Mondale, Emmer, Swanson Join Leading Midwest Jurists in Minneapolis for LSC Board Meeting Events

WASHINGTON – Former U.S. Vice President Walter Mondale, Minnesota Congressman Tom Emmer, Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson, Minnesota Chief Justice Lorie Skjerven Gildea and other leading jurists and lawyers from the Midwest will gather in Minneapolis this week for events at a board meeting of the Legal Services Corporation.

The LSC Board will convene two panels at the University of St. Thomas Law School on July 17. Swanson, LSC Board Chair John G. Levi, and Dean Robert K. Vischer of the University of St. Thomas Law School will speak before the panel discussions.

The first panel, which focuses on the importance of access to justice to the judiciary, will feature Chief Justice Lorie Skjerven Gildea of the Minnesota Supreme Court, Justice Shirley S. Abrahamson of the Wisconsin Supreme Court, Judge Michael J. Davis of the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota, and Justice Thomas L. Kilbride of the Illinois Supreme Court. Harvard Law School Dean and LSC Board Vice Chair Martha Minow will moderate the panel, which takes place from 9:30 – 10:45 a.m.

The second panel will examine the role of LSC-funded legal aid programs in the development of Indian Law. Panelists will include: Christopher Allery, Co-Executive Director, Anishinabe Legal Services; Rosalie Chavez, Manager, Santa Ana office and the Native American Program, New Mexico Legal Aid; Professor Richard B. Collins, University of Colorado Law School; John Echohawk, Executive Director, Native American Rights Fund; and Judge Ron Whitener, Tulalip Tribal Court. LSC Board member Gloria Valencia Weber, a professor at the University of New Mexico Law School, will moderate the panel, taking place from 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 noon.

Rep. Emmer and Dean David Wippman of the University of Minnesota School of Law will deliver remarks at a luncheon following the panel discussions, held at the Raddison Blu (35 South 7th Street) from 12:30 – 1:45 p.m.

Later in the day at the Dorsey & Whitney law firm (50 South 6th Street), Mondale, Minnesota State Bar Association President Michael Unger, and Dorsey &Whitney Managing Partner Ken Cutler will deliver remarks at a reception for recipients of LSC’s Pro Bono Service Awards. The reception begins at 5:30 p.m.

The LSC Board will meet July 16-18 at the Radisson Blu Minneapolis, 35 South Seventh Street. Details regarding the board and committee meetings may be found in a notice published on the LSC website.  

Legal Services Corporation (LSC) is an independent nonprofit established by Congress in 1974. For 50 years, LSC has provided financial support for civil legal aid to low-income Americans. The Corporation currently provides funding to 131 independent nonprofit legal aid programs in every state, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories.