shlep: the Self-Help Law ExPress

Nevada Supreme Court Justice Robert Rose retired on Dec. 29, 2006, after 18 years on the high court.  In an interview given to the Nevada Appeal, “Justice Rose says it’s time to step aside (Jan. 15, 2007), the retiring justice listed helping to create Nevada’s pro se assistance programs high on the list of his accomplishments.  According to the Appeal:

One effort he says he spearheaded is the “Pro Se Counsel” program designed to help litigants who don’t have legal counsel. Rose said the system now provides more than 500 different forms to help those without lawyers handle issues, including divorce and guardianship to landlord-tenant disputes.

“That will probably help more people than anything else I’ve done on the Nevada Supreme Court,” he said (emphasis added).

I’ve been praising Nevada’s efforts to help pro se litigants for years.  The Clark County Family Law Self Help Center, in Las Vegas, is an excellent example. (see our prior post for some remarkable statistics on the use of the Self Help Center in Clark County).  As Chief Justice, Robert Rose had his priorities straight and his efforts should be applauded. [By the way, he had his priorities straight in 1977, when, as lieutenant governor and president of the state Senate, he broke a tie to pass the Equal Rights Amendment.  That vote cost him the gubernatorial election in 1978 and sent Rose back to practicing law.  Instead of a career in politics that had been predicted to make him governor and then U.S. Senator, Bob Rose was soon a superior court judge and won election to the Supreme Court in 1988.]

• You’ll find links to the 500+ Nevada standardized court forms in the SideBar of the courts’ pro se resources page.