{"id":376,"date":"2006-12-12T22:03:13","date_gmt":"2006-12-13T02:03:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/shlep\/2006\/12\/12\/best-practices-guide-from-srln\/"},"modified":"2007-01-10T17:41:00","modified_gmt":"2007-01-10T21:41:00","slug":"best-practices-guide-from-srln","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/shlep\/2006\/12\/12\/best-practices-guide-from-srln\/","title":{"rendered":"Best Practices Guide from SRLN"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Self Represented Litigation Network<\/a> has released a report that\u00a0can help anyone working to improve, or wanting to learn more about, the array of services, programs\u00a0and policies that exist to assist litigants appearing at court without lawyers.\u00a0 Titled Best Practices in Court-Based Programs for the Self Represented: Concepts, Attributes, and Issues for Exploration<\/em><\/strong><\/a> (Dec. 4, 2006, 44 pp pdf.), the document\u00a0states that better services for pro se<\/em> litigants can greatly enhance both access to justice and effective operation of the judicial system.\u00a0 It then describes 41 Best Practices<\/em> that “have been identified by the Self-Represented Litigation Network as likely to be effective and generally worthy of broad replication.”<\/p>\n

\"winnersBUtton\"\u00a0 The spotlighted practices are grouped into eight broad categories: 1) self-help centers and services; 2) forms, document assembly, and e-filing; 3) practices in the courtroom; 4) discretee services, pro bono and volunteer programs; 5) judicial ethics and education; 6) post-order practices; 7) court management and evaluation practices; and\u00a08) jurisdiction-wide strategic practices.\u00a0(via SelfHelpSupport<\/a>.org)\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The report names\u00a0each practice, fully describes the Concept, lists Suggested Attributes for\u00a0a successful model,\u00a0and outlines Issues for Exploration and Evaluation.\u00a0 Although advising that “Each jurisdiction should consider its own experiences and needs in developing a strategy or program”, the Best Practices report notes that “the choice as to which innovations should receive the highest priority may best be driven by an analysis of the most urgent areas of need, and of which stakeholders are most ready to move forward.”\u00a0 It then suggests that\u00a0<\/p>\n

“As a strategic matter, the creation of self-help centers, of standardized forms, and the establishment of rules clarification and training for judges, court staff and attorneys are viewed as having early broad enabling impact.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The SRLN\u00a0Best Practices report offers clear and concise information, if you’re wondering what functions a Courthouse Concierge Station might perform (and how to this useful\u00a0service even more effective);\u00a0what elements are needed\u00a0for a successful\u00a0Self-Help Center or Website; the Attributes of “Simple, easy to use and self-help friendly forms and documents”; the types of training\u00a0needed for\u00a0judges and court staffs;\u00a0or the\u00a0changes\u00a0that are required\u00a0in\u00a0ethics rules for the system to effectively and fairly serve the self-represented.\u00a0 Many additional topics are covered, including Rules in Support of Form and Process Standardization, Volunteer Attorney Involvement in Self-help Centers, Law Library as Resource Center, Rules or Clarifications in Support of Discrete Services, and court Rule and Procedure Simplification.<\/p>\n

Our advice: bookmark this excellent report<\/a>. \"GuidedSupportN\"<\/p>\n

And, see our post What Have They Done for Me Lately?<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Self Represented Litigation Network has released a report that\u00a0can help anyone working to improve, or wanting to learn more about, the array of services, programs\u00a0and policies that exist to assist litigants appearing at court without lawyers.\u00a0 Titled Best Practices in Court-Based Programs for the Self Represented: Concepts, Attributes, and Issues for Exploration (Dec. 4, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":437,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[897,898],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-376","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-resources-practitioner","category-studies-reports"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/shlep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/shlep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/shlep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/shlep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/437"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/shlep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=376"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/shlep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/shlep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=376"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/shlep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=376"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/shlep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=376"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}