The Legal Aid Society of Milwaukee was founded in 1916 “to do all things necessary for the prevention of injustice.”  We are one of the nation’s oldest, continuously operating, public interest law firms.  Each year the Society provides free legal services to 8,000 of Milwaukee’s most vulnerable residents: abused and neglected children, developmentally disabled adults, persons living with HIV/AIDS, battered women, immigrants, elderly, prisoners, mentally ill, physically impaired, unemployed, and homeless – all of whom are too poor to afford legal counsel.

In addition to representing individuals and families, the Legal Aid Society also challenges patterns and practices of abusive behavior by large corporations and governmental entities through litigation of class action and major impact cases.  Staff lawyers act in these matters as private attorneys general by vindicating constitutional rights or advancing important public interests on behalf of the poor.  The Society provides a full range of civil legal services in all state and federal forums, including administrative agencies, trial and appellate courts, and legislative advocacy.

The Society has served as counsel of record or amicus curiae in nearly 140 cases resulting in published opinions by state and federal courts.  These decisions have established an important body of case law on the rights of tenants, children, prisoners, mental patients, and consumers.  That legacy has left a lasting mark on national and state jurisprudence affecting the poor.

Legal Aid Society staff attorneys meet with clients at ten sites throughout the community, including its conveniently located Downtown office, its quarters in the Children’s Court Center, and at the Milwaukee County Mental Health Center.  Staff attorneys conduct regular outreach sessions at St. Benedict’s Community Meal, The Gathering Meal Program at St. James Church, Christian Faith Fellowship Church Meal Program, Sixteenth Street Community Health Center, MLK Heritage Clinic, Milwaukee Enterprise Center, and Sojourner Truth House for victims of domestic violence.

Our award-winning professional staff of 29 lawyers, 9 social workers, and 8 legal assistants works in three divisions: (1) Civil law, which covers a broad array of issues; (2) Guardian ad Litem Division, which advocates for children in Family Court and Children’s Court; and (3) Mental Disabilities Law Division.  Our clients often face catastrophic events during which representation by an attorney is essential.  These include termination of parental rights, eviction, bankruptcy, foreclosure, custody disputes, domestic violence, wage garnishment, repossession of household goods, civil mental commitment, protective placement, loss of employment, civil forfeitures, guardianship, tax liens, denial of government benefits to which the client is entitled, Municipal Court warrants, and discrimination based on race, gender, age, religious affiliation, or health status.

One of the Legal Aid Society’s most innovative programs is our GAIN Project, a targeted initiative that recruits and trains more than 300 lay volunteers to serve as court-appointed guardians of the person for nearly 600 people suffering from a wide range of cognitive impairments that includes Alzheimer’s Disease, Down Syndrome, mental retardation, brain injuries, stroke impairment, dementia, and chronic mental illness.  The volunteer guardians act as advocates for the proper treatment of their fragile, often elderly, wards who have no family members to look after their best interests.  

The Legal Aid Society has been an innovator in many areas of the law.  In 1921, we took the lead in helping establish the first Small Claims Court in the state.  In 1923, the Society co-founded what is now the National Legal Aid & Defender Association, a powerful voice for equal justice.  In 1939, in partnership with the University of Wisconsin Law School, we began one of the nation’s first clinical education placements for law students.  In 1943, in conjunction with the Milwaukee Bar Association, the Society inaugurated the state’s first lawyer referral service.  In 1950, the Legal Aid Society became Wisconsin’s first all-female law firm.  In 1957, well before the United States Supreme Court recognized the right to counsel in criminal cases, the Society began the state’s first public defender program.  In 1988, the Society established one of the nation’s first anti-discrimination projects on behalf of persons living with AIDS.  In 2005, the Legal Aid Society led Wisconsin’s response by offering legal services to refugees from Hurricane Katrina.  Today, we are on the cutting edge in fighting mortgage foreclosure fraud by predatory lenders.

Throughout its history, the Legal Aid Society has been honored for exemplary public service.  In 1944, the Army and Navy awarded citations to the Society for representing servicemen and women and their dependents during World War II.  Within the past several years, the Legal Aid Society received a Recognition Award from the Episcopal Diocese of Milwaukee for its work with the homeless; the Benedict Center’s Justice Award for our work on behalf of prisoners and for improving jail conditions; the J.C. Penny Golden Rule Award for our advocacy of abused children; a Distinguished Service Award from the Milwaukee Bar Association for our work on behalf of the poverty community; and another J.C. Penny Golden Rule Award for serving the needs of people with severe disabilities.  In 2006, the Society received a special Pro Bono Award from the State Bar of Wisconsin to commemorate 90 years of providing free legal services to an estimated half a million impoverished clients.       

Ten former Legal Aid Society attorneys have become judges on the Wisconsin Supreme Court, Court of Appeals, or Circuit Court.  Current staff members have been awarded numerous Lawyer of the Year, Leader in the Law, and Pro Bono Publico honors.  In recent times, Legal Aid Society attorneys have been elected President of the Milwaukee Bar Association, Chair of the Board of Governors of the State Bar of Wisconsin, and been appointed to serve on the Federal Judicial Nominating Commission.  Other staff attorneys have received appointments as adjunct professors of law at Marquette University Law School or taught at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee School of Social Welfare. 

In the fall of 1916, the Legal Aid Society participated in Milwaukee’s first United Way campaign as one of the original charities supported by the Centralized Budget of Social Agencies.  Today, the Society is funded by a broad partnership of public and private sources.  These include city, county, state, and federal government agencies, as well as United Way, the Helen Bader Foundation, Wisconsin Trust Account Foundation, Archdiocese of Milwaukee Supporting Fund, Everyday Philanthropists, Faye McBeath Foundation, Foley Family Foundation, Forest County Potawatomi Community Foundation, Gene and Ruth Posner Foundation, Gesu Parish Endowment, Greater Milwaukee Foundation, Herb Kohl Charities, Impact Fund, Jane Bradley Pettit Foundation, Joseph Zilber Family Foundation, M&I Bank, Milwaukee Bar Association Foundation, Northwestern Mutual Foundation, Park Bank Foundation, RBC Dain Rauscher Foundation, Red Granite Advisors LLC, Robert W. Baird Foundation, WE Energies Corporation Foundation, William Stark Jones Foundation, and the Women’s Fund. 

Milwaukee’s major law firms and individual lawyers continue to be generous supporters of the Legal Aid Society’s annual fund appeal.  Leaders in this group include Foley & Lardner LLP; Rinehart Boerner Van Deuren SC; Cannon & Dunphy SC; Quarles & Brady LLP; Michael Best & Friedrich LLP; Godfrey & Kahn SC; Davis & Kuelthau SC; von Briesen & Roper SC; O’Neil Cannon Hollman DeJong SC; Cook & Franke SC; Gimbel Reilly Guerin & Brown SC; Gillick Wicht Gillick & Graf SC; Stephen M. Fisher & Associates SC; Habush Habush & Rottier SC; Emile Banks & Associates SC; Friebert Finerty & St. John SC; Aiken & Scoptur SC; Mawicke & Goisman SC.; Attorneys Stephen M. Glynn and Katie Walsh.

As Milwaukee’s premier advocate for the poor, the Legal Aid Society gives voice to the voiceless and hope to the hopeless.  Our mission is equal justice for the poor, but we cannot achieve that ideal without additional funds.  The Society needs to raise nearly $4 million each year just to maintain services at their current level.  You can help by making a tax-deductible donation today.  Liberty, Justice, Equality – without lawyers, they’re mere words.

Our Board of Directors:

Peter J. Stone, President
 Sunella Jones Ash, Vice President
Paul J. Tilleman, Vice President
Emile H. Banks, Treasurer
Daniel D. Blinka, Secretary