found here online.
Stay connected and informed by subscribing to our Monthly Message! Our newsletter delivers a monthly roundup of information featuring updates on events and campaigns, clinic changes, new developments within VLN, and exciting volunteer opportunities. Get a firsthand look at the latest happenings and ways you can make a meaningful impact!
Tip of the Month
Since April 2006, Volunteer Lawyers Network has published a monthly short summary of an often-new area of law that we call the Tip of the Month. Want to access Tips from our archive? Contact us!
April 2026 – Recent Changes to the Emeritus Status Rule
March 2026 – Non-Legal Referral Resources for Clients
January 2026 – Golden Years: the Rewards of Volunteering
December 2025 – Winter Holiday Stress
November 2025 – FYI: Minnesota Disaster Attorney Toolkit
October 2025 – Working with Interpreters
September 2025 – (From the Archives) Volunteerism Made Easy in Three Simple Steps!
August 2025 – New Resources for Volunteer Attorneys Advising Clients Who Are at Risk of Deportation: Minnesota Family Deportation Preparedness Manual
July 2025 – (From the Archives) What to Do When Clients Stops Responding
June 2025 – Month A Quick Guide to Names and Pronouns When Working With Transgender Clients
May 2025 – CLE Credit for Volunteering
April 2025 – Simplified Fee Waiver Applications for Clients Represented by Pro Bono and Legal Aid Attorneys
March 2025 – Working with Difficult Clients
February 2025 – Minnesota Criminal Expungement Update
January 2025 – Family and Immigration Preparedness Resources
December 2024 – Volunteerism made easy in 3 simple steps!
November 2024 – Executive Summary of No Chance at Redemption? Defending Evictions After Foreclosure and Contract for Deed Cancellations
