The Michigan Poverty Law Program (MPLP) works to advance the health, safety, and economic security of low-income Michiganders and advance racial justice. It does so by working in partnership with individuals, community organizations, legal aid organizations, and policymakers to make lasting, impactful systems change. To make these changes, MPLP:
- Advocates for legislative, administrative, and court policy changes,
- Brings impact litigation to broadly enforce important rights and set legal and policy precedents
- Educates, trains, and supports the state’s hundreds of legal aid attorneys to help ensure protections are made real on a day-to-day basis.
MPLP’s work includes providing training and support to Michigan’s legal aid attorneys and other poverty law advocates on consumer, elder, family, housing, public benefits, and racial justice issues. This work includes:
- Maintaining subject-matter list serves that provide an opportunity for information sharing, coordination, and peer-to-peer and expert support
- Hosting quarterly substantive law taskforce meetings to discuss systemic issues and coordinate responses
- Organizing regular in-person and online substantive law and skills trainings
- Providing advice, consultation, and litigation support on issues and cases
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Libby Benton serves as the Director and Consumer Attorney of the Michigan Poverty Law Program. Libby’s legal career began as a Skadden Fellow at the Harvard Legal Services Center, where she represented tenants and former homeowners living in foreclosed homes. She worked for six years as a staff attorney at Legal Services of South Central Michigan’s Washtenaw County office, focusing on housing and consumer protection issues. There, she also served as co-principal investigator on a research project sponsored by University of Michigan Poverty Solutions focused on the prevalence of eviction filings in Michigan. This research led to the publication of the first comprehensive report on evictions in the state. Libby received her JD from Harvard Law School, where she was a member of the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau, and BA from the University of Michigan.