Stinson and CUHCC's Deinard Legal Clinic Featured in MinnPost Article

09.28.2023

Stinson LLP's Deinard Legal Clinic, a firm-led medical-legal partnership with the University of Minnesota's Community-University Health Care Center (CUHCC), is featured in a recent MinnPost article, "Recognizing the connection between health care and legal services."

The article features the origin story of the Deinard Legal Clinic, which started in 1993 when the son of a founder of Stinson's predecessor firm, Leonard, Street and Deinard, became the CEO of CUHCC. The latter was founded as a result of University of Minnesota Medical School professors wanting to provide care and assistance to low-income members of society.

"He had seen that in many of the clinic's patients, medicine treatment and medicine itself wasn’t necessarily solving all of the issues, especially in regards to patients whose living conditions were so poor that it was affecting their health," Stinson Pro Bono Attorney Tim Sanders Szabo, who manages the Deinard Legal Clinic, said.

The article also provides insight on CUHCC's referral process for patients seeking legal assistance from the Deinard Legal Clinic and details the impact the clinic continues to have 30 years after opening its doors to Minneapolis' Phillips neighborhood.

Sanders Szabo notes the Deinard Legal Clinic has received almost 150 referrals from CUHCC this year and is on track to "at least double" the number of patients referred compared to last year. Many of the patients referred have cases involving immigration law, landlord/tenant law, social security appeals and guardianship matters.

Stinson's pro bono program is implemented by Pro Bono Counsel Katie Cronin, along with Pro Bono Attorney Sanders Szabo and Pro Bono Specialist David Gottfried. The firm's pro bono strategic plan expects all partners to contribute substantially to the firm's legacy through pro bono legal work and community service, and it encourages and supports involvement from partners to summer associates. Through pro bono, Stinson attorneys and paralegals gain skills and invest in their communities while receiving billable hour credit for their work.

Read the full feature.