I have attached the results of that survey, which includes information from respondents in the following states: California, Illinois, Louisiana, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Washington, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.  Note that I updated the original results, deleting any links that no longer worked.

Pro Se Programs in Law Libraries

Today I read that, ironically or aptly, this is Sexual Assault and Relationship Violence Awareness Week on campus. I started looking for more information and found that different organizations have designated April Sexual Assault Awareness Month. (H. Res. 289, a resolution introduced in the House of Representatives last week, would call it National Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month.)

During my search for information about the event, I found a great self-help resource, by the Washington Coalition of Sexual Assault Programs: A Survivor’s Guide to Filing a Civil Lawsuit (2004). It’s a 54-page book (in pdf) that explains the whole process — including long ists of pros and cons (p. 4) to help potential plaintiffs make the decision whether to sue. WCSAP has other resources (for the public and for attorneys) on its legal page.

The National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (part of CDC) takes a public health approach to the problem. See its Sexual Violence fact sheet, with resources for Sexual Assault Awareness Month.

The National Sexual Violence Resource Center has links to legal organizations working on the topic here.

 The Arizona Supreme Court decided last year to do something about the problem. Noting that “With the increase of self-represented litigants in Arizona, the issue of how to provide assistance and information to court customers without giving legal advice is becoming more critical and urgent,” it established a Task Force on Legal Advice-Legal Information.  Earlier this month, the Task Force issued:

• its Final Report (March 2007, 6 pp pdf), which notes in fn. 1 that “Although Arizona Rules of Court define ‘practice of law’ and ‘unauthorized practice of law,’ the Rules do not define ‘legal advice.’”
• a GUIDE TO COURT CUSTOMER ASSISTANCE: Legal Advice – Legal Information Guidelines for Arizona Court Personnel (March 2007, 67-pp pdf; with a 40-page Glossary of Terms)
• a Question and Response Handbook (March 2007, 59-pp pdf).
• Signage [Ed. Note: This is a one-page Welcome / We Can / We Cannot sign, made difficult to read by having the Seal of the Supreme Court appear behind the message.  As I do whenever I see such lists, I wonder if the Task Force argued over "We May" and We Can".]

The Task Force documents will surely be helpful for court personnel who worry about crossing the info/advise line (and about being sued for UPL).  I am, nonetheless, a bit concerned that the tone is too stingy with useful information.  For example: The Handbook says: “When you are uncertain if you are being asked to give legal advice, please suggest that the one asking the question consult an attorney.”  Telling a pro se litigant to consult an attorney to answer one borderline question will seldom be helpful.  I’d say “bend over backward — or stick out your neck — to help them.”

Also worrisome is the following pair of Questions and Answers in the Handbook:

1. Q. I can’t afford an attorney. Can you tell me what to do?
   A. Court personnel are not allowed to give legal advice and cannot guess what might be in a court customer’s best interests. Court personnel must remain neutral; there may be a list of local resources of attorneys who will work for a reduced fee or no fee.
2. Q. Should I get a lawyer?
   A. Parties are not required to have a lawyer to file papers or participate in a court case. Court personnel cannot advise a party whether the party should hire a lawyer, nor may they recommend a specific lawyer. The State Bar of Arizona provides a lawyer referral number at 602-252-4804 or 866-482-9227 and the local County Bar Association may have a referral number. Some courts provide a list of local attorneys and there may be a list of local resources of attorneys who will work for a reduced fee or no fee.

Both answers seem strangely incomplete in a Handbook specifically created to help the unrepresented litigant in Arizona.  As we have said on our Getting Self-Help Help page, Arizona has been a trailblazer in creating online and in-court Self Help Centers, and the State has a network of Self-Help Centers, located in courthouses in at least a dozen counties.  A pro se litigant who complains he or she cannot afford a lawyer or who asks whether a lawyer is needed, ought to — in addition to being told about attorney options — be pointed to the Self-Help Center down the hall (or across the room), which surely has relevant information and assistance.  To respond by only suggesting they seek out a list of lawyers or the Bar Association’s referral program is inexplicable (unless, of course, the Arizona Bar controlled the Task Force).  

• If you are a practitioner/professional interested in this topic, please note that SelfHelpSupport.org’s April Webinar is “on Legal Advice vs. Legal Information.”  Two experts, John Greacen and Judy Meadows will present it on April 30, 2007 from 3-4:30 pm (EST) [I assume they mean EDST]. You need to be an SHS or SRLN member (it’s free and has many other benefits). You can sign up now by emailing anorris [AT] ncsc.dni.us. 

Below the fold, I have reproduced the Task Force definitions of “legal advice” and “legal information.”  
 
__________________________________

From page of of the “GUIDE TO COURT CUSTOMER ASSISTANCE: Legal Advice – Legal Information Guidelines for Arizona Court Personnel” (March 2007, 67-pp pdf; has a 40-page Glossary of Terms):

IV. What Constitutes Legal Information

Legal information is communication of facts about court procedures, timing and resources. It includes information contained in court records, examples of forms or pleadings, informational pamphlets, copies of statutes and court rules, procedures, practices and due dates.

Legal information involves identifying available procedural options (within the scope of the personnel’s knowledge) and helping customers understand and comply with court procedures.

Legal information is generally about court process (how the court and its judges function), court rules, court records and forms. If that information can be found in a source that the court makes available to the public, you can either:
• Tell the customer yourself, if you know, or
• If you are unsure of the answer, direct the customer to the appropriate court personnel or other publicly available source.

See the Question and Response Handbook for more details and specific examples.
V. What Constitutes Legal Advice    

Legal advice is a written or oral statement that:
• Interprets some aspect of the law, court rules, or court procedures, or recommends a specific course of conduct a person should take in an actual or potential legal proceeding,
• Applies the law to the individual person’s specific factual circumstances, or
• Requires the person giving advice to have knowledge of the law and legal principles beyond familiarity with court requirements and procedures.

Court customers are asking for legal advice when they ask whether or not they should proceed in a certain fashion. Telling a court customer “what to do” rather than “how to do it” may constitute giving legal advice. See the Question and Response Handbook for more details and specific examples.

 

This benchguide covers the following topics, in addition to providing sample scripts to use in many situations:

1. Self-represented litigants: Who are they and what do they face when they come to court? [note: 450,000 people use self-help resources annually in California]
2. Expanding access to the court without compromising neutrality
3. California law applicable to a judge’s ethical duties in dealing with SRLs
4. Solutions for evidentiary Challenges
5. Caseflow management
6. Courtroom and hearing management   
7. Settling cases
8. Special due process considerations
9. Communication tools
10. Avoiding unintended bias
11. Addressing litigant mental health issues in the courtroom
12. Judicial leadership in access to justice

For a document with similar goals, check out How Can Judges Communicate Effectively With Self-Represented Litigants? (compiled by the American Judicature Society, 64 pp. pdf).  Further helpful resources that we have discussed here at shlep include:

• Jona Goldschmidt’s “Judicial Assistance to Self-Represented Parties: Lessons from the Canadian Experience“ (2006, 44-pp, pdf.).  
• Statement of Principles on Self Represented Litigants and Accused Persons (Canadian Judicial Council, 2006, 12 pp. pdf),
• the Supreme Court of Queensland’s Equal Treatment Benchbook,
• The Judicial Guidelines for Civil Hearings Involving Self-Represented Litigants, approved by the Justices of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court in April, 2006.

(1) The podcast interviews the judge who was cochair of the committee that produced Ensuring Access for People with Disabilities: A Guide for Courts (Aug. 2006). This is a good resource not just for courts, but for people with disabilities and those who work with or serve them. It has a brief overview of types of disabilities — emphasizing that individuals need to be treated individually (a person with low vision who can read enlarged type needs a different accommodation than another person with low vision). It has practical advice for the inclusion of people with disabilities as parties, witnesses, jurors, attorneys. (The guide was excerpted in the August 2006 issue of the Washington State Bar News.)

(2) These are the sites the podcast’s producers recommend for information on disability rights law:

• U.S. Dept. of Justice’s ADA Home Page.
• Disabilityinfo.gov
• Disability Law, Wex (Cornell’s Legal Information Institute)

By now you are probably aware that lawyers rely on the big legal databases of West and Lexis to do their research.  These provide access to state and federal cases and statutes and important secondary sources.  You are also probably aware that it is pretty expensive to use these resources.  And a couple of pro se patrons have complained that they feel pretty outgunned going up against lawyers who use such databases.

However, you may not be aware that your state or county court law library might have patron access to either West or Lexis.  This can give you good search capability of state and federal statutory and case law.  And its usually free of charge (print outs are another matter).  Certainly, these patron access services do not give you the full capability that West and Lexis are capable of.  But they are pretty darn helpful.

If you need to research an issue, contact your state or county court law library to see if they have patron access to a major database.  That will help level the playing field.

  At ExpertLaw, Aaron Larson says:

“You can check with your state’s Department of Social Services to see if your state has a minimum age for leaving children unsupervised. You are likely to find that there is no specific age, although the common recommendation is that children under twelve be provided with appropriate supervision while their parents are away from home. There may also be a suggestion that an older sibling, even if old enough to be left at home alone, is not necessarily an appropriate babysitter for younger siblings.” 

 There are many good online sources with guidance for parents wondering whether their children are ready to stay home alone and how to make the experience as safe as possible for the children.  For example, see The Public School Parent Network’s latchkey webpage; Children at Home Alone, a two-page brochure from Prevent Child Abuse New York; and the NSPCC’s Leaving Children at Home Alone.  [Of course, Macaulay Culkin's experiences in the 1990 movie Home Alone were very funny but not very edifying for parents.]

   The most comprehensive and up-to-date resource appears to be the Children Home Alone and Babysitter Age Guidelines from the National Child Care Information Center.  For example, it notes that Illinois and Maryland now have statutes directly addressing the Home Alone issue, summarizes their laws, and links to more information.  After saying that States may have guidelines or recommendations about when a child is considered old enough to care for him/herself or to care for other children, the NCCIC advises that “these guidelines are most often distributed through child protective services and are administered at the county level.”  It then helpfully adds: ”Contact Child Welfare Information Gateway at 800-394-3366, and staff there will refer you to your local child protective services agency to learn about age guidelines in your area.”

On the NCCIC Guidelines page, you will also find:

• National organizations 
• Examples of child supervision guidelines;
• Examples of babysitter guidelines;
• Demographic information about the number of children in self-care; and
• Information about how to prepare children to stay home alone and to be babysitters.

  Finally, check out this Nolo article, for tips on Finding a babysitter or nanny.   In addition, you can learn about the American Red Cross babysitter training classes here, and click to see The Super Sitter, a booklet of helpful tips and safety information produced by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.  [update (Feb. 28, 2007): LaborLawTalk Blog has state-by-state information on babysitting laws.]

That’s a horrible story, but what’s link to self-help law? What caught my eye was a sidebar: Legal recourse limited in state for remorseful buyers of autos.

I thought that, since a car is one of the biggest purchases most people make (second only to a house, and many people never buy a house!), it might be worth listing some resources about buying cars.

Automobiles: An FTC Guide for Consumers has a range of information about buying cars (used and new), having cars repaired, and so on. See Tips for Buying a Used Car for the basics on that topic. Understanding Vehicle Financing walks you through the mysteries of credit. And there’s Vehicle Repossession to explain the unfortunate end of some car deals. The Federal Trade Commission’s regulations are in 16 CFR (if you want to get into the hard-core legalese). Cars come up a lot:

• GUIDES FOR THE REBUILT, RECONDITIONED AND OTHER USED AUTOMOBILE PARTS INDUSTRY, 16 CFR 20
• GUIDE CONCERNING FUEL ECONOMY ADVERTISING FOR NEW AUTOMOBILES, 16 CFR 259
• AUTOMOTIVE FUEL RATINGS, CERTIFICATION AND POSTING, 16 CFR 306
• LABELING REQUIREMENTS FOR ALTERNATIVE FUELS AND ALTERNATIVE FUELED VEHICLES, 16 CFR 309
• USED MOTOR VEHICLE TRADE REGULATION RULE, 16 CFR 455

One regulation you might overlook is RULE CONCERNING COOLING-OFF PERIOD FOR SALES MADE AT HOMES OR AT CERTAIN OTHER LOCATIONS, 16 CFR part 429. It gives buyers three business days (a “cooling-off period”) to cancel certain sales. Section 429.1 says it applies to “any door-to-door sale.” Cars aren’t sold door to door, BUT section 429.0 defines “Door-to-Door Sale” to include sales “made at a place other than the place of business of the seller (e.g., sales at the buyer’s residence or at facilities rented on a temporary or short-term basis. . .).” The Seattle Times article pointed out that this includes those “tent sales” where car dealers set up on parking lot near a shopping mall, offering balloons, hot dogs, and (ostensibly) great deals.

And of course, all of the regulations concerning advertising, warranties, and credit practice apply to automobile advertising, warranties, and credit practices too.

Throughout Automobiles: An FTC Guide for Consumers, the FTC notes that there are areas governed by state law, which can, of course, vary from state to state. For instance Buying a Used Car says, “Some states, including Connecticut, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, West Virginia and the District of Columbia, don’t allow ‘as is’ sales for many used vehicles.” So it’s important to check your own state. Often the attorney general’s office will have information, like this page from Washington’s AG, that includes:

• Before You Buy
• Buying Precautions
• Shopping for a Vehicle
• Buying a Used Vehicle
• Leasing
• Signing the Contract
• Lemon Law
• Auto Repair
• Tips for Buying
• Tips for Leasing
• Resources

There are links to all the state attorneys general here. Also remember to check for your state’s link in LawHelp.org.

The National Consumer Law Center is one group to watch. Its “Action Agenda” includes:

AUTO FRAUD An astonishing percentage of car sales involve fraud, deception, or unfair conduct. Consumers are sold new or used cars that are “lemons” or are defrauded by dealers who do not fully disclose the car’s wreck or salvage history, its prior use as a rental car, history of mechanical problems, or other defects.

The National Consumer Law Center is currently co-counsel in a number of cases on discrimination in car financing.See: Litigation.

 Browsing the Center’s Headlines collection, I learned more about the Civil Access to Justice Pilot Project proposed by Gov. Schwarzenegger in California two weeks ago. (see our prior post, Jan. 20, 2007).  It appears to be based on a proposal made by California’s Chief Justice, Ronald George, to the Governor late last year.  The article “Chief justice seeks lawyers for poor in civil cases” (San Francisco Chronicle, Dec. 20, 2006) states that the Chief Justice “wants the state to provide lawyers for the poor in civil cases such as child custody disputes and evictions in which people often have to represent themselves,” and explains:

“Chief Justice Ronald George said he will ask Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to test the idea by funding a pilot project in three counties — one small, one medium-size and one large — to provide attorneys for low-income litigants in a limited category of cases, including family law and housing, in which important individual rights are at stake. He didn’t identify the counties.”

The Chronicle article notes that “Congress has limited the federal funding and restricted the types of cases that federally funded lawyers can accept.”  It adds that CJ George “may advocate another three-county pilot project to pay for court interpreters in civil cases that involve basic rights.”   Assemblyman Dave Jones, D-Sacramento, “is working on both issues with George, said the pilot programs would be a first step in addressing ‘a huge justice gap’.”   According to Jones,  California has one lawyer for every 240 people but only one Legal Aid attorney for every 8,737 poor people.  In addition, 7 million Californians could require interpreters if they appeared in court.