{"id":18731,"date":"2022-09-06T07:00:42","date_gmt":"2022-09-06T12:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/?p=18731"},"modified":"2022-09-02T15:25:03","modified_gmt":"2022-09-02T20:25:03","slug":"professor-colbert-wins-outstanding-service-award-from-minnesota-justice-foundation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/2022\/09\/06\/professor-colbert-wins-outstanding-service-award-from-minnesota-justice-foundation\/","title":{"rendered":"Professor Colbert wins Outstanding Service Award from Minnesota Justice Foundation"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Professor Brad Colbert ’85<\/p><\/div>\n

Mitchell Hamline professor Brad Colbert \u201885 is one of six people being recognized by the Minnesota Justice Foundation. The organization is honoring Colbert with its Legal Services award for his years of work to increase access to justice for people impacted by incarceration.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor years, Brad has provided important direct services while inspiring countless students\u00a0to go forward into their careers and work toward access to justice for all,\u201d said Anna Beadle, executive director of the Minnesota Justice Foundation. “The impact he’s made in our legal community through 30-plus years of teaching and mentoring clinic students is immeasurable.\u201d<\/p>\n

The award recognizes Colbert\u2019s work as director of Mitchell Hamline\u2019s Legal Assistance to Minnesota Prisoners<\/a> (LAMP) Clinic, founder of the Reentry Clinic<\/a>, and the law school\u2019s partnership with All Square and The Legal Revolution on the \u201cPrison to Law Pipeline,\u201d which came to fruition this year with the acceptance of the first two presently-incarcerated students<\/a> at Mitchell Hamline \u2013 a first for any ABA-approved law school in the country.<\/p>\n

Colbert supervises students in the LAMP Clinic, who provide legal services to indigent inmates of state correctional facilities in a variety of civil legal areas. Students in the Reentry Clinic provide legal and other assistance to women who are in the process of leaving prison and reentering the community.<\/p>\n

During COVID, Colbert worked with attorneys and students to help more than 300 incarcerated people apply for conditional release, given their susceptibility to the disease. Recently, Colbert was part of the legal team that successfully sued to stop the state from re-incarcerating 18 of those people.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the LAMP and Reentry clinics, Professor Colbert gives so many students their first glimpse into the reality of our justice systems,\u201d wrote Professor Natalie Netzel \u201915, co-director of Mitchell Hamline\u2019s clinical program, in nominating him. \u201cHe has noted to me that students often come into the clinic with preconceived notions about who their clients will be, and it is a formative experience when they go to the prison for the first time, meet their first client, and observe the client\u2019s humanity firsthand.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey realize that people who are incarcerated are real people deserving of care, compassion, and zealous advocacy \u2013 something that\u2019s happened with hundreds of students over the years.\u201d<\/p>\n

In many ways, Colbert\u2019s work culminated this year with the Prison to Law Pipeline program that accepted its first incarcerated students, though Colbert is also quick to note the work of Professor Jon Geffen, director of the Reentry Clinic, and all the people who work at All Square alongside Emily Hunt-Turner and Maya Johnson.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m truly and deeply honored by this award,\u201d said Colbert. \u201cBut I mostly feel lucky that I\u2019ve been able to work with such wonderful people throughout my career \u2013 the folks at the public defender\u2019s office and the people here at the law school \u2013 staff, faculty, my students, and my clients.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a great gig.\u201d<\/p>\n

Student honored<\/strong><\/p>\n

In addition to Colbert\u2019s award, the Minnesota Justice Foundation also recognizes one student each year from each of Minnesota\u2019s three law schools. The Mitchell Hamline student being honored this year is Marilys Solano.<\/p>\n

Awardees will be honored at the foundation\u2019s 40th<\/sup> anniversary celebration on September 28<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mitchell Hamline professor Brad Colbert \u201885 is one of six people being recognized by the Minnesota Justice Foundation. The organization is honoring Colbert with its Legal Services award for his years of work to increase access to justice for people impacted by incarceration. \u201cFor years, Brad has provided important direct services while inspiring countless students\u00a0to … <\/p>\n

Professor Colbert wins Outstanding Service Award from Minnesota Justice Foundation<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5668,"featured_media":18732,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[21,3,5],"tags":[28,36,42,188,508,507,248,189,187],"class_list":{"0":"post-18731","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-alumni","8":"category-features","9":"category-news","10":"tag-alumni","11":"tag-award","12":"tag-brad-colbert","13":"tag-lamp-clinic","14":"tag-marilys-solano","15":"tag-minnesota-justice-foundation","16":"tag-natalie-netzel","17":"tag-prison-to-law-pipeline","18":"tag-reentry-clinic","19":"entry"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18731","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5668"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18731"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18731\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18732"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18731"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18731"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18731"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}