Free Legal Consultations at Self-Help Centers Top 36,000
Posted on Dec 26, 2023 in Featured News, News & Reports
Supporters of the Honolulu District Court Access to Justice Room in 2023 include, front row, from left: Judiciary Innovations Officer Angela Kuo Min, Dana Harada, Michael Goodman, Kenneth Go, Michelle Chapman, Deputy Chief Judge Melanie May, Becky Gardner, Andrea Lovitt, Christine Daleiden, Sara Goldstein, with student ʻĀina Alcubilla. Back row, from left: Chief Justice Mark Recktenwald, James Rooney, Max Kimura, Rex Fujichaku, Rep. Scot Matayoshi, Gil Doles, David Kopper, Micah Smith, Steven Nichols, Sergio Alcubilla, and Hawaiʻi State Law Librarian Jenny Silbiger.
Each year, thousands of Hawaiʻi residents represent themselves in our courts, probably with little understanding of the legal system or how court processes and procedures work. Appearing without a lawyer, they can risk serious potential consequences for their families, their homes, and their livelihoods. Faced with navigating a legal system that is unfamiliar to most, they may simply give up.
To increase access to justice in civil legal matters for all people, especially low- and moderate-income Hawaiʻi residents, the Judiciary has partnered with the Hawaii State Bar Association and Legal Aid Society of Hawaiʻi to maintain self-help centers in courthouses across the state, where volunteer attorneys provide information to individuals representing themselves in civil legal cases. This assistance helps them to better understand their legal options and determine a course of action that can serve their needs..
Since October 2011, individual attorneys, law firms, and professional legal associations have volunteered, providing more than 36,000 free legal consultations to people seeking assistance, many of whom could not afford a lawyer.
Attorneys and Judiciary staff who provided operational support for the Kapolei Access to Justice Room in 2023 include, from left: Deputy Chief Judge Matthew Viola, Micah Smith, Chief Justice Mark Recktenwald, Mari Kishimoto Doi, P. Gregory Frey, Ann Isobe, Dyan Mitsuyama, Amberlynn Alualu, Shannon Hackett, Ellen Politano, Lynnae Lee, Kevin Adaniya, Judiciary Innovations Officer Angela Kuo Min, Carol Tribbey, and Hawaiʻi State Law Librarian Jenny Silbiger.
O‘ahu attorneys who volunteered at the Honolulu District Court and Kapolei Access to Justice rooms were honored for their service at special recognition ceremonies with Chief Justice Mark E. Recktenwald in December in the Hawai‘i Supreme Court courtroom.
Over the past 11 years, hundreds of attorneys have volunteered at the Access to Justice rooms and helped thousands of people with a variety of civil legal matters in district and family courts, including landlord tenant cases, collection cases, temporary restraining orders, and divorce. These benefits have been provided at almost no cost to the public.
Attorneys interested in volunteering at a self-help center, or seeking other pro bono opportunities, are invited to visit the Hawaiʻi Access to Justice Commission website, and click the menu item “How to Help.”
Visit the Hawaiʻi State Judiciary website for more information on the courthouse self-help centers.