April 16th NACM Court Leader’s Advantage Podcast Episode

It may have started with the advent of no-fault divorce in the 1970s. But the numbers of litigants representing themselves in court has regularly increased year after year. This fact has presented a challenge for the community and for courts. People pursuing legal matters in court and who have limited legal experience are at a decided disadvantage. They are at greater risk of ending up with an unfortunate (or maybe even a disastrous) outcome. Likewise, unschooled self-represented litigants in a courtroom can be time-consuming and lead to uncomfortable situations for litigants, judges, and court staff.

As a result, many courts around the country have created centers to assist self-represented litigants in pursuing their cases and appearing in court. The presence of court self-service centers is a mixed bag. Not all courts have them and the centers themselves can range from the very modest to the very extensive. This month we’re going to look at self-service centers. Some questions we are looking into include:

• What do the varieties of centers look like?
• Are the costs of running them worth the benefits?
• What are the criticisms of the centers and what is the response?
• What advice do our panelists have for courts considering starting a center and for courts that already have one

Today’s Panel:

• Angela Polk, Supervisor of the Legal Resource Center for the Multnomah County Circuit Court in Portland, Oregon
• Kristi Cox, Chief Deputy County Clerk for the 44th Circuit Court in Howell, Michigan
• Salvador Reynoso, Managing Attorney for the Self-Help Services Unit of the Superior Court in San Bernardino, California
• Robert Southers, Managing Attorney for the Self-Help and Dispute Resolution Center, Franklin County Municipal Court, Columbus, Ohio

Click here to listen to the podcast. 

Leave a question or comment about the episode at clapodcast@nacmnet.org.