2026 MIE National Conference for Legal Aid Managers

This session will provide best practices and lessons learned regarding how to partner authentically with clients in media, advocacy, and even individual representation cases. Topics will include: how to ensure consent and avoid coercion, how to balance a client's real experiences with what you think your audience wants to hear, how to prepare clients to feel confident and comfortable even in sterile or hostile spaces, understanding the role trauma may play, equipping staff to have the time and skill to do this work well, and developing organizational policies to support this work.

This session will provide tips and strategies for navigating major changes, both positive and negative, across various levels of staff. Best practices and solutions will be discussed in the context of varying organizational size, as well as in the context of LSC-funded vs. non-LSC-funded organizations. The session will examine common scenarios such as strategic plan design and implementation; staffing reductions; and engaging in cross-organizational collaboratives. Opportunities for small group brainstorming and scenario planning will be provided.

CGLA leaders would present on how their legal practice model has evolved over time to be more rooted in and partnering with impacted community leaders. CGLA's integrated advocacy approach to our holistic legal aid with social work support, and our systemic reform efforts, are responsive to community needs, and led by community members. Our Leadership Council, active over 10 years, of former clients and others with systemic experience, help inform our advocacy, and or design and lead campaigns, and help refine our legal practice areas. With their help, we have helped pass more than 16 laws that removed barriers for our clients to housing, employment, and family connection. Once the laws are passed, we help implement the changes and ensure our future clients benefit from them. Our Leadership Council members also aid in our community outreach, education, and organizing efforts, ensuring the impacted communities we work with are aware of their legal rights and how to access them.

The client communities that we represent have been historically disinvested in, and are currently being stripped of their rights, power and dignity. As we develop our internal strategic plans, implement policies and make decisions- how are we intentionally creating space for the community input that is so mission connected? This session will include the perspective of 3 community members in the Baltimore region who have fully woven their perspectives into the routine decision making of client programming at Community Law Center, and present a framework for implementing this model of decision making in your own programs.

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.

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.