Thousands of Minnesotans have been helped by lawyers and law students through the Minnesota Justice Foundation, which celebrates its 25th anniversary Thursday with a bash at International Market Square. Former Vice President Walter Mondale will deliver the keynote on “Searches, Seizures, and Spies: The Fourth Amendment.”
The MJF puts law students in legal aid and other poverty law offices for summer clerkships that have amounted to 174,400 hours in the last 24 years. It also matches law students with attorneys so that law students can provide pro bono services during their education. In 2005-2006 its Law School Public Service Program students performed 24,000 hours of service for over 9,000 clients -- work equivalent to that of 12 full-time lawyers.
The event will also honor seven members of the legal community for their exemplary service to low-income clients. One honoree is Timothy Branson, who led a team of volunteer lawyers in a six-year legal battle involving racial profiling at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. The case was settled in August 2007 for $20,000, the first time that the federal Drug Enforcement Agency has paid to settle a racial profiling case.
Congratulations and thank you to everyone involved with MJF.
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