2026 MIE National Conference for Legal Aid Managers

Maintaining morale, focus, and trust through budget cuts and organizational pressure

Legal aid managers are increasingly responsible for supervising staff who use artificial intelligence tools—often without formal training in AI or technology. Yet regardless of how technology evolves, managers remain responsible for quality, ethics, client service, and organizational accountability.

Grounded in the conference theme, "Rooted in Resilience: Community-Centered Management Strategies," this session explores how leaders can adapt to technological change while remaining focused on mission-driven advocacy and client trust.

Using the framework of a coach "calling the plays," participants will discuss how managers can establish expectations, supervise AI-assisted work, manage risk, and support innovation without becoming technical experts themselves.

Topics include:

Supervising staff use of AI tools
Maintaining quality control and accountability
Addressing confidentiality and ethical concerns
Managing billing, workflow, and performance issues
Preventing over-reliance on AI while preserving professional judgment

Through facilitated discussion, real-world management scenarios, and peer learning, participants will identify practical strategies for integrating AI responsibly while ensuring technology strengthens—not replaces—high-quality, client-centered legal services.

Word count: approximately 170–180 words.

Legal aid managers make decisions every day—some small and immediate, others shaping programs, staffing, and long-term strategy. In an environment of complex community need and limited resources, data can be a powerful tool to support those decisions. But to be effective, data must be used in ways that remain grounded in people: clients, advocates, and communities.
This session explores how managers can use data to inform both day-to-day decisions and larger organizational choices while maintaining a relational, community-centered approach. Drawing on Cleveland Legal Aid’s Wealth Building Program, participants will learn how intake trends, client feedback, and a community needs assessment revealed widespread loss of generational wealth—and how those insights helped create a new practice area, including decisions about outreach, staffing, and service delivery.

The session will also examine how case data, outcomes, and workload patterns can inform supervision, resource allocation, and performance management. Participants will learn to identify the most useful data points for different decisions, understand the limits of what data can show, and integrate quantitative and qualitative insights into their management approach. Consistent with a people-centered framework, the session will highlight strategies for sharing and interpreting data transparently, incorporating staff perspectives, and using data to strengthen trust, collaboration, and decision-making.

Legal aid organizations are navigating a period of real flux — hybrid arrangements, shifting demographics, growing polarization, and uncertainty around funding are all reshaping how programs operate and connect with the people they serve. This panel discussion will explore how civil legal aid programs are maintaining strong community ties amid these changes, both in terms of priority and presence.

From there, the session will explore topics ranked by conference attendees - come with your phone to share what topics matter most to you!

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.

Coaching skills are essential to both leadership and management—of programs and people. A coaching approach to managing others supports reflection, awareness, communication, and accountability. In this interactive plenary session, participants will be introduced to a practical set of foundational coaching skills and explore how they can apply these skills in everyday leadership and management situations.