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Self-help for LiPs
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The below Update was originally published in the September issue of Family Law and has been made available free of charge.
In California USA, the state pays for ‘family law facilitators’
who provide explanations to parties about law and procedure on behalf of the
courts. The family law facilitator programme was created by the Assembly Bill
1058 (Stats 1996, ch 957) in 1996. Family law facilitators are experienced
family law attorneys who works for the superior courts in each
county of California.
All 58 Californian superior courts have some legal help available to people who
do not have lawyers and are representing themselves. All family law
facilitators deal with child support and give out educational materials that
explain how to:
- establish
parentage (paternity);
- get, change, or
enforce child, spousal, or partner support orders.
S/he also:
- gives out the
court forms needed;
- helps fill out
forms;
- helps a party come
to support amounts; and
- refers parties to
local child support agency, family court services, and other community agencies
that help parents and children.
Some family law facilitators can help with divorce, child
custody, domestic violence and other family law issues. The family law facilitator
is not a personal legal representative. S/he is a lawyer who works for the
court and provides education, information and explains options without giving
legal advice. If parties already have a lawyer, the family law facilitator
cannot help them. There is no attorney-client privilege with the family law
facilitator nor is there confidentiality. If a party wants help with case
strategy s/he has to consult with a private attorney for legal advice. Both
parties can get help from the family law facilitator who is free of charge
regardless of income. The family law facilitator is not responsible for the
outcome of the case. See further:
http://www.courts.ca.gov/selfhelp-facilitators.htm
At a conference in London in June 2014 Bonnie Rose Hough
from the Centre for Families, Children and the Courts, part of the
Administrative Office of the Courts, California, gave a paper on ‘Building the
Capacity for Justice System Innovation’ dealing with the increasing need for
self-help strategies in California because of
the increasing number of litigants in person in the family courts. To
appreciate the scope of the Office’s work, of which family law facilitation is
a part, California
has about 38 million residents, 5.6 million of whom are in poverty and
40% of whom speak a language other than English at home. There are more than 2,000
judges in California
and the State court budget has been cut by 1/3 over the last 4 years. As
regards family law:
- 70% of divorce
cases involve at least one person without an attorney at beginning of a case –
80% by the end of a case;
- 90% of domestic
violence cases involve no attorneys;
- many people start
by going to court rather than to a lawyer.
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Since 1997 state funding for LiPs overall has increased from $0 –
$40 million. The vast majority of LiPs are now getting some level of
assistance. There have had to be cultural changes, namely:
- more partnerships
between court and legal aid;
- judges becoming
more comfortable in their case management role;
- the Bar being
generally supportive – the amount of limited scope representation (unbundling)
has increased;
- court staff are
providing information and focussing on helping people through the system.
There has developed a unity of interest between courts and public
in providing assistance to help people handle their court cases. The
Californian experience has also shown that it is easier to change systems and
provide extensive education for 2,000 judges and 160,000 court staff than to
educate 38,000,000 potential litigants. Ms Hough was clear that, ‘the smartest
person is the one who helps people address their legal need - not the one who
can find the most errors. The smartest person is the one who can figure out how
to explain complicated concepts in plain language – not one who knows all the
legal terms’. Her Office has found that, overall:
- over 1 million
people with legal needs have been served each year;
- 4 million
people have used the Office’s self-help website;
- parties are now
happier with the court system;
- they get their
cases resolved;
- cases generally
take less time than with paid attorneys;
- parties get
assistance with referrals to appropriate help including counsel.
Research findings show that people tended to care more about how
they were treated by the system than by the outcome itself, for example:
- they felt that
they got to tell their story;
- they felt
respected;
- they understood
the court process better;
- they believed the
court was trying to be helpful.
Ms Hough suggested the following to case management judges and
administrators:
- schedule cases
involving self-represented litigants for one calendar;
- get as many
resources as possible into the courtroom – self-help, mediation, legal aid,
relevant social services, etc. and work to get cases resolved;
- provide good pro
bono work for attorneys – short, focused and tangible;
- provide staff
support
- carve some money
from direct service to provide coordination, education and support for
volunteer leadership
- use that person to
get others engaged
- be strategic about
who is best to do what work - volunteer leadership or staff.
She said that the role of court self-help attorney/family court
facilitator was not only to provide direct legal assistance and information but
to voice with the judges and administrators about what changes needed to be
made to appropriately respond to the needs of low income people coming before
the court. She said that a little seed money went a long way:
- it allowed
interested people to get together;
- it leveraged other
resources;
- it identified
projects which needed to be done.
To view the Californian online help centre go to:
http://www.courts.ca.gov/selfhelp.htmBonnie Rose Hough's paper on ‘Building the Capacity for Justice System Innovation’ is available to download here.
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