Equal Access Project

Providing Materials for Providers of Legal Self-Help Services

The Equal Access Unit of the Center for Families, Children & the Courts has materials available for courts, court-based self-help programs, and other nonprofit providers of legal self-help services. If you are representing yourself in court, please visit our self-help website.

The materials here include sample instructional handouts developed by local courts, translations, brochures, program models, evaluation tools, and ideas for setting up a self-help center.

Background Background information on access to justice.	Funding Lists current and past funding resources.
Planning for Self-Help Services California statewide and local actions plans for Serving Self-Represented Litigants.	Pro Bono Encouragement from judicial officers and a collection of resources for volunteers.
Program Management Starting and managing a self-help center program; includes intake forms, triage tools, brochures, and staff training materials.	Ethical Issues Exploring the changing roles of attorneys, judges and court staff in serving self-represented litigants.
Service Delivery Models Information on ways to provide services to self-represented litigants.	Instructional Materials Court-provided samples of materials, templates, and videos about basic court processes.
Self-Help Center (SHC) Staff Resources Tools and training resources for self-help staff, as well as recruitment and staff development information.	Limited-English Proficiency (LEP) Materials and Resources Translated materials and court forms, resources to assist LEP litigants, information on effective programs and information for providing language access.
Technological Resources Web sites, forms sets, video conferencing and other technological resources to assist self-represented litigants.	Conferences and Trainings Materials form upcoming and past conferences and trainings.
Research & Evaluation Evaluations from self-help programs, sample forms, evaluation strategies and links to other research on SRLs.