Montana Lawyer April/May 2025

PRO BONO CHRONICLES

Clean Slate Clinic Gives Montanans a Fresh Start SUBMITTED BY: JOEY FLATLEY AND EMILY ROBERTS (JUSTICE FOR MONTANANS AMERICORPS MEMBERS); FRANKIE GARNER AND AMY REAVIS (MLSA STAFF)

Over 60 Montanans got a fresh start this March through the Clean Slate Clinic, an expungement project piloted by Montana Legal Services Association, a team of volunteer law students from the University of California, Berkeley, and a dozen volunteer Montana attorneys. The weeklong criminal record expungement clinic was the first of its kind in Montana. Volunteers assisted low income participants in drafting petitions asking courts to remove old misdemeanor convictions from their records. Clinic locations included Helena, Bozeman, and Billings. In 2019, the Montana Legislature passed the Misdemeanor Expungement Clarification Act, allowing for expungement of misdemeanor convictions–more minor offenses for which the sentence imposed is time in the local jail or simply a fine. Codified under Title 46, Chapter 18, part 11, MCA, the Act allows anyone with misdemeanor convic tions from a Montana court to petition for expungement. There is a presumption in favor of expungement for most misdemeanors when at least five years have passed since sentence completion. For certain misdemeanors, such as as sault and DUI, expungement is not presumed and the court will consider various individualized factors before granting expungement. Amy Reavis, who directed the clinic, is an attorney with MLSA working under a two-year Skadden Fellowship. The fellowship supports recent law school graduates committed to addressing civil legal issues faced by people in poverty. Reavis’s fellowship project focuses on representing survi vors of domestic violence with criminal records in various civil matters. After successfully securing expungement for

several clients, she began looking for ways to make expunge ment more accessible to the general public. Around the same time, a group of Berkeley Law students reached out to see if MLSA was interested in hosting them for a weeklong alternative spring break service trip through their school’s pro bono program. With support from MLSA staff, Justice for Montanans AmeriCorps members, and licensed pro bono Montana attorneys, the Clean Slate Clinic started to take shape. “This clinic was a laboratory,” Reavis explained, “to see how we might be able to scale expungement assistance for more Montanans and to test out new pro se expungement forms that will soon be available on MLSA’s and the Judicial Branch’s public websites. It was fortunate timing to have the help of eight talented Berkeley Law students for the entire week.” Previously, Montanans who could not afford an attorney navigated an opaque and daunting legal process on their own or simply continued to live with a criminal record. Reavis recognized that low-income Montanans who could not af ford representation were the very people who could benefit most from a clear criminal record. “Creating a process that was free, clear, and positive was paramount,” Reavis reflected. A criminal record can affect someone’s stability and well being long past the completion of a sentence. Participants in the Clean Slate Clinic cited difficulties in obtaining stable housing and employment, along with the social stigma as sociated with having a record. One individual described their convictions as “hanging over my head for more than two

10 MONTANA LAWYER

WWW.MONTANABAR.ORG