Law and Lawyers Inside

First the Legal Problems, Then the Solutions

Do you or someone you know need legal information and/or advice? Perhaps the landlord has given your friend an eviction notice? Or maybe you think you had better write your will or set up a living trust before you embark on your dream vacation abroad? Or perhaps you have just discovered that someone has defrauded your aging parent out of thousands of dollars? And then there’s that black sheep of the family who calls you at midnight to tell you he has been arrested?

Well, I hope you live in California, because according to the Los Angeles Daily Journal, 2 “Not long ago, people who couldn’t afford an attorney in California and who fell through the financial cracks of legal aid were left to handle their civil legal battles on their own. Now, California is leading a nationwide trend toward providing assistance for self-represented litigants, a move most judges and legal aid advocates say is increasing access to justice.” These self-help resources are described as “a real service to people who for one reason or another have chosen to represent themselves. … They are far better prepared and can get through the system in a far more efficient way.” On the other hand, the article notes, “some in the legal aid community, which helped to establish many of California’s self-help centers, fear the proliferation of these programs will aid in the institutionalization of a second-tier justice system for the poor.” In response, one voice protested, “You don’t tell hungry people that you won’t cook them a hamburger because you would rather give them a steak.” Whether self-representation is the best, or just the only way one can access the legal system, the fact is that many cannot afford an attorney. And services are emerging to meet this need.