The Urban League of Greater Madison hosted its one-stop shop for legal help at its Expungement Clinic for residents looking to eliminate convictions from their record.
Lawyers and the Urban League teamed up to host its Expungement Clinic on July 11 at the Urban League of Greater Madison’s offices on South Park Street, offering a free meeting with volunteer lawyers and legal experts to help address legal barriers in obtaining employment and housing. Around 48 registered for the clinic with most showing up looking to have their records examined.
Attendees have the chance to review their background with a team of lawyers who evaluate if they can get parts of their records removed.
“A lot of people come to us and either they can’t find a job because of their record, or maybe they found a job but they can’t work up the ladder,” said Madeline Guthrie, staff attorney with Legal Action of Wisconsin. “Sometimes they’re up for promotion, and then the company runs their background check and they say, ‘Oh, we didn’t realize that you had this on your record.’ Then their hours are reduced, or they’re laid off.”
The process with lawyers starts with a simple background check. Lawyers comb through it to explain what’s on there and then listen to clients on specific issues they have that have been leading to barriers in their lives. They then inform the client on what could be eligible for expungement or, in some cases, start the long process for pardons.
In trying to expunge something from their records, lawyers guide them through the process. In expungement, the goal is to show that there is no risk to the community of the case being expunged — which lawyers at the clinic said is not hard to prove.
Another station was set up to examine evictions in their background checks with the Legal Action of Wisconsin, a legal advocacy group that offers free civil legal services. The station looked to help attendees seal records of evictions to secure housing.
“Housing is a human right, and if people are unable to find housing because of unaffordability or because of the stigma behind having evictions, then what are they to do?” asked Gabrielle Newman, an attorney with Legal Action of Wisconsin.
Evictions on records can affect a person’s ability to get approved by a landlord to rent. While up to the discretion of the landlord to allow someone with an eviction on their record, it can often dissuade them and cause a prospective renter to not be approved.
Newman highlights that eviction cases can still show up on a record whether it was granted or dismissed.
The process looks to get the names of the clients redacted from court records. The removal of names will cause the background check to not yield results for the prospective renter when a landlord searches for previous evictions.
“It looks like they have a clean record so that they don’t have that prejudice against them as being not a good renter,” Newman said. “Really what does that tell you? It doesn’t tell you the whole story. A lot of people rent; a lot of landlords will deny housing just based on what they see.”
It’s very common for eviction records to be sealed and there’s very little reason why it couldn’t be, Newman said. She says in Milwaukee, it’s hard to come by a record that won’t be sealed, but that differs from Dane County.
Dane County has an extra step in eviction record sealing from most others in Wisconsin. All require filing a motion, but Dane County also requires an affidavit, a written statement confirmed by oath for use as evidence in court, to explain their living conditions and why they need their record sealed.
The last station in the Expungement Clinic pushed to make people aware of a tool for Wisconsinites to take advantage of. Legal Tune Up, allows people to examine their records without having to wait for opportunities like the Expungement Clinic.
The tool lets people comb through their background checks and find help to go through the same processes as offered at the clinic.
Another Expungement Clinic will be held this fall on Sept. 25, followed by clinics on Oct. 24 and Nov. 19. The clinic is completely free but requires registration. Limited slots are available. Registration is currently open.
