Legal Rights Center

We believe that everyone, regardless of income, should have equal access to high quality legal representation and equal opportunity to exercise their legal rights.

Do you have a qualifying criminal case?

The Legal Rights Center is a criminal defense law firm. We can offer representation on criminal cases in Hennepin County, ranging from low level traffic misdemeanors to first degree murder.

We are not able to assist on any civil case, which may include housing, family, immigration, or other civil issues. For support on these types of cases, please call one of our trusted community partners listed below.

Case selection Guidelines

The Legal Rights Center will not accept a case when the client can afford a private attorney and reserves the right to accept or decline a case for any reason. We have limited resources and must allocate them efficiently for the greater good.

Income Guidelines

We also inquire about and consider additional factors that could make private attorney representation unaffordable to a particular client.

Preferred Cases

Cases LRC is Unlikely to Accept

We envision a world in which all youth, particularly Black, Indigenous, and youth of Color, are valued as integral members of their communities and are not pushed into the school-to-prison pipeline.

Restorative Services

The Restorative Justice Program’s mission is to facilitate restorative processes that affirm the strengths, dignity and humanity of young people, create space for relational accountability, and build power with community.

LRC’s staff of restorative facilitators are deeply trained and experienced practitioners. We facilitate a wide variety of restorative processes, all of which focus on the strength and power of youth, families, and communities to know their best interests and how to handle their own conflicts. This includes but is not limited to Family Group Conferences, Circles to Repair Harm, and Restorative Dialogues. Our facilitation is approached from a strengths-based perspective that affirms the dignity of all participants and is grounded in frameworks of racial equity, positive youth development, and trauma-informed care.

Capacity & Skill-building

Through ongoing restorative consultation, training and thought-partnership, we support Twin Cities Metro Area school communities in their exploration of restorative practices. This collaboration seeks to deepen practical restorative facilitation skills while working towards the development of relationship-centered, non-punitive, trauma-informed school climates and accountability systems. Within this framework, we work to create a world where all educators and school communities feel well equipped and supported to implement and uplift relational practices, ultimately creating learning environments in which students of all identities and backgrounds can thrive and feel a strong sense of belonging.

Partners

The Restorative Justice Program is engaged with several restorative services projects, partnering with multiple school districts and diversion programs. Current partners include:

We know that when youth and community members understand their rights, they are better able to advocate for themselves and their communities.

Interactions with law enforcement and the criminal legal system can feel like playing a game in which everyone else knows the rules but you. A critical component of supporting youth and community members to navigate through this inequitable system while also working to dismantle it is equipping them with critical knowledge about the criminal legal system, its consequences, and their rights.

For years, LRC has offered legal education workshops and Know Your Rights trainings to community members. The trainings have always been free and are viewed as integral to our organization’s mission of improving the experience of the justice system for BIPOC communities in Minneapolis. Following George Floyd’s murder and the resulting community uprisings, LRC responded to increased community demand for additional trainings.

Know your rights trainings

Interested in scheduling a Know Your Rights training? 

Visit our Know Your Rights Website

We believe that community members, especially those who are directly impacted by the criminal legal system, are best positioned to lead efforts towards systemic change.

MN COALITION FOR YOUTH JUSTICE

Convened in 2019, the Minnesota Coalition for Youth Justice advocates for policies, practices and programs that reduce racial and ethnic disparities, treat youth and families with dignity, and are informed by anti-racist and culturally sound practices. The coalition is composed of directly-impacted youth and community members and aligned partner organizations, all of whom believe that transformational change is imperative for Minnesota youth to access justice that is led with equity and love, rooted in humanity, and responsive to the strengths and needs of youth, families, and communities.

End Youth Prisons MN is a storytelling, advocacy, and organizing campaign to end youth incarceration in Minnesota and build power among young people and their families. The campaign uses storytelling & the arts, radical theories, and direct action organizing to shift local narratives and policy. Launched in June 2022, the campaign centers young people’s visions for systems change and prison abolition, especially those of currently incarcerated youth, formerly incarcerated youth, and youth who are at greatest risk of becoming involved in the juvenile justice system.