VLN needs volunteers to help create legal advice clinic resources, draft Tips of the Month , and research legal issues and topics affecting our clients. If you are interested in one of the following projects or have an topic idea, please contact Martha Delaney at martha@hcba.org. Please check this page on a regular basis to see new projects.

Attorney Resources/Tips of the Month

• Resources to help attorneys figure out drivers license issues (checklists, helpful phone numbers) (including drafting an implied consent form that pro se litigants could complete themselves or with the help of a legal advice attorney) (posted 10/17/07)

• Resources to help attorneys provide advice/advocacy on car impoundment issues (posted 10/17/07)

• Step-by-step instructions for getting your car back after forfeiture (MN Stats Secs. 609.5311 and 609.5314) (posted 10/16/07)

• Step-by-step instructions for how to get an emergency injunction in civil court (posted 10/16/07)

• A collection of step-by-step instructions for how to correctly serve/file paperwork in various areas (e.g., housing, family, civil, conciliation court, etc). It seems different courts have slightly different procedures – it would be great to have all the procedures summarized in one place for our attorneys (posted 10/16/07)

Research Issues

• Review the new pro hoc vice rules to see whether an attorney not licensed in MN could do volunteer work with VLN if one of our attorneys acted as his/her “host” (posted 10/17/07)

• If a litigant fails to complete a financial disclosure statement correctly, for example, in a garnishment action, what is the correct course of action? (I would say it’s a Motion to Compel and/or an Order to Show Cause, but at least one judge says it’s to turn the case over to a prosecutor to charge the person with perjury.) (posted 10/16/07)

• Debt Collection: Is there anything an individual can do to prevent law firms from harassing them on an annual basis? If they contact the firm and tell the firm they are unable to pay the debt, and show proof of that, is there any type of, e.g., injunction an individual may ask for to prevent the law firm from continuing to file actions against them (unless the law firm can show something has changed since the last time an action was filed). (posted 10/16/07)