2026 MIE National Conference for Legal Aid Managers

This session will cover key aspects for new or veteran supervisors managing a unionized workforce, including relationships with union stewards and representatives, an overview of the NLRA and NLRB fundamentals and compliance (such as tips for avoiding unfair labor practices and obligations for complying with an employee's Weingarten rights), common union contract provisions to be aware of, and advice for handling the grievance and arbitration process.

Most legal services programs maintain strong partnerships with other organizations serving low-income households in their community. But rarely are those partnerships truly integrated into a legal services program’s intake system. This session will provide two different examples, from two very different perspectives – one rural and statewide, one urban and issue-specific – on how legal services programs can better integrate their work with the work of other community-based partners, to the benefit of clients.

This session examines the malpractice exposure and ethics questions that most affect those who manage and supervise legal work in legal aid organizations. We will discuss the recent US Supreme Court case, Berk v. Choy, and its impact on litigation. We will explore how to define and document the scope of representation and frequent missteps which may impact legal aid organizations. We will address the responsible use of artificial intelligence—by lawyers and staff, and increasingly by the clients they serve—and what that means for competence, confidentiality, and supervision. We will discuss obligations regarding supervision of lawyers and non-lawyers and how best to meet those obligations through policies, procedures, and effective training. We will also cover the growing complexity of multijurisdictional practice in this remote world. Finally, we will explore the ethical and practical considerations that arise when withdrawing as counsel. Drawing on the ABA Model Rules, ABA Formal Opinions, and real-world scenarios relevant to legal aid practice nationwide, this session equips managers to spot emerging issues early, strengthen their organizations’ internal safeguards, and support the attorneys they supervise in meeting their professional obligations.

Legal aid managers are frequently required to lead through uncertainty, including mergers, leadership transitions, funding changes, restructuring, and evolving community needs. In these moments, communication is one of the most critical management tools, but also one of the most difficult to execute effectively.

This session provides a practical, skills-based framework for communicating during organizational change in ways that build and sustain trust. Drawing on real-world experience from a multi-organization legal aid merger in a rural, multi-office system, presenters will focus on specific communication decisions managers must make, including what to communicate, when to communicate it, and how to tailor messaging across roles and audiences.

The session will address concrete management challenges such as communicating when decisions are still in progress, responding to staff questions without complete information, managing rumors and uncertainty, and aligning messaging across leadership roles. Participants will be introduced to a simple decision-making framework for structuring communication during change, along with examples of messaging strategies used in real organizational scenarios.

Attendees will leave with practical tools they can apply immediately in supervision and organizational leadership, including approaches for managing uncertainty, strengthening credibility during change, and maintaining alignment across leadership teams.

As legal aid organizations continue to navigate evolving workplace dynamics, fostering connection, collaboration, and organizational culture has become more important than ever. This session will explore how cross-office and cross-organizational initiatives can strengthen staff engagement, support retention, and build resilience across geographically dispersed and hybrid work environments.

Representatives from Central Minnesota Legal Services (CMLS), Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid (MMLA), and Legal Services State Support will share strategies and programs that promote community, professional development, and organizational cohesion. Participants will learn how collaborative efforts—both formal and informal—help bridge distances between offices, create meaningful opportunities for staff connection, and reinforce organizational values.

Managing attorneys wear a lot of hats. Client advocate. Supervisor. Trainer. Compliance officer. But somewhere between the caseload and the compliance calendar, there's a job that rarely gets named: project manager.

This session is designed for managing attorneys and legal aid managers at any level who are looking for practical, low-barrier tools and systems to bring more structure, visibility, and collaboration to their teams. Whether you're managing a team of two or twenty, coordinating across offices or time zones, or just trying to reduce the number of things that fall through the cracks, this session will give you a working toolkit you can put into practice.

We'll explore how managing attorneys can apply project management principles and tools, from simple task tracking systems to shared collaboration platforms, and even Generative AI tools, without requiring a technology background or a dedicated IT department. We'll cover how to match the right tools to your team's actual workflow, how to build buy-in from staff who are already stretched thin, and how to create systems that don't collapse when key people are out.

Attendees will leave with a framework for evaluating project management tools, practical examples of what can work in legal aid environments, and concrete first steps for building or strengthening the organizational infrastructure behind their team's legal work.

The session guides leaders to move their programs beyond tactical decisions and move forward strategic and visionary change. This session begins with an overview of prevalent theories of change at legal aid organizations, followed by an interactive discussion of a case study in which staff leadership, board, and funders of an organization are not fully aligned on program priorities. Through the case study grounded in real-world scenarios, participants will identify how they can become more effective catalysts for change.