Minnesota Legal Assistance to Military Personnel (LAMP)

The legal community in Minnesota provides Legal Assistance to Military Personnel in a variety of ways.

For the Warrior Community

• Active duty service members may wish to go first to Armed Forces Legal Assistance's online database to "locate active duty legal activities offering general legal services within the continental United States". While it does not appear to show any in the state of Minnesota. it does show a couple within a few hundred miles
• The Minnesota National Guard Office of the Staff Judge Advocate (OSJA) offers general legal assistance to servicemembers, their dependents and retired servicemembers in a variety of areas.
• Veterans will want to check with the Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs
• Homeless Veterans may want to check with the Minnesota Assistance Council for Veterans
• The Minnesota Attorney General has issued a very helpful Guide for Military Service Personnel and Veterans
• The Minnesota State Court's Self-Help center includes a webpage about special laws and rules in a Legal Action with a Person on Active Military Duty.

General-Purpose Resources

Servicemembers, veterans and their families are of course eligible to use the same resources as anyone else.

• LawHelpMN is a good, general-purpose place to start looking for law help in Minnesota
• Also very helpful is the Minnesota State Court's Self-Help center.

Private Practice Attorneys

Typically, a lawyer in private practice will listen to your situation, then give you an idea about how to proceed, in general terms, without charging you. If the matter is something the lawyer can help you with, but must charge for, sometimes you can work out a military-family discount, especially if you are easy to work with (e.g. have all your forms with you.)

• The Minnesota State Bar has a Find A Lawyer page with a variety of resources, including a web-based referral system that lets you look for lawyers interested in a particular kind of case (e.g. "military law") or by keyword (e.g. "veterans")
• The Findlaw website has a city-by-city list of lawyers in Minnesota who are interested in representing active-duty military personnel, military reservists, and veterans .

For Lawyers

• VETLAW/Minnesota Assistance Council for Veterans provides assistance throughout Minnesota to positively motivated veterans and their families who are homeless or experiencing other life crisis. Many of these veterans have unresolved legal issues, primarily civil but sometimes including criminal expungements
• One way to find volunteer programs in Minnesota directly addressing the warrior community is to go to the MSBA Pro Bono Directory. In the "Working With" field, pick "Veterans" and his "search". It'll give you a list of programs that include veterans in their target clientele
• The Minnesota State Bar has a Military Law Committee with the mission "To gather and disseminate information, share expertise and advise the members of the Bar on all matters relating to the practice of military law in Minnesota; to organize a pro bono program to provide legal assistance to deployed and mobilized military personnel and their families, in cooperation with the ABA's Operation Enduring LAMP; to coordinate communications regarding any problems which may arise relative to the provision of legal services to, for, or by members of the military; to consider all possible means of enhancing or increasing the cooperation and communication between the State Bar, the legal services, and the judge advocates of the various military installations within the state; and to allow retired military personnel the opportunity to connect with practicing military lawyers". To learn more, contact the committee
• See also:
  • Minnesota Volunteer Attorney Program: http://www2.mnbar.org/MVAP/
  • Pro Justice MN: http://www.projusticemn.org/ "Minnesota's online poverty law resource for pro bono and legal services practitioners, law students, and faculty advising low-income or disadvantaged clients."

It is likely that there are other Minnesota programs, sponsored by local bar associations, law schools, and others. Anyone with more information on these or other programs are invited to contact me; the most convenient way is to add in a comment below. The purpose is service!

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See also

• ABA Military Pro Bono Project
• State-by-state list of LAMP programs