2026 MIE National Conference for Legal Aid Managers

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.

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.