Minnesota Lawyer Features Kelly Tautges in ‘Breaking the Ice’ Profile on Access to Justice

In a Q&A feature titled “Breaking the Ice: Needed access to justice drives pro bono work,” Minnesota Lawyer spoke to Faegre Drinker pro bono counsel and director Kelly Tautges about her work supporting access to justice.

The publication highlighted Tautges’s role as co-chair of the Minnesota State Bar Association’s Access to Justice Committee and her service on the local host committee supporting the American Bar Association (ABA) and National Legal Aid & Defender Association (NLADA) Equal Justice Conference scheduled for May 12–14, 2022, in Minneapolis.

When asked why she went to law school, Tautges said, “I had studied social work and could see the outsized impact of the legal system on the lives of my clients, from child abuse and neglect to domestic violence to general poverty issues. I also saw the immediate impact that strong legal advocacy could have on their lives and wanted to be part of it.”

Tautges further noted that the best part of her work is “seeing the impact of pro bono both on the attorneys and legal professionals who are providing it and the clients they serve.” She added, “One of the real pleasures of my job is that every day I get to see extraordinary generosity and selflessness and stepping up to say, ‘Yes,’ when it would be easier to say, ‘No,’” by those “who want to make a difference.”

The full article is available for Minnesota Lawyer subscribers.