Details: The 2025 Minnesota legislative session brought new policy changes that will impact Legal Aid clients statewide. Congress has made deep cuts in funding for services affecting Legal Aid clients. This CLE will provide an overview of what passed in the 2025 Minnesota Legislature and will also discuss the impacts of the federal cuts, with a focus on how these new laws will affect low-income individuals and families. Legal Services Advocacy Project (LSAP) attorneys, who provide Legal Aid’s policy advocacy, will highlight the changes and answer questions. Join us to stay up to date on the latest policy developments and prepare for changes in client advocacy and service delivery.
Presenters: Ron Elwood is the Supervising Attorney at the Legal Services Advocacy Project (LSAP), a statewide division of Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid. He supervises a small team of attorneys who advocate on behalf of Legal Aid’s clients at the State Capitol and before administrative agencies. Ron has been with LSAP and Legal Aid for 26 years, covering a wide range of issues including consumer law, landlord-tenant and housing law, energy and telecommunications law, health law, tax law, and family law. He has successfully developed and advocated for statutes protecting consumers, tenants, manufactured home park residents, agricultural and food processing workers, energy consumers, new Americans, taxpayers, and homeowners. Before joining Legal Aid in 1996, Ron worked in staff and management positions at the New York City Department of Consumer Affairs and the New York State Public Service Commission; as a consultant on energy matters for the Minnesota State Legislature; and as a planner on housing and homelessness for the Ramsey County Human Services Department.
Ellen Smart is a staff attorney with the Legal Services Advocacy Project. She has been with LSAP since 2022 and Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid since 2000. At the legislature, Ellen works closely with the Minnesota Disability Law Center to protect and expand the rights of Minnesotans with disabilities to live as independently as possible. She also focuses on unemployment insurance and how workers with multiple jobs and lower incomes have more difficulty accessing benefits. Prior to joining LSAP, Ellen was in the benefits unit and focused on MFIP family violence waivers, SSI cases, and unemployment law. While in the benefits unit, she taught the unemployment law clinic at the University of Minnesota Law School for four years.
Jessica Webster is a staff attorney with the Legal Services Advocacy Project. She has been with LSAP since 2006. At LSAP, Jess is focused on government benefits and public education law where she advocates for families, children, and seniors at the Minnesota Legislature and with several state agencies. Jess recently helped pave the way to end school lunch shaming practices statewide through universal school meals. She is also striving to and end out-of-school suspensions and in-school solitary confinements for all Minnesota children. Before joining LSAP, Jess worked on public interest issues related to poverty, affordable housing, public education, gender equity, HIV/AIDS, and environmental protection. Outside of LSAP, Jess tries to keep up on road and mountain bikes with her family. Her dog’s name is Senator Nola Biscuits.
Location: Zoom
CLE: 1 hour of CLE Credit to be applied for.
This training is free.