Author: Margaret

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Class Blog Design Research

Self Help Center essential research

In our interviews with experts and court professionals, we identified some of the core challenges and needs.

Here are some of the highlights:

  • More and more people are coming to the civil court system without a lawyer
  • Judges, clerks, and other court professionals have an obligation to be neutral, but they also must serve these people without lawyers
  • Many of these court professionals are trying to figure out ways that they can be supportive and warm to users, without biasing the system towards them. They don’t want to be totally passive, but they don’t want to be hyperactive in support.
  • They try to help people present the facts clearly, so that the story of what’s going on is clear — so the justice system can work well
  • People can’t figure out how to present their facts and issues on their own — they need assistance to do this

We also heard some core needs and constraints, the “lay of the land” of how the systems work and what dynamics are going on.

About Self Help Centers as a thing:

  • They are run at Courts, on site
  • They are led by a lawyer as a managing director, with support from other attorneys, non-attorneys, and Justice Corps volunteers
  • They must be Neutral
  • They are not the lawyers of the people who come in. There is no confidentiality or other features of an attorney-client relationship
  • They can’t go into court with the person

Many of the people fit into the following categories:

  • they’re employed
  • they make less than $3000 a month
  • many are Spanish-speaking, or don’t have English as their first language
  • many are not of White background
  • many are being referred by word of mouth, clerks, judges, forms, or the website
  • they come seeking “some legal help”
  • then they return for follow-up checks and support — typically there are three visits in family cases.

The goals of the Self Help Center and the Judicial Council are as follows:

  • They want to identify systemic problems they can fix
  • They want to build partnerships and coalitions to enhance the center
  • They want to get beyond just helping the person get the paperwork right — but also improve negotiation and strategy skills
  • They want to figure out ways to make a wider continuum of services available, from lawyers to non-lawyers to tech services

The problems of the system are that it is:

  • designed for lawyers
  • there are very complex choices, because of how the law is structured
  • the forms are made for people with lawyers
  • there is a wide variety of people coming in for service

The opportunities experts see are that:

  • we can use technology, online services, and off-site services
  • we promote more listening and respect for people
  • we give more guidance and navigation
  • we help people advocate for themselves when they are before the judge, so they can make better use of hearings
  • we can identify and redirect complex cases (about 20% of the cases)
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Class Blog Design Research

User situations in Self Help Centers

As we have been researching the status quo situation of the Self Help Centers, we’ve identified some common types of users. They are as follows.

People with their kids, stressed and overwhelmed. They either can’t get child care, or brought them hoping to use court child care, but couldn’t because of the age/potty-training requirements

People who are stressed, anxious, and overfilled with emotion because of the life problem they’re in.

People with mental health problems that affect their ability to focus and navigate in the court setting.

People with very limited English proficiency, who don’t feel comfortable with legal English procedures and paperwork.

People, especially children and youth, who are serving as navigators for an adult, who have a language issue or mental capacity issue, that keeps them from being able to navigate themselves.

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These are not all the user types, but some of the ones with the most pressing needs that we saw at various Self Help Centers.

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Class Blog

Our big guiding design briefs

After our first two classes, we began to identify some of the big questions that characterize how the court needs to improve. We decided to segment based on where the person is in their journey through the system. Each brief focuses on a different moment.

We are going to use these design briefs to frame our new Winter Quarter class. Each of the briefs correspond to a particular stage of the typical user’s journey through the civil legal system. The teams will work to craft new interventions for each of these points, but then also coordinate with each other so their new solutions will provide for a cohesive experience.

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Ideabook Procedural Guide Training and Info

“Magic” cards: essential info on a business card

Can we boil down all of the most essential things to know for a legal issue onto a business card?

We can list out What Not To Do, What to Say, What to Do, What to Expect. We could perhaps even diagram the procedure to expect.

The goal would be to give people a prep card that they can always have with them if they know a legal issue (like discrimination, arrest, family law problem, or something else) might crop up.

Or it could be for someone who is going through a legal process, and they need some help to remember where they are and what’s happening.

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Advocates Current Projects

Grassroots Legal Advocates from Namati

Namati has a program called Grassroots Legal Advocates. It has paralegals trained in the basics of local law, as well as complementary skills like community organizing, training, advocacy, and strategic mediation.

The paralegals and advocates can help empower local communities with legal knowledge and procedures. Namati intends them as a frontline that can be in touch with community needs, adjust legal training and advocacy to these local contexts, and empower people to know and use their rights.

Grassroots legal advocates in our global network tackle justice challenges across a wide variety of communities and issues, from women’s empowerment to prisoners’ rights. Namati’s specialist grassroots advocates work on land, health, citizenship and environmental justice, but we also support the work of generalist advocates who provide primary justice services where lawyers are rare and injustice common – such as in post-war Sierra Leone.

We are also overseeing a global research study into how paralegals operate in different contexts.

 

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Current Projects Integration into Community

Project Homeless Connect in Colorado

Project Homeless Connect, run by the Colorado Lawyers Committee brings together coordinated services on a single day for homeless individuals. Legal volunteers help people connect to legal assistance, as well as public benefits, medical care, housing, employment, and other needed services.

There is also a “Homeless Court” to allow people to resolve outstanding warrants if they have violated Denver’s City Ordinance.

 

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Current Projects Integration into Community

Legal Nights in Colorado

The Colorado Lawyers Committee has assembled a list of community clinics that are around the state, to get legal resources to people.

There are “Legal Nights” in Denver and Greeley. At these nights, lawyers come to resource centers and churches in the community, with volunteer interpreters. They provide legal info and referrals to people who need help.

Some of the issues include consumer problems, immigration, housing, employment, and family law.

 

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Current Projects Integration into Community Training and Info

Street Law for ‘Know Your Rights’ training from Univ. of Georgia

University of Georgia has a Street Law program. It holds sessions to train people, especially young people, on legal topics. Much of their work is focused on how young people can understand the criminal justice system and the social services system, to be smart when navigating them.

Street Law UGA conducts community outreach geared primarily towards familiarizing youth about prevalent legal concerns and basic rights. Our student-run organization is designed to educate youth about practical law topics — “Street Law” —  and inspire youth to seek legal careers.  Street Law UGA focuses on educating minority and low income youth and inspiring youth from backgrounds that are underrepresented in the legal profession.

They have law students get off campus and into community placements. The goal is to have continuing relationships, to build a channel of expertise and relevant resources.

The law students are placed in middle and high schools, youth detention centers, independent living programs, and church youth groups.

The topics covered included the rights of an arrestee, the foster care system, dealing with a criminal record, what a crime is, etc.

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Current Projects Integration into Community

Lawyer in Library program in Providence

The Providence Public Library hosts lawyers who will answer questions for free.

It’s called “Lawyers in the Library.” No appointments are needed, and the series is free.

It’s run with a Presentation from a lawyer, and then an opportunity with people to speak to that lawyer about the presented topic.

For example, they’ve had presentations and open questions on Supplemental Security Income, disability benefit, tenant rights, employee rights, and special education.

There is one session every few  months, and are held in evening hours.

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Current Projects Integration into Community

Legal Clinics in High Schools, from Chicago Law & Education Foundation

The Chicago Law & Education Foundation  has a high school law clinic that works on providing services, particularly around immigration law, to students in need.

The Chicago Law and Education Foundation was started in 2010 by teacher/attorney Dennis Kass. CLEF launched a pilot clinic at Little Village Lawndale High School during the 2009-2010 school year. The legal clinic was once a week after school. High school students helped operate the clinic, serving as initial intake, providing translation services for Spanish speaking clients, and working on the various initiatives. CLEF was formed to expand that legal program to other schools the following school year.