Healthcare-Legal Partnerships
Medical-Legal Partnership Online: LawHelpMN.org
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awHelpMN.org is a one-stop shop for civil legal information and referrals in Minnesota. LawHelpMN has existed for more than 15 years as a free, trusted resource for understandable legal information. A project of the Minnesota Legal Services Coalition, the site is run and maintained by the Coalition’s State Support office, which also curates and provides guidance for all its content. For patients with legal needs, LawHelpMN is valuable because it is mobile-friendly, free to use, highlights free and low-cost legal options, is up-to-date and reliable, and finds the right referral. The newest innovation on the LawHelpMN site is the LawHelpMN Guide (see insert). The Guide is designed to make it easier for a user to find the right self-help resources and referrals for their problem. In order to refine the user’s legal problem, the LawHelpMN Guide asks a series of questions. The questions narrow the legal problem type and the LawHelpMN Guide displays a selection of self-help resources, which can be texted or e-mailed. Among the featured self-help resources on LawHelpMN are its 160 Education for Justice fact sheets, available in multiple languages, to help people learn about the law and their rights. These are written in plain language and reviewed and updated annually by legal aid lawyers. The site also includes guided do-it-yourself forms, including a Power of Attorney form, and a revocation of a Power of Attorney. Seven booklets, covering common topics such as
By Emily Good
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November/December 2019
Debt, Child Support, Divorce, Rights of Unmarried Parents, and Orders for Protection are available to read or download for free. A second step in the LawHelpMN Guide asks the user some additional filtering questions to gauge their eligibility for legal services. These include their household size and income, what county the person lives in, how old they are, questions about special qualifications such as having a disability, tribal residence, or being a veteran. Based on this information, a list of potential legal referrals is generated. These can also be emailed or texted. The legal referrals fall into five categories. The first is the “traditional” model of a free legal aid office, where the patient calls and is screened and then meets with a lawyer. The second is a “clinic,” which is a one-time meeting, often on a drop-in basis, with a lawyer at a community location. The “clinic” can be a good option for a patient with an urgent question, who may not be able to get help from a legal aid office, or for someone with a discrete
question. The third, a “referral service” is the best fit for someone who makes too much money to qualify for the free services, has a legal issue that legal aid cannot help with, or has not been able to get help. These include bar associations, sliding fee services, unbundled or a la carte lawyers, and community-based lawyering models where the patient pays a fee to a lawyer for their work on the case. The fourth option, “mediation” is available for free or a sliding fee in some legal areas. Finally, “informational service” includes court self-help centers or law libraries where a patient can get assistance researching a legal issue, finding a form to file, or help with the procedural rules. These informational services cannot offer advice or tell the patient what to do, but they offer important help when legal advice is not needed or available. A patient can be directed to the Guide or may work through it with a social worker or helper. Either way, the questions are designed to help match the person with the best information and referrals for their specific problem. Because the site brings together civil legal resources, law library services, mediation and bar referral, it is a streamlined referral mechanism, taking the confusion out of identifying the legal problem and figuring out where to direct someone for legal help. LawHelpMN.org is here to help you, and your patients, by taking the guesswork out of legal referrals. Emily Good is a legal projects manager on the small but mighty team at Legal Services State Support, which runs the LawHelpMN. org website. Questions about the site and resources can be directed to statesupport@ mnlegalservices.org or (651) 228-9105.
MetroDoctors
The Journal of the Twin Cities Medical Society