Pro bono spotlight: Susan Voigt

Devoting your career to helping the forgotten elderly and those facing dire housing options poses an onslaught of sometimes heart-wrenching challenges, but overcoming them for her clients is how Susan Voigt found her rewards.

A 1982 William Mitchell graduate, Voigt practiced health care law for almost 40 years after starting her career at the Office of Revisor of Statutes of the Minnesota Legislature. She would eventually return to the Legislature to practice as a lobbyist and legal counsel for nursing homes, assisted-living facilities, and home-care agencies.

Ms. Voigt’s expertise in regulatory compliance helped her clients improve care and protect the vulnerable. Over the years, Voigt’s passion to fight for seniors grew. Seeing family members ignore and steal from their “loved ones” inspired her to become a founding board member of the Minnesota Elder Justice Center in 2015, where she continued the fight against abuse, neglect, and exploitation.

After retiring from her private practice in 2021, Voigt flipped her life’s script and became a volunteer at Justice North. This nonprofit civil law firm serves northern Minnesota seniors and housing tenants in desperate need of legal aid—a mission perfectly suited to Voigt’s decades of legal work for providers and tenants alike.

Voigt says of her pro bono experience, “I respect how Justice North works tirelessly for its clients and how its Private Attorney Involvement Program makes it so easy to contribute. I recommend that all attorneys experience the rewards of volunteering legal aid. It is important to see a legal issue from all sides, but even better to have represented all sides.”