People who cannot afford a lawyer will have a better chance to make their case in civil court with the launch this month of a self-help center staffed by volunteer attorneys at the Kauai Judiciary Complex, which could become a model for courthouses on other islands.

"The Self Help Center is kind of like a pilot project statewide," said Kauai Circuit Judge Trudy Senda in Lihue. "Whatever we learn, we’re going to pass on to the Judiciary. They’ll learn from our experiences as they move forward to open other centers."

Many people cannot afford lawyers in civil cases, such as when they are seeking child custody or trying to recover a security deposit from their landlord. The Self Help Center will rely on a lawyer from the Legal Aid Society of Hawaii and private attorneys donating their time to help people represent themselves.

"Self-represented litigants come into court and they don’t understand the law," Senda said. "It’s really difficult for them. We are going to help them understand and navigate through what’s really a confusing and intimidating civil justice system."

The project is a collaboration among the Judiciary, the Legal Aid Society of Hawaii, Volunteer Legal Services of Hawaii, the Hawaii State Bar Association and the Kauai Bar Association. The center, which opened Oct. 7, is staffed on Monday and Friday mornings. Its attorneys explain what to expect in court, rules and procedures, and provide forms and legal information, but not legal advice or representation.

"People watch the judge shows on television, and they sometimes may feel, ‘I don’t need a lawyer, once the judge hears my story, they’ll give me what I need,’" said Justin Kollar, president of the Kauai Bar Association. "But what they don’t understand is that there are rules that everybody has to play by in court to make sure it’s fair."

A lay person who is not familiar with rules of evidence, such as those governing hearsay, can be at a big disadvantage, Kollar said.

"If one side has an attorney and the other side doesn’t, or one person is more sophisticated in the court system, it can create a situation where the self-represented litigants are truly not receiving meaningful access to justice," Kollar said. "Even if you have a rock-solid case, if you don’t know the rules, you are really not going to be able to present your case."

There is a common misconception that self-represented parties are largely limited to the relatively informal setting of small claims court, Senda said. But data compiled by the state Judiciary for the Star-Advertiser show that self representation is widespread in other civil courts as well.

In 92 percent of cases in regular claims court in fiscal year 2011, one party had a lawyer while the other had none. Most litigants in Family Court lacked legal counsel as well. Nearly 92 percent of divorce cases involved at least one party without a lawyer in the 2011 fiscal year. The vast majority of civil filings for temporary restraining orders (91 percent) and small claims (96 percent) were handled without legal representation on either side. Those percentages have been largely stable for the past five years, the data show.

Demand for the Self Help Center is expected to be greatest in areas such as landlord-tenant law, claims court and family court issues such as divorce, child support and custody issues.

"This is a resource that will not only benefit the litigants, but it will also take a lot of pressure off court staff and judges, saving the state money in terms of time spent dealing with people who are unprepared for their cases," Kollar said. "This is something that really will benefit everybody. Even the lawyer will be able to feel good about providing the pro bono services."

The ultimate goal is to have self-help centers open in Kona, Hilo, Maui and at District Court in Honolulu and Family Court in Kapolei, according to Lyn Flanigan, executive director of the Hawaii State Bar Association.

Some courthouses already have Ho’okele Service Centers that provide forms and other information, but they are not staffed by attorneys. A Courthouse Assistance Project operated for several months in 2008 at the Kauai courthouse but had to shut down for lack of funds. Asked if there were enough volunteer lawyers to keep the Self Help Center going, Kollar called the response so far "outstanding."

"Right now we are planning to start slow and kind of ramp up,"he said. "As we get a better idea of what the supply and demand really looks like in terms of people looking for help, and attorneys willing to provide help, we can expand from there."

STATE INITIATIVES TO IMPROVE ACCESS TO LEGAL SERVICES FOR THE POOR

The new Self Help Center at Kauai’s Courthouse is part of a push to improve access to civil justice for Hawaii’s poor. Here are other recent steps taken by the Access to Justice Commission, created in 2008 by the Hawaii Supreme Court:

» Helped boost funds for indigent legal services through a law that raises the surcharge on initial circuit court filings effective January 2012.

» Proposed allowing attorneys licensed elsewhere in the United States to work at nonprofit organizations providing civil legal services to the poor for two years without taking Hawaii’s bar exam. The rule was adopted by the Supreme Court and took effect July 1.

» Adopted model policies for the judiciary, private attorneys and government attorneys to provide pro bono (unpaid) services.

» Secured commitments from many law firms and government offices to provide pro bono service.

» Recommended that the Supreme Court allow attorneys to discharge their responsibility for pro bono service by contributing $500 annually to a fund for free legal services for the poor. That proposed rule is open for public comment until Oct. 31.

» Proposed a rule, adopted in January by the Supreme Court, to allow courts to distribute unpaid residual funds from class action suits toward indigent legal assistance.

» Promoted coordination between the Legal Aid Society of Hawaii and Volunteer Legal Services Hawaii that led to adoption of a collaborative referral system.

Source: Hawaii Supreme Court, Three-year Evaluation of the Hawaii Access to Justice Commission, July 2011