Criminal Expungement Volunteer Resources

About Volunteering

Volunteer Opportunities with the Criminal Expungement Program include: 

Advice calls: Volunteer attorneys can sign up to make advice calls in 1-hour increments. There are no more than three clients scheduled per hour. During these calls, volunteer attorneys will give basic advice on expungements and conduct initial screening for eligibility to petition for expungement. 

Walk-in clinics: Volunteer attorneys can staff legal clinics with VLN’s Criminal Expungement Resource Attorney and others. Walk-in clients may be given education about the expungement process, assistance filing out expungement paperwork, and/or individual advice about their situation.  

Full Representation: After receiving basic information about a client and the records they are seeking to have expunged, a volunteer attorney may choose to be matched with a client for full representation services. The attorney, in consultation with the client, will draft the expungement petition and other documents, file and serve the petition and other documents, and represent the client at the expungement hearing. (Many jurisdictions in Minnesota are handling their expungement calendars remotely by Zoom at this time.)