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Vol. 14 No. 4 — April 2006

Many sites and organizations have demonstrated a high level of commitment to providing quality legal services and information for the lay person in English as well as other languages.

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.

California is indeed in a leadership position with in-person self-help centers 3 with lawyer assistance, online resources 4 from the courts, state agencies, and nonprofit organizations 5 — even links to legal help in other states [http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/selfhelp/lowcost/otherstates.htm].

Who Do We Have to Thank for All These Services?

Certainly the government — state and federal, legislative, regulatory, and judicial branches — have accomplished a lot recently. At the beginning, the information they provided on the Web was more like raw data; it needed mining by professionals. But now their services are becoming genuinely helpful, easy to use, and include search capabilities that are more intuitive — even Google-based. Now they are working with other organizations, providing real online help. For instance, I-CAN! is one service that helps the lay person with such tasks as helping users “create court paperwork and educate themselves” about how to proceed in their own legal matters. I-CAN! modules operate on touch-screen kiosks and workstations at locations easily accessible to low-income persons such as courthouses, legal aid offices, community centers, women’s shelters, and libraries. This site contains a video guide that helps the user select and fill out appropriate court forms in civil matters such as Domestic Violence, Unlawful Detainer, Paternity, and more. I-CAN! is free of charge and is available in English, Spanish, and Vietnamese. I-CAN! was developed by the Legal Aid Society of Orange County and is sponsored by organizations including: Legal Services Corporation, Judicial Council of California, State Bar of California, Orange County Superior Court, Orange County District Attorney, Orange County Public Library System, Disneyland, Cities of Irvine and Fullerton [http://www.icandocs.org/newweb/].

Bar Associations have also taken a role in helping legal consumers. The American Bar Association has its “findlegalhelp.org” at http://www.abanet.org/legalservices/findlegalhelp/home.cfm, organized by state. It carries a special page for finding free help at http://www.abanet.org/legalservices/findlegalhelp/faq_freehelp.cfm. In addition, the ABA has links to legal information for consumers. Most state bar associations produce information for lay people and put it on the Internet, such as the brochures available at http://www.calbar.ca.gov.

Law Libraries Step Up to the Plate

Professional librarian organizations have been particularly active — especially the American Association of Law Libraries (AALL), its chapters, and other affiliates. After all, part of AALL’s Vision Statement states, “Since the ready availability of legal information is a necessary requirement for a just and democratic society, AALL and its members advocate and work toward fair and equitable access to authentic current and historic legal information, and educate and train library users to be knowledgeable and skilled legal information consumers”[http://www.aallnet.org/about/strategic_plan.asp].

AALL has a number of initiatives in this area, including the Access to Electronic Legal Information Committee (AELIC), which establishes standards for government Web sites (relating to currency, full text, links to table of contents, searching by citation, links to other information, navigation buttons, etc.). The full Local Government Website Evaluation Criteria can be found at http://www.aallnet.org/committee/aelic/localcrit.html, along with the evolving Evaluation Worksheet for assessing local government Web sites.

AALL and its chapters actively campaign for federal, state, and local governments to provide more information, improve existing government sites, preserve permanent access to legal information — whether born digital or in print — promulgate freedom of information, and other information-related issues. The individual chapters report on and contribute to the discussions, e.g., the Chicago Association of Law Libraries report at http://www.aallnet.org/chapter/call/publications/pubaffr0905.html. In addition, law librarians constantly examine ways to improve and meet unmet needs and self-evaluate their operations. An excellent example is the Law Librarians Association of Wisconsin’s “Report on the Public’s Access to Legal Information and Assistance in Wisconsin” produced by the Public Access to Legal Information Committee chaired by Paula Seeger, dated 2005 [http://www.aallnet.org/chapter/llaw/paliguide/PALIFullReport2005.pdf]. This report covers everything from the locations of public, academic, and special law libraries in the state and their print collections, electronic resources, and legal assistance programs, to the cost of photocopies at the various sites. It gives specific recommendations to improve public access to legal information at each type of library.

The AALL has had special programs on serving non-English-speaking patrons at AALL annual meetings. Ellie Slade, in an account of the 2005 meeting, “Acento on Serving the Hispanic Public Patron,” described a tour of Bexar County Law Library, where “our tour guides explained that BCLL typically fields about 50 percent of its reference questions from Mexican American pro se litigants, usually in the area of family law. BCLL passes out free English and Spanish booklets for pro se litigants that explain garden variety legal issues, such as eviction, divorce, wills and other common matters.” This was especially relevant to Ellie, who noted, “In my job capacity as a legal reference librarian at the San Diego County Public Law Library (SDCPLL), I provide legal information to the local judges, attorneys, pro se litigants and citizens. In any given week, approximately 30 percent of my reference requests at SDCPLL may come from pro se Mexican American or Hispanic patrons who need assistance with a variety of legal issues. Similarly, county law librarians in other southwestern cities and large eastern metropolitan areas, also routinely assist a high percentage of Hispanic patrons with legal research requests.” (Check http://www.aallnet.org/sis/sccll/ for the State Court and County Law Libraries Special Interest Section and the Fall 2005 issue of SCCLL News for Ellie Slade’s article.)

Law libraries of all kinds are providing guides to researching the law. For example, most law school and public law libraries provide research guides and references to other resources and post them to the Internet. More ambitious law school libraries include Washlaw [http://www.washlaw.edu], Washburn School of Law’s mega site and the incomparable Legal Information Institute from Cornell Law School [http://www.law.cornell.edu]. Individual public law libraries have Web sites with links to even more resources, for example, Los Angeles County Law Library’s Web site [http://lalaw.lib.ca.us/]. In addition, local chapters of the AALL have created materials for the lay person; for instance, the Southern California Association of Law Libraries (SCALL) has produced Locating the Law, “intended to provide basic information about California and Federal legal materials: What they are, how they are organized, and how to use them.” This guide, edited by Karla Castetter, is in its fourth edition, and can be purchased in hard copy for $5 or accessed free on the Internet at http://www.aallnet.org/chapter/scall.

However, true outreach through the Internet is possibly best exemplified by California’s “Public Law Library” site [http://www.publiclawlibrary.org]. This Library Services and Technology Act grant funded site is produced by the Council of California County Law Librarians. “Your Public Law Library” provides legal links divided into categories to help the researcher find the information he or she requires. “General Legal Research links connect you to several Websites that are good at organizing law-related information by subject. These Websites are often a good starting point for the beginning researcher. Links are then divided into California legal research and Federal legal research. See the Mini Research Class page for more information on where to start your research. For local law questions involving a city or county, refer to the Local links. If you are looking for an attorney, consult with the Legal Directories links. And, finally, if you are looking for court forms, or court rules, check the links provided under Forms and Rules links.”

And on top of all of the work to just assemble the materials, the site provides links to information in Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, German, French, Japanese, and Korean!

Another site that assists people in filing forms for family law, small claims, eviction, and guardianship/probate is the San Mateo Superior Court-EZ Legal File Site — and it includes many California counties [http://www.ezlegalfile.com/index.jsp].

Law school libraries, state, court, and county law libraries are all very active in providing legal information and research guides to the public. Many provide legal clinics to assist pro se do-it-yourselfers or those needing representation. There is also the Pro Se Law Center, which has a searchable directory of Pro Se programs nationwide [http://www.pro-selaw.org/pro-selaw/court.asp] and don’t forget state bar pamphlets in different languages for consumer information [http://www.calbar.ca.gov/state/calbar/calbar_generic.jsp?cid=10180&id=1392].

If you can’t get a lawyer for personalized advice, “ask a law librarian” — at least in California. By far the most ambitious free Internet outreach service by librarians is the “AskNow” program’s law librarian service — where someone can “Get help from the librarian in real time.” The County Public Law Libraries in California picked up the mantle to provide outreach to their constituencies. Imagine having a law librarian at your disposal, right when you have a legal information question — in your own home or office! Available at http://www.publiclawlibrary.org, “AskNow’s law librarian service lets you ask questions and get answers, in real time, right here on the Internet, from live law librarians throughout California. The AskNow law librarian service is available:

Monday
8 a.m.–5 p.m. & 6 p.m.–8 p.m.
Tuesday–Thursday
8 a.m.–6 p.m.
Friday
8 a.m.–5 p.m.

Live Reference staff are not available on Holidays

When you click on the AskNow button on this page, the law librarian who answers your question may or may not be a librarian at your local law library. When the law librarian cannot answer your question by referring to free Internet resources, you may be referred to your local public law library.”

Caveat

Some legal problems seem simple, but are not. Others seem complicated, but by understanding alternatives to trial, may be resolved quickly. One of the problems with do-it-yourself law is that legal questions are rarely just legal. They involve law and technology, or law and science, or law and just about every field known to man. That is one reason why I find law librarianship so exciting — it isn’t just law.

For example, a friend of mine had a recurring problem with the transmission in her car. Although she knew to go to our state’s Web site to find California’s lemon law, I simultaneously went to http://www.firstgov.gov and found a recall notice for a defect in the transmission in her car’s year, make, and model. Armed with that, she went back to the dealer for the free recall work. When they declined to replace the transmission and provide her with a free loaner car, she turned everything over to the legal plan offered through payroll deduction by her employer. Because she had all the documentation of the repeated problems, all the proof of service work, and the manufacturer’s recall notice filed with the feds, the attorney prevailed with a letter and a few phone calls.

Lesson One : Always check both state and federal sites.

Lesson Two : If you have a pre-paid legal services benefit through your job (like my friend), or through your professional association — enroll and take advantage of it every time you have a consumer and/or legal question. You will never be without free (or, actually pre-paid) legal advice. In short, you will always have an attorney at your disposal — and you’ll know whom to call with your “one free phone call” should your life start turning into a Law & Order episode!

Here’s another example. Perhaps a company has defrauded your aged parents out of several thousand dollars. Perhaps the company has gone bankrupt and/or the perpetrators have run off with all of the money to a country without an extradition treaty. Don’t give up!

Lesson Three : Think of more than just a lawsuit. Chances are that the perpetrator of a fraud on senior citizens has no money left to sue for. So search for victim compensation 6 funds! If you help the state prosecute the perpetrator, there just may be compensation. California’s Web site even identifies state agencies that will intervene on your behalf, such as the Attorney General, Department of Corporations, and many others [http://www.ss.ca.gov/vcfcf/vcfcf_fraud_resources.htm]. The same goes for unethical attorneys — because most bar associations have a victim compensation fund. Before considering a lawsuit, consider arbitration, mediation, and other alternative dispute resolution services as well; they are cheaper and significantly faster than a lawsuit. Check your state’s Web site and the state bar association’s site, as well as local law schools that might have a legal clinic (another source of free legal advice). If it is a consumer complaint about a product or service, the Better Business Bureau [http://www.dr.bbb.org/] has links to their arbitration and other services.

Conclusion

Would I want to rely solely on what is available free on the Internet for my legal research? Of course not. But then I wouldn’t rely solely upon LexisNexis or Westlaw, the fee services on the Internet, either. Given that, however, if I didn’t have a pre-paid legal plan through my work and couldn’t afford an attorney, the free sources on the Internet are a great place to start. Certainly a lot of background research — especially factual and regulatory — can be done to gather evidence, look into the types of remedies available, and work with law librarians (in person at court libraries or through Internet “ask a librarian” sites) for help in 1) identifying reliable and up-to-date sites, 2) navigating the search mechanisms of the various Internet sites for legal research, and 3) identifying legal assistance programs in your area providing free or sliding-fee scale attorney services.

If you have a straightforward task (small claims, family law matter, some consumer issues), then you have the option to represent yourself, or at least get the background information to communicate effectively and efficiently when you do speak to an attorney — be it legal aid, paid on a sliding scale, a pre-paid legal services attorney, or a specialist that you hire on your own.

Just remember that legal information on the Internet is usually second rate; the first rate services cost — a lot. The free sites may be clunky to use or nonintuitive, or may only have legal sources from the last 10 years — or less. They may not be current at all — even years out of date. Question everything and make sure you use an “official” version of legal information (cases, codes, regulations, etc.). Double check your information on more than one site to verify it.

Things have improved a great deal, but the Internet — especially “free information” sites — are still governed by the great rule of life: caveat emptor.