— Below are ethicalEsq-f/k/a postings and annotated web resources on this topic. Find our full list of annotated ethics links by clicking the Client Rights & Legal Ethics link on the Navigation Bar
See shlep: the Self-Help Law ExPress, which was created by f/k/a‘s editor, and offers news, views and information on self-help law. It was chosen “Best Law Blog In the Public Interest” in the Blawg Review Awards 2006 . [note: Unfortunately, shlep has been mostly inactive since it was handed off to new management in May 2007.]
- probate proves hard to find online (May 5, 2005)
- towards a better law day (May 2, 2005)
- Bar & Guild (April 26, 2005)
- Posting 03/07/04 That’s Not Fair [fairness.com and self-help]
- Posting 02/26/04 A Better Fix Than ParkingTicket.com
- Posting 02/25/04 Small Claims Reform Bills Pending in 8 States
- Posting 02/25/04 Taking Small Claims Back to the 20th Century in Indiana
- Posting 02/12/04 Co-pays by Indigent Defendants Struck Down In Minnesota
- Posting 02/09/04 New Pro Se Resources Webpage (SelfHelpSupport.org)
- NH Report Recommends Strong Program for Pro Se Litigants (Feb. 9, 2004)
- Posting 02/03/04 Too Many Assigned Counsel Just Don’t Give a Damn
- Posting 02/01/04 . . . and One Step Back (Small Claims reform)
- Posting 01/21/04 NY Bar Ass’n Ignores Self-Help Approach to Improving Access
- Posting 01/17/04 NY’s Disappointing Pro Bono Report
- Posting 01/14/04 NY Bar Says Accessibility Is Its Prime Legislative Focus
- Posting 01/14/04 Do-It-Yourself Law Panel at ABA Midyear Meeting in San Antonio
- Posting 01/11/04 NYT Takes a Look at Prepaid Legal Services Plans
- Posting 01/11/04 Six States Address Unbundling In Their Own Ways
- Posting 01/10/04 Baby Steps Won’t Take Us to Small Claims Reform
- Posting 12/27/03 Are There Really Too Few Trials?
- Posting 12/19/03 Stocking-Stuffers for Legal Consumers
- Posting 12/13/03 Improving Self-Help — Theory and Practice
- Posting 12/10/03 Your Honor, Please Read This Article on Pro Se Techniques
- Posting 12/09/03 Corporate Outsourcing May Bring Trickle-Down Competition, Options
- Posting 12/04/03 Important New eBrochures for Consumers of Legal Services
- Posting 10/08/03 ABA Unbundling Handbook Looks Like a Winner
- Posting 10/03/03 Consumers Deserve Better Lawyer Referral Services
- Posting 9/16/03 Internet Lawsites Encounter the Profession’s Guild Mentality
- Posting 9/12/03 Courting the Public
- Posting 9/04/03 Un-Bundle of Joy: A Win-Win for Lawyer and Client
- Posting 8/23/03 No Need for Un-Bundelphobia
- Posting 8/22/03 Santa Clara Courts Self-Helpers
- Posting 8/11/03 Are Lawyers Blocking Efforts to Reform Small Claims Courts?
- Posting 7/22/03 Article Explores Pros and Cons of Online Divorce Assistance
- Posting 7/18/03 Mass. Offers More Proof that Self-Help Centers Are Better Than Free Lawyers
- Posting 7/15/03 Pro Bono is Not the Answer to the Access Problem (Self-Help Is)
- Posting 7/13/03 IL & Md Lawyer Groups Win First “Judee” Awards
- Posting 7/08/03 More Help for the Self-Represented
- Posting 7/06/03 New Model Rule Supports No-Frills Services
- Posting 6/05/03 In LEAN Times, Nevada Needs More Imitators
- Posting 6/02/03 A Fee Hike Even I Like
Self-Help Resources
HALT’s Small Claims Reform Project HALT believes that one key method of improving citizen access to the civil justice system is through small claims courts — which use simplified procedures, require plain English, provide consumer aids and often prohibit lawyers — because they can help empower ordinary people to take charge of their own routine legal needs. HALT is seeking a number of reforms that would make small claims courts fulfill their promise, including increasing significantly their award limits. See Article: Small Claims Reform – A Means of Expanding Access.
Supersize Small Claims This article, written by David Giacalone for Prairielaw.com (August 2000), advocates raising the limit on small claims awards to $20,000, to improve access to justice for the average consumer, saying that would be the most effective way for lawmakers to give “a big chunk of the civil justice system back to The People.”. It notes: “In a nation that loves lawyer-bashing and lawyer jokes, the lack of political support for court reform can be understood only in the context of the immense power of the legal establishment and its mighty efforts to preserve control of our justice system.”
f/k/a on Small Claims Courts: We’ve written several postings about small claims court reform. A representative post, with useful links, is “Are lawyers blocking efforts to revitalize small claims courts?” (August 11, 2003).
Self-help often works best when consumers can use lawyers for discrete tasks — which requires that lawyers “unbundle” their services and offer “limited scope representation.”
“Unbundled” Legal Services This website offers extensive information on the need for, ethics and mechanics of unbundling services, with relevant materials from many states, papers from conferences, sample retainer agreements, and much more for the court system or law firm interested in tapping into and encouraging the unbundling phenomenon. [Note (August 2010): The UnbundleLaw website is under reconstruction, but it correctly states that you can find much more on unbundling and related issues at the ProSe/Unbundling Resource Center of the ABA Standing Committee on the Delivery of Legal Services, and through three free webcast training programs on limited scope representation from the Practising Law Institute.]
Handbook on Limited Scope Legal Assistance The Modest Means Task Force of the ABA’s Section of Litigation has released this “Unbundling Handbook” in October, 2003. The 155-page document appears to live up to its billing as a “soup-to-nuts” guide for the practitioner. The Forward by Committee Chair Scott J. Atlas gives a taste of the purpose, scope and utility of the document:
The Handbook is a practical guide to providing legal services in a way that permits clients, who otherwise could not afford or would not choose to hire a lawyer, to obtain critical legal representation for discrete and important tasks in the course of resolving disputes. The Handbook discusses all aspects of limited-scope representation, including the formation and termination of the relationship, the performance of discrete tasks, and the ethical issues and procedural rules involved in this service method.