NY Courts Roll Out Attorney-Assisted Self Help Initiative For State Residents Fighting Foreclosure, Personal Debt, Landlord-Tenant, Other Lawsuits

The New York Law Journal reports:

• 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.(1) The program at first will focus on providing legal services in courts in New York City and in Westchester, Suffolk and Nassau counties.

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• Free training will be available, and attorneys will earn CLE credit for volunteering under the program, according to court administrators. [...] 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.

For more, see Economy Prompts N.Y. Courts' New Program for Volunteer Attorneys.

(1) According to the story, 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. 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.