Friday, January 16, 2009

Self-Represented Litigants Report

The Supreme Judicial Court Steering Committee on Self-Represented Litigants has released their report: Addressing the Needs of Self-Represented Litigants in Our Courts. The report focuses on six areas: (1) expanding access to legal representation ; (2) developing judicial guidelines and training programs ; (3) developing a resource and referral guide for self-represented litigants; (4) creating a handbook written by and for court staff that sets out principles for distinguishing legal information from legal advice; (5) investigating data collection methods; and (6) investigating physical and programmatic improvements that would make our courthouses more "user friendly."

This and other sources for and about self-represented litigants are linked from our Law About Self-Represented Litigants.