Green Bay community legal center provides paralegal students with real-world experience

Legal Resources of Brown County, in Green Bay, Wisconsin, has been providing legal assistance to lower income families -- as well as hands-on experience to students -- since it opened in March 2015 and partnered with Globe University’s paralegal program.

Former Globe University-Green Bay paralegal program chair and attorney Laura Nelson recently told Higher Education Tribune that as one of the founders of Legal Resources of Brown County, she wanted to provide lower-income families with needed legal assistance who were otherwise unable to afford an attorney.

Nelson explained that Legal Resources of Brown County, like similar legal assistance providers in the area, wave all filing fees and court costs for its clients. Interpreters and translations also are provided for free. It provides a large range of legal assistance involving family law, housing matters, public benefits and consumer matters.

The services for Legal Resources are available on a smaller scale from 4 to 7 p.m. Tuesdays at the Wisconsin Job Center building, with most information and resources geared toward family law and landlord-tenant issues.

Nelson also explained that Legal Resources offer paralegal students the opportunity to volunteer at the clinic. Their responsibilities include answering client questions and assisting them in filling out with legal forms.

Volunteering provides the students experience working with real clients while developing the skills needed for the paralegal profession. Nelson said.

“The services can also benefit paralegal students by giving them the opportunity to provide legal support to those who cannot afford it otherwise,” Nelson said. “It’s practice-ready experience under the supervision of seasoned professionals.”

Overall, Nelson explained, Legal Resource of Brown County gives student volunteers a chance to get real-world experience that prepares them for the larger demands of the paralegal profession.