Santa Monica Self-Help Legal Access Center helps litigates effectively represent themselves
By IRENE MANAHAN Special to the Daily Press
SM COURTHOUSE — Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky was on hand Thursday to help celebrate the official opening of the Santa Monica Self-Help Legal Access Center, a county service that helps residents without an attorney to maneuver through the complicated legal system.
The center, which is located inside the Santa Monica Courthouse on Main Street, is thought to be the first of its kind on the Westside, providing free legal services to residents in civil matters, especially family law and landlord-tenant issues.
“I’m delighted to bring [the center] to Los Angeles’ Westside,” said Yaroslavsky. “Without access to the legal system, the democracy is just incomplete.”
Yaroslavsky joked that many are under the impression that residents on the Westside are all rich with houses by the beach.
“But there is a significant number of people who cannot afford a lawyer,” he said. “Even in Santa Monica, Malibu and anywhere else on the Westside, we have significant human service needs.”
Yaroslavsky went on to explain that residents have the right, but they also need the ability, to exercise the judicial system. Without a clear understanding of the court process, many people lose their cases.
A collaborative effort by the Los Angles County court system, Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles and Neighborhood Legal Services, the self-help center’s volunteer staff assists self-represented litigateswho cannot afford attorneys with completing court forms, filing documents and learning court procedures.
Chief coordinators Jennifer Winslow and Kathy Mitchell have worked at the center since its actual opening in mid-September.
“We’ve been here from the ground up and have seen everything fall into place,” Mitchell said.“We’re excited to see it grow in popularity.
“Before the center opened, many people were lost. They didn’t know what to do. Nothing was getting done,” she said. “Now they have someone to help. We give them a real chance to win in court.”
Winslow was quick to point out that there is no criteria needed in acquiring help aside from the fact that residents cannot already be represented by a lawyer.
While the staff provides legal assistance, it is an objective process.
“We sit down with them and explain which forms they need to use,”said Winslow. “This is what that means, timelines, what the next step is... we don’t offer legal advice.”
The center also provide information packets that cover everything from suggestions on what to wear to court to how to go about settling a case.
JusticeCorp volunteers Johanna Gerwer and Sean Rameswaram began working with the center in September and plan to remain throughout the year.
“It’s a great experience to get out of the college and do some community service,” said Gerwer, a biology major in her second-year at UCLA. She said that without help from the center, county residents were “getting stuck.
“Now, they are getting through the system quicker,” she said.
Rameswaram is also a big fan of the new program, being that it’s very hands on in dealing with information that people get wrong much of the time. While litigates can do things on their own, many need help, he acknowledged.
“We help them understand why, and what do with it,” Winslow said. “We give information no one else can give them.”
Court assistant Fumiko Sahara said that before the center opened, clerks sent litigates to Inglewood — the closest place with a center that could advise them as to which forms to fill out. Residents on the Westside no longer get the runaround.
The Santa Monica Center — the county’s seventh self-help center since establishing the first in Van Nuys — serves between 30 to 35 people per day. It is located in Room 210 of the Santa Monica Courthouse, 1725 Main St.
All told, the county’s system of centers assist nearly 6,000 people each month.
While the center offers professional guidance, coordinators and volunteers feel that it’s more than that.
“I’ve gotten hugs,” Winslow said. “It’s been so great.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on January 12, 2007. Read the original PDF.