If you’re representing yourself in a Maryland civil case, getting free legal advice can be as easy as logging in to an online chat or walking into a help center.
The state’s District Court Self Help Center lets people who don’t have lawyers meet with attorneys about small claims, landlord-tenant, peace order and debt collection cases. People who can’t get to the Glen Burnie-based center can call an attorney or chat with one online.
The center recently won the 2012 Outstanding Program of the Year Award from the Maryland Access to Justice Commission and will be honored at a conference this week.
“There’s a real gap in justice as a result of the economic downtown,” District Court Chief Judge Ben Clyburn said. Clyburn said he started the center so the state’s courts don’t “look like two systems, one for the rich and one for the poor.”
About 70 percent of people involved in District Court civil cases represent themselves, Clyburn said.
The self-help center, run by Legal Aid of Maryland attorneys, opened in December 2009 and launched the phone and online services last fall, said Sarah Frush, the center’s supervising attorney. By the end of 2011, she said, the center had helped more than 12,000 people and is now serving nearly 2,000 every month.
The number of people seeking help makes working at the center both busy and satisfying, Frush said.
“There is a different case type every 10 minutes,” she said. But, she added, “I can go home regularly and say, ‘I helped 25 or 30 people today.’ ”
Clyburn said the center helps citizens understand potential defenses and learn how to articulate their case. It also makes court proceedings more efficient, he said, because people representing themselves are prepared and judges don’t have to explain procedural matters to them.
After talking to one of the center’s four attorneys, Frush said, citizens “have the sense that their problem is not so overwhelming.”
