PRO BONO
Spotlight on service
Lisa M. Lamm
Bachman
FOLEY & MANSFIELD
EMPLOYMENT
LITIGATION: DEFENSE,
BUSINESS LITIGATION
MINNEAPOLIS
Jane wanted to leave but couldn’t risk losing her
son. Her husband was threatening to take custody
of him should she ever try. He controlled her income, giving her a meager monthly allowance that
restricted her options. Then there was the escalating physical abuse. To avoid him, Jane mostly kept
to a small room in the back of the house, sometimes securing the door with a board lodged under
the knob and sleeping on a mattress on the floor.
She’d been married for more than 10 years.
When the abuse worsened and police got in-
volved, they referred Jane to a domestic abuse cen-
ter, which in turn led her to Lisa Lamm Bachman.
“She was telling me her story, and it was
absolutely heartbreaking,” says Bachman, who
was able to help Jane get an order for protection
against her husband and start to rebuild her life.
Sadly, Jane’s case has a lot in common with
others Bachman has worked: “All of them are emo-
tional, some are tragic, and it’s very difficult for the
claimants to be heard,” she says.
Bachman is a partner and pro bono coordina-
tor at Foley & Mansfield’s Minneapolis office. “I’m
trying to lead by example, and also nudging and
encouraging [my coworkers] and circulating op-
portunities that come up,” she says. “It’s pro bono,
so it’s not mandatory, but I always suggest that it’s
a professional aspiration that we, as attorneys, try
to hit 50 hours of pro bono work per year.”
Bachman has received awards from the
Battered Women’s Legal Advocacy Project, on
whose board she now serves, and the Tubman
Safety Project, which provides legal assistance
for victims of domestic violence who are seeking
protective orders.
While studying at Creighton University School
of Law, she worked in the victim witness unit of
the county attorney’s office—her first exposure
to domestic abuse work. When she joined Foley
& Mansfield in 2008, Bachman recalls seeing
Tubman’s bulletins on available cases. “I’d read
some of the summaries and I thought, ‘I have to be
involved,’” she says.
It was a speech by legendary district court judge
Gail Chang Bohr that inspired her to join another
volunteer organization, Children’s Law Center of
Minnesota, which provides legal representation
to youth in foster care. Most of the children are
Telling Their Stories
Lisa Lamm Bachman gives a voice to children and victims of domestic abuse
BY TREVOR KUPFER
placed away from their parents, “and they aren’t
always reunited because the parent doesn’t follow
through with the case plan.”
Children are also sometimes part of her cases
involving orders for protection, which can add a
degree of difficulty. “It’s particularly hard to get
an order for protection on behalf of a child,” says
Bachman, herself a mother of three. “The children
don’t testify, and you need very credible evidence
that they’re in fear of imminent harm or have been
harmed, and it’s difficult to prove.”
Whether it’s victims of domestic abuse or kids in
foster care, Bachman’s duty is the same: to give a
voice to the people who need it most.
“These kids understand what it means to be
represented,” she says. “So it’s just about finding
a way to connect with them and explain, ‘I’m not
here to tell you how to feel. I’m not here to tell you
what you should do. I’m here to make sure the
judge knows what you want and what’s important
to you.’ And so it gives them a voice. It’s hard work,
but it’s rewarding.
“What I say to clients is: ‘It’s your story; I’m just
here to help you tell it.’”
Bachman’s starting points for those
interested in helping out
Minnesota State Bar Association’s Pro Bono
Development Director
“Contact the pro bono coordinator—Steven Marchese—and I
guarantee you’ll get a ton of information about what’s out there.”
Call For Justice
“You can dial 211 in the Twin Cities area and they’ll provide legal
resources for whatever their civil legal issue is.”
Volunteer Lawyers Network
“VLN handles a wide range, be it landlord-tenant issues, debtor-
creditor, divorce, you name it. The need is great; it’s always there.”
