Administrators of New York courts rolled out a new program Thursday to enlist attorneys, many of whom may be laid off or on reduced work schedules due to the sour economy, to provide legal advice and expertise to pro se litigants.
The initiative will differ from traditional pro bono work in that lawyers will not represent poor clients in court nor provide assistance throughout their cases. Rather, lawyers in the new Volunteer Attorney Program will make themselves available to multiple pro se litigants to help them prepare petitions and other court paperwork, advise them about what might happen in court and interpret orders from courts, Chief Administrative Judge Ann Pfau said.
The program at first will focus on providing legal services in courts in New York City and in Westchester, Suffolk and Nassau counties.
Pfau said the need for attorneys to help pro se litigants is particularly acute in cases that reflect the bad economy, such as foreclosures, tenant-landlord disputes, personal debt, child support and other matters in Family Court and small estate settlements in Surrogate's Court.
Both employed and unemployed lawyers can participate, Pfau said.
"People still want to be lawyers," she said in an interview. "We are very happy to think that we could both marry the need for more lawyers and the opportunity for lawyers to provide this very direct service when families are in crisis. That's why they are in court, because they are in crisis."
Applications and other information about the program are available on the Unified Court System's Web site (http://www.courts.state.ny.us/attorneys/volunteer.shtml). Court officials will give examples of the types of matters where attorneys can provide legal advice and volunteering lawyers can express preferences for counties where they want to serve.
There is no minimum time commitment. Lawyers can volunteer "just a few hours a week or as frequently as every day on a schedule convenient for the attorney," according to the application.
Free training will be available, and attorneys will earn CLE credit for volunteering under the program, according to court administrators.
Courts typically have pro se clerks who are trained to help unrepresented litigants complete forms and petitions, but the clerks are prohibited from giving legal advice.
Lawyers in the program will be shielded from liability for the advice they dispense under §17 of the Public Officers Law, according to Lawrence Marks, director of administration for the Unified Court System.
Pfau said the idea for the program came from former Chief Judge Judith S. Kaye, who is now of counsel at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom.
In an interview Wednesday, Kaye said she had been thinking of ways to bring the "regrettably increasing supply side of lawyer time" caused by the failing economy to the "aid of the regrettably increasing demand side" of people needing legal services.
"I am so heartbroken every day to read the lead news item in the [New York] Law Journal about more lawyers being suspended, exited, encouraged to do something other than their law firm work," Kaye said. "And there are the courts just flooded with foreclosure cases, flooded with credit card debt cases, flooded with Family Court filings."
Civil Court in New York City and Family Court in Brooklyn both have programs where specially trained attorneys are available on certain days to offer legal advice to unrepresented litigants.
In a report earlier this month, the Office of the Deputy Chief Administrative Judge for Justice Initiatives termed the supply of publicly funded legal aid and pro bono services "entirely inadequate" to meet the need. In 2007, Kaye estimated that about 1.8 million litigants appeared without a lawyer in New York state courts.
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