Milwaukee Justice Center’s Shannon Allen on Free Civil Legal Aid Services for Low Income People in Milwaukee County

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Photo by Tom Jenz

Clients at the Milwaukee Justice Center

Clients meeting at the Milwaukee Justice Center

Sometimes, the best of Milwaukee can be hiding in a basement. Witness the Milwaukee Justice Center’s home on the G9 lower floor of the Milwaukee County Courthouse. The Milwaukee Justice Center (MJC) serves self-represented litigants to access the justice system even if they cannot afford an attorney or do not qualify for legal aid.

According to statistics, 70% of Americans are unable to afford legal counsel. Because of lack of education and legal literacy, these Americans are unprepared to navigate the complexities of the courts. This is where the MJC steps in, offering free civil legal aid services for low-income people in Milwaukee County. 

Former Milwaukee County Chief Judge Michael J. Skwierawski, who died a year ago, was one of the founders of the Milwaukee Justice Center 16 years ago. He said, “We needed to raise the consciousness level of Milwaukee lawyers about their social responsibility to help disadvantaged people get legal advice,” later adding, “I have been a lawyer for 52 years, but nothing I have done in my career has had as big an impact on this community as this justice center. Helping 10,000 people a year is beyond our wildest dreams.”

To examine the legal process, I turned to the President of the Milwaukee Justice Center Foundation, attorney Shannon Allen, who has been advocating for low-income people once a month for 16 years at the Justice Center. 

Allen can relate to those in need. She grew up in La Crosse, her family below the poverty line. “Our electricity got cut off a lot,” she told me. “My two brothers and I were raised by our mom, who was a single parent.” When Allen was 20, her mother died of cancer, and she became legal guardian for both her brothers. “My older brother has an intellectual disability, and he still lives with me,” she said. Despite this hardship, she graduated from the University of Wisconsin Law School, and eventually practiced law in Milwaukee. “Because of my background, I feel invested in the Milwaukee Justice Center’s efforts to help the less fortunate,” she added.  

I met Allen in the basement of the Milwaukee County Courthouse to observe the counseling of a client in need. Near the shoeshine stand, I found the AmeriCorps Courthouse Navigators, a program of the Milwaukee Justice Center. The navigators patrol the information desk and prepare clients for the multiple steps in the counseling process. They also provide referrals and make appointments for clients seeking legal advice. In 2024, the AmeriCorps Navigator Program completed 951 navigations, and answered 32,189 questions. 

Attorney Allen Counsels A Client

Allen guided me down the hall and into a vast, warmly lit room divided into small cubicles, each with a small table and chairs. The format dictates that volunteer lawyers meet with one client at a time. For over a two-hour period, each lawyer might counsel two or three clients, who wait their turns in rows of chairs near the room’s entrance.

Describing the MJC services, Allen explained, “We call it a three-legged stool. One, Milwaukee County who supplies the space and several employees. Two, Marquette Law School who supplies the law students. Three, Milwaukee Bar Association Foundation who raises the money to keep MJC going.”

We settled into a cubicle occupied by Allen, a first-year Marquette law student and today’s client, an Asian-American woman who has resided in the U.S. for 10 years. It became clear the woman was still learning our justice system and was struggling with the English language. She explained her legal problem: the attempt to recover money she had paid to a building contractor to fix the heating system in her house. She explained that the contractor never finished the job but kept her payment. Because of the heat loss, her children had to spend the winter sleeping in a closet to keep warm. According to documents, the building contractor owed her over $9,000. The legal issue? How does the homeowner get her money back?

To prove her legal position, the woman brought stacks of paperwork, agreement documents, and detailed contract transactions including emails. Allen explained the confidentiality forms, and the woman signed them. After Allen asked a series of questions, the legal advice filtered down to two options. Option one: the woman could work her way through the maze of small claims court. Option two: she could hire a lawyer, who would write a legal letter to the construction firm, threatening a lawsuit. Allen added that she could refer a lawyer who would charge a reasonable rate. 

Following up, Allen offered legal guidance on the two options: filing in small claims court versus hiring an attorney to send a letter to the contractor. But she warned, “Even if you won in small claims court, you may never get your money if the contractor refuses to pay the judgement.” 

“But this is America,” the woman said and suggested the police could track down the contractor and collect her money. 

Allen shook her head, “That won’t work. There are no criminal charges because your case falls under civil law.” Then, Allen explained how to file a claim in small claims court. However, if the woman chose to hire a lawyer and file a lawsuit, she could call the Milwaukee Lawyers Referral Service to be referred to a lawyer who may charge lower rates.  

When the consultation ended, the woman decided to investigate the possibility of going through small claims court. Allen referred her to a person who would help her start the process, and added she could return to the MJC at a future date for additional legal counseling.

Milwaukee Justice Center Services

At the MJC, Allen and her fellow attorneys offer “brief” legal services for free. They do not represent indigent clients. As I observed, these civil services include initial consultations or referrals to other legal aid providers to help individuals understand their rights and navigate the legal system. 

The MJC volunteer attorneys typically focus on civil legal matters, which include family law such as divorce, child support and custody, also evictions and housing law, probate, debt/collections and small claims as well as name changes, expungement of criminal records, foreclosure on mortgages and domestic violence victims.

Allen provided me access to the programs provided by the Justice Center:

• Civil legal advice provided by volunteer lawyers. Issues include tenant resources, landlord resources, unemployment insurance, health insurance and online forms and e-filing.
• Brief in-person Legal Advice Clinic to clients at the Milwaukee County Courthouse.
• Mobile Legal Clinic bringing legal services out of the courthouse and into neighborhoods where it may be difficult for people to receive help. 
• Civil Legal Hotline for people seeking help, but not quite sure where to start at (414) 278-3965.
• Family Forms Clinic helping clients navigate procedural barriers such as filing for divorce, the need to modify child support, placement or custody, preparing for small claims court, or other common civil issues like changing their names.
• Adult Guardianship Clinic provides forms assistance to clients who are seeking to establish guardianship for a loved one.
• Electronic Real Estate Transfer Returns so that property is correctly transferred between parties.

How is the Milwaukee Justice Center Funded? 

Later, I asked Allen about funding the Milwaukee Justice Center. She is president of the Milwaukee Bar Association Foundation, which acts as the fiscal agent for the Milwaukee Justice Center. 

She told me the Foundation is in the process of fundraising. “We just went over $1 million of a $3 million sustainability goal,” she said. “So far, we’ve done this fund raising through contributions from local law firms, and we are expanding our efforts into the greater Milwaukee community—financial institutions, businesses, family foundations and the large nonprofits.”

I asked how she was going about that goal.    

She said, “We are and will be meeting community stakeholders, big corporations, financial institutions, banks, credit unions, and large foundations like the Greater Milwaukee Foundation and the Johnson Foundation.” She had done her research, adding, “For the big foundations, social justice is one of their required components, and the Milwaukee Justice Center is founded on social justice. We need their support. Since the pandemic, people needing help from the Justice Center has multiplied to currently over 10,000 clients a year. Our goal is to have the Justice Center viable for the coming decades.”

The Milwaukee Bar Association Foundation also conducts three fundraising activities within the legal community annually: MJC 5k Run for Justice, a golf outing and a campaign within law firms similar to United Way. This generates approximately $100,00 annually to support four attorneys at the Milwaukee Justice Center. The MBA Foundation aims to raise $3 million to bolster the corpus of funds at the Greater Milwaukee Foundation and create an enduring way to support the attorneys that make the MJC services possible.

Do you have a legal problem that might need civil legal advice? If you need help, call the Civil Legal Helpline offered by the Milwaukee Justice Center, at (414) 278-3965