Eighth Circuit Transforms Under-Utilized Law Library into Thriving Self-Help Center
回到2020年3月的前一天, when the pandemic began to surge in 佛罗里达 and Chief Justice Canady authorized the discontinuation of all non-essential business travel—法官 and court staff periodically ventured out of town for committee meetings or education programs. 如果路途遥远，需要坐飞机, 旅行者经常陷入困境, 有时是很长的不确定状态, 由于中途停留或延误. 这正是发生在两名第八巡回法院旅行者身上的事情. 保罗·西尔弗曼, 初审法院行政官, 还有布里奇特·贝克女士, the director of court operations—who were returning to Gainesville after a June 2016 National Association for Court Management conference in Louisville: their plane was delayed, 他们还要等很长时间. 有时候，这些临时时间感觉像是可怕的浪费时间. Other times, 然而, these forced pauses can be propitious—even astonishingly fruitful. 这就是奥巴马的情况. 西尔弗曼和贝克女士. 当他们坐在机场的时候, 随意谈论工作上的事情, 你瞧, they conceived an idea for metamorphosing their rarely used law library—a typically empty room—into a much-needed self-help center—now a bustling, 充满活力的, 和有用的空间.
佛罗里达的每个县过去都有一个法律图书馆, funded with a portion of court costs assessed in all criminal cases pursuant to 佛罗里达 Statutes 939.185. 然而, 全国范围内, law libraries—which house legal materials and resources for conducting legal research—are closing due to diminished funding sources and dwindling use: these days, 法官, 律师, 法律学者, and others generally prefer to access digitized legal sources from their personal or work computers. And because law libraries typically do not offer assistance to self-represented litigants, 它们对这一人群并没有特别的帮助. 为了生存, law libraries have been reevaluating the best ways to serve their users and to make the smartest use of their space.
在Baker女士和Mr. 西尔弗曼的机场顿悟, Alachua County had a law library with enough funding to pay for one county-funded staff position and for its collection of legal materials. The county also had a basic self-help program staffed by one county-funded employee, who did all the case management for the 法官 hearing pro se cases and handled the phone calls and emails pertaining to all the self-represented litigants in the county—a “huge job,贝克女士强调. 与先生进行头脑风暴. 西尔弗曼在机场, Ms Baker wondered about the possibility of somehow marrying the two functions to create a center that would be practical, 具有成本效益的, 和受欢迎.
他们算了一下:法律图书馆花了20美元,000 annually on hard-copy legal materials that were rarely opened up. If they stopped these subscriptions, they could save money immediately. 在他们做出任何改变之前, 然而, 他们必须得到图书馆董事会的支持. All agreed it was a radical change—but because Ms Baker had a thoughtful plan, 他们同意了这个想法. 贝克女士和贝克先生. Silverman also had to get buy-in from their county partners: the chief judge, 法院书记, 州检察官, 当地律师协会, 城市委员会. “说服他们并不难,贝克女士说, 因为他们都致力于帮助阿拉楚阿县的公民.”
The Self-Help Center is housed in the Alachua County Family and Civil Justice Center in Gainesville, 佛罗里达
So the idea that was born in an airport in June 2016 became a reality by October 2016, 自助中心开业的时候. 该中心有三名全职工作人员:一名主任, Ms Annemarie Schuller (a county-funded position); a court specialist (a state-funded position), who provides support to the pro se judge (all family pro se cases are heard by a single judge in Alachua County); and an administrative assistant (this position is supported equally by law library and county funding). 资金主要用于支付工资, 但有些是用于电子研究工具, 特别是FastCase, which Ms Schuller described as relatively user friendly and a great tool for research.
自助中心的工作人员不能给人们提供法律建议, 告诉他们该填什么表格, 在法庭上代表他们, 或者告诉他们如何陈述自己的观点. 然而, staff can tell them where to get the packet of forms they need (either online or from the 法院书记’s office, which is conveniently located right downstairs); answer procedural questions; explain how to move the case forward; help the self-represented litigants set a hearing with the pro se judge; inform them about additional court requirements; and review their files before scheduling a court event to ensure the correct forms have been filed. “我们也可以互相帮助,” Ms Schuller added; “We can offer some comfort and help take some of the worry and stress out of the process.”
The self-help center is a highly efficient operation, Ms Baker remarked. 在整个过程中，工作人员与代理法官密切合作, overseeing the case management details for all the family pro se cases; they set the docket, 参加听证会, 订单草案. “我们的目标是帮助前端人员正确地做事, 哪一种方法可以简化流程, 帮助自我辩护的诉讼当事人, 帮助法官,舒勒指出.
Self-Help Center staff can explain procedures; help self-represented litigants set a hearing with the judge; inform them about additional court requirements; and review their files before scheduling a court event to ensure the correct forms have been filed
The top issue with which center staff are most frequently asked to help are family law matters using supreme court forms. Following that are county court-related matters such as landlord/tenant and small claims, 还有遗嘱认证问题. 自从中心开业以来, the number of in-person and phone call requests has nearly tripled—from 3,800 in 2017, to 7,100 in 2018, to 9,100 in 2019. On average, staff are helping between 30 and 40 self-represented litigants a day.
Self-help center staff have already helped the Twelfth Circuit reboot its law library, 所以第八巡回法院的模式显然是可以复制的. When asked what advice they might give others looking to effect a similar transformation, 贝克女士解释道, “解决方案通常存在于你已经拥有的资源中. For us, no additional funding was even needed—just a reallocation and a restructuring.”