rural preconference: expanding presence through outreach, montana legal services association...

Montana Legal Services Association

• Extremely large, sparsely populated state

• 145,000+ square miles

• 600 miles wide (or the same distance as Indianapolis, IN to Washington, DC)

• Population is app. 950,000

• 6.2 persons per sq mile / app. 12 cows per sq mile

Montana Legal Services Association Facts

• Only provider of civil legal services in Montana: serves 56 counties and 7 Indian Reservations

• App. 45 staff, only 15 casehandling attorneys

• 3 main offices, 2 satellite offices, 5 one-person offices

• Annual Budget – App. 3 million

Montana Legal Services Association

Service delivery challenges in Montana

• Service providers are not always located anywhere near the people who need them.

• Traditional walk-in service delivery model does not work.

MLSA meets the challenge through……….

• Community Education and Outreach!• MontanaLawHelp.org, MontanaProBono.net,

www.MTLSA.org• Legal Tips of the Week• Brochures and Flyers• Yearly Outreach Calendar Activities• Special Outreach Efforts

Staff: One attorney, one VISTA, and a community outreach committee including staff from various MLSA offices and law units

MontanaLawHelp.org

• General legal information for low to middle income people

• 11 law topics• Contact information for courts, legal services, and

social service agencies across Montana• LiveHelp – real time information retrieval

assistance

Legal Tips of the Week

• Short, general legal information summaries.

• Emailed to over 27 local newspapers across the state and 2 local access television stations.

• Posted on MontanaLawHelp.org and www.MTLSA.org.

• Picked up and distributed by social service agencies.

Brochures and Flyers

• Brochures on over 50 subjects.

• Flyers about MontanaLawHelp.org, the HelpLine, the Self-Help Law Unit and clinics, and more.

• Posted on www.MTLSA.org.

• MontanaLawHelp.org contains similar articles.

Yearly Outreach Calendar

• Each month has outreach activities.

• Includes direct mailings of brochures, flyers, palm cards, etc for specific projects or activities. Example: send out general MLSA overview of services brochure to courts, libraries, social service agencies across the state.

• Includes writing articles, presentations, etc.

Special Outreach Efforts Coasters

• Direct clients to find answers to legal questions on MontanaLawHelp.org

Special Outreach Efforts Librarian Outreach

• Legal resource guides• Presentations at statewide librarian association

meetings• Survey

Special Outreach Efforts Teen Outreach

• Presentations to high school students.

• In development with the State Bar of Montana: materials for teen educators statewide to teach about the court system, general legal information, and how to get legal assistance.

Benefits of Outreach

• Public has access to general legal information

• Potential MLSA applicants can sometimes solve their problems with the resources that are available through outreach. This allows MLSA staff to serve more people who have more complex problems.

• People who have more complex problems are better educated initially about their situations and legal remedies, freeing up time for MLSA staff.

More benefits of outreach

• People have access to legal information no matter where they live.

• Gives staff more resources for clients.

• Outreach tools, which are easily updated when the law changes or new content is developed, allow MLSA to respond quickly to client needs.

For More Information:

Christine MandiloffCommunity Legal Education Attorney406/442-9830 x 18 cmandilo@mtlsa.org