Partner in Justice: Toolkit

Thank you for being a Partner in Justice! Your role as an ambassador for Legal Aid is invaluable for supporting our work and our clients, and we appreciate your advocacy. Partners in Justice are our first point of contact at law firms and corporations - sharing information, participating in clinics and CLEs, and encouraging colleagues to support our work. See here for a list of participants: Partners in Justice Roster 2025 

This toolkit has resources to help you promote Legal Aid with your colleagues. Questions? Contact Shauna: 216-861-5415 or smendez@lasclev.org.

Encouraging Others To Give This Holiday Season  

To help you and your team get into the end of year holiday giving spirit – we’re issuing a friendly challenge to our Partner in Justice firms and organizations to encourage more people to get involved in getting your team to the top of the list! Here’s a list of the top organizations as of 1 October…. 

Per person average giving to Legal Aid in 2025 Leaderboard (as of 1 Oct 2025): 

Total individual giving per firm in 2025 Leaderboard (as of 1 Oct 2025): 

*total amount of gifts to Legal Aid since 1 January 2025 from individuals at the organization, includes giving through United Way. Does not include organizational giving such as sponsorships and grants. 

Check back on this page after Thanksgiving for an update of the leaderboards and see how your team can move up in the rankings! 

If you are planning to activate a giving campaign in the coming months, please get in touch so we can support your efforts and provide materials or language you can use to encourage your teams to support Legal Aid before the end of the year. We will be announcing our end of year matching gift campaign at the annual meeting on November 24 – any gift made between November 24 and December 15, 2025, will be doubled through this campaign so now is the time to get ready! 

The following can be copied right into an email, social media, or posted on your organization’s intranet. Feel free to personalize as you see fit – add-in your own perspective about why you choose to support Legal Aid. (That extra personal touch makes all the difference!)    

EXAMPLE LANGUAGE:   

We dream of a world where our community thrives and doesn’t have to worry about basic needs – like stable housing, economic security, and access to the justice system. Legal Aid is doing its part to make this possible by providing free civil legal counsel to people with low incomes.  

Make a gift to Legal Aid by December 15 and it will be matched by a generous supporter (to be announced at the annual meeting on November 24th). As we enter the season of giving, help Legal Aid bring the power of the law to families in Northeast Ohio so they can live safer, healthier, and more financially stable lives. Double your impact today! 

Pro Bono Month 2025 

October was Pro Bono Month, and we’re grateful for the 800+ volunteers who contribute more than 10,000 hours annually to help bridge the justice gap. Thank you to everyone who joined us last month for volunteer events, Continuing Legal Education programs, and our Pro Bono Reception honoring the Time Well Spent and Community Commitment Honor Societies. Special thanks to our amazing volunteers featured in stories and videos below.

120th Annual Meeting  

Legal Aid's 120th Annual Meeting will be held on Monday, November 24, 2025 at the Hilton Cleveland Downtown. All our Partners in Justice and the organizations you represent play an important role in helping to make Legal Aid’s work possible. We hope you will join us to celebrate all that we have been able to accomplish this year.  

To learn more about the event and buy tickets, visit: lasclev.org/2025event    

Legal Aid in the News  

Alexandria Ruden, attorney for Legal Aid Society of Cleveland, was featured in a recent story about ‘the last taboo’ and the importance of talking about domestic violence: Domestic violence: talking about 'the last taboo' 

Legal Aid attorneys Stephanie Adams, Grace Goodluck, and Melissa Salamon have been selected as members of the 2025-2026 class of the Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association (CMBA) Leadership Academy. 

The CMBA Leadership Academy is a 10-month program that gives participants access to legal professionals that will help them develop leadership skills and grow professionally. Participants are chosen based on their desire to further develop their leadership skills and to meet other professionals in the legal field as well as those who are devoted to the legal profession and civic engagement. Read more here 

Impact Stories   

Story 1 - Benefits 

Zara (name changed to protect privacy) had a number of mental and physical health issues. When it was time for her to renew her Medicaid, she did not worry because she knew that her social worker was going to do it for her. She later realized that something was wrong because Job and Family Services (JFS) terminated her Medicaid and then took over $500 of her social security benefits to pay for her part B premiums. With the decrease in benefits, Zara fell behind on her utilities and rent, and feared eviction. That’s when she called Legal Aid for help.  

Zara informed her Legal Aid attorney that her social worker had reapplied for Medicaid benefits on her behalf and requested a state hearing.  Her attorney worked closely with Zara’s social worker to prepare for the state hearing.  Her social worker presented the information at the hearing and served as her witness. The state hearing official ruled in favor of Zara and her benefits were reinstated, but her attorney had to make several calls and emails to make sure that she was reimbursed for the money that was deducted from her social security benefits. Fortunately, the constant follow-up calls resulted in JFS having to do an audit of Zara’s file and they had to reimburse her for even more money.  

Working with her Legal Aid attorney and social worker, Zara was able to get her much-needed Medicaid benefits reinstated and get reimbursed for what was taken from her social security benefits.  

Story 2 - Employment 

Aria (name changed to protect privacy) was glad that she had finally recovered from pneumonia.  When she was able to return to work, her boss called her into his office and told her that if she missed another day of work she would be fired. Aria couldn’t believe that her boss would terminate her just because she was sick.    

When Aria was called for jury duty, she informed her boss. He told her that if she went that he would terminate her. Aria was not willing to get into trouble with the court just because her boss was making things difficult, so she resigned.  

After resigning she was supposed to have received her final paycheck, but it was not deposited into her bank account. Aria learned that this was normal behavior for her boss – to withhold earnings so he could have the pleasure of watching someone beg for what was rightfully owed to them.  He had already created a toxic environment for women that worked for the company. Aria refused to be bullied and intimidated so she called Legal Aid for help.   

Her Legal Aid attorney reviewed the documents that Aria submitted to him and found that her former employer owed her over $1,500.  He wrote a demand letter to her former employer to compensate her for her wages and informed him that he was breaking the law.  He refused to comply, but later, fearing that the case would go to court, he finally gave Aria her last paycheck.  

Aria was not afraid to fight for what belonged to her and with the help of her Legal Aid attorney, she was able to obtain her stolen wages.   

MAKE A GIFT TODAY:

Support Legal Aid with a gift and encourage your colleagues to do the same – Donate now.

Please follow Legal Aid on social media and share our posts – We’re active on  Facebook, Twitter/X, Instagram, LinkedIn, Threads, and BlueSky - follow us!

Questions? Contact Shauna: 216-861-5415 or smendez@lasclev.org. 

Updated November 12, 2025