Category: Design Research

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Class Blog Design Research

Common Problems of people in the civil legal system

Talking to the experts in the court system, we heard what some of the most wicked, common problems are for people — the common places that they fail in getting to a good resolution.

  • It’s very hard to finish a divorce case. Even if you get it started, and do many of the tasks, divorce’s don’t just “finish themselves” once a party starts them. The case can go in so many directions, depending on what your spouse does in response to your filing for divorce. In legal terms, this is about “finalizing case to judgment.”
  • When court experts try to tell people about the many possible ways to finish a divorce, it’s overwhelming for the person. There are so many possible outcomes and path, it’s like a fire hose of information.
  • Serving process is very hard. It’s a step that people have to do on their own, after they’ve left the Self Help Center and the assistance there. Completing the forms and following the procedure is very tough. There are so many requirements.
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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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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.