Minnesota was one of seven states to receive a grant from the National Center for State Courts to assess relevant available resources and design a strategic action plan for achieving the Justice for All vision of a system where everyone has access to effective assistance for their essential civil legal needs. The newly formed Triage Portal Advisory Committee (TPAC) is one of the key 2018 initiatives of the Minnesota Justice for All Strategic Action Plan being implemented through close coordination among the Minnesota Judicial Branch, civil legal aid and the private bar as project leads, with input and review from over 60 stakeholder groups from across the state. The TPAC will serve as a governance structure to coordinate the work already being done to redesign the civil legal aid online intake system with additional court self-help, ADR and private bar resources and ensure there are sufficient resources for the long-term success of the Justice for All project.
Mr. McDonough is a member of the Legal Services Advisory Committee and will serve a two year term on the 13-member TPAC effective July 1, 2018.
At Dorsey, Mr. McDonough is part of a team of four full-time lawyers and staff who help coordinate pro bono work performed by Dorsey lawyers across the Firm’s 20 offices worldwide. Dorsey was an original signatory of the Law Firm Pro Bono Challenge back in 1993. Every year since then, Dorsey has surpassed the Challenge by devoting more than 3% of the Firm’s total billable hours to pro bono work for hundreds of individuals and nonprofit organizations in a wide range of projects around the world. In 2017, Mr. McDonough and Dorsey’s pro bono team oversaw nearly 32,000 hours of Challenge pro bono legal service by the Firm.
Before joining Dorsey in 2013, Mr. McDonough worked as a legal aid attorney for 30 years for Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid (MMLA), where he achieved national prominence as an expert in landlord-tenant and housing law and litigation and in poverty law. He is the author of the on-line manual, Residential Eviction Defense in Minnesota, the most widely viewed manual on landlord-tenant law in Minnesota.
“I am excited to be appointed to the Triage Portal Advisory Committee because I believe its work will have a real impact in improving access to civil legal services in the State,” noted Mr. McDonough. “At MMLA and now at Dorsey, I have devoted my professional career to helping ensure access to legal services for all, so it is great to be part of the Minnesota Justice for All action plan.”