New Tools for Pro Se Litigants Help Close the Access to Justice Gap

One of the most mystifying complexities of the civil legal system is its procedure.  A lawyer helps demystify the experience for her clients.  But how about the thousands of people who must face the system unrepresented when their money, homes, safety, and families may be on the line?  For them, Illinois Legal Aid Online (ILAO) offers indispensable tools that diminish the bewilderment and stress a pro se defendant feels when walking into a courtroom.  ILAO simplifies the law into understandable terms by providing accessible tools and resources online. 

Recently, ILAO released several professionally produced videos about going to court on your own and moving a court date and edited and updated two existing videos to add information about e-filing.  Additionally, they created three process maps on e-filing, serving a summons, and responding to a lawsuit, that visually depict in plain language how these processes work.  Already, through March 2020, the videos have been viewed 858 times, logging over 41 hours of watch time.  The process maps have been viewed 930 times. 

Even attorneys find ILAO helpful for giving clients additional resources and guidance that are high-quality and easy to understand.  In some cases, these resources augment brief services or advice the attorney is giving a pro se client.  In other instances, attorneys use these resources to empower clients they are representing with additional information about the process and their rights and responsibilities. 

These new resources were made possible with funding support from an American Bar Endowment (ABE) Opportunity Grant.  The ABE, a charitable organization, using dividends donated by lawyers insured through ABE-sponsored insurance plans, makes grants in support of new, discrete, and innovative community-based access to justice projects.