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Montana Legal Services Association Leaders Chosen for Appointment and Award

MLSA is pleased to announce significant accomplishments by two of our leaders: Alison Paul, MLSA Executive Director, shown above, was appointed by the Montana Supreme Court to the newly formed Access to Justice Commission.The purpose of the Access to Justice Commission (ATJC) will be to assess, plan, coordinate, and make recommendations regarding [...]

Federal District Court Order Protects Montana’s Pro Se Litigants

By Judy Meadows, Montana State Law Librarian and Co-Chair, Montana Commission on Self-Represented LitigantsThe Montana Supreme Court’s Commission on Self-Represented Litigants (the Commission) and Montana Legal Services Association have spent years developing, reviewing, editing and approving legal forms that are easy to understand and compliant with state law. These forms are then posted on [...]

Increasing Access to Justice Takes a Village and an Arsenal

By Judy Meadows, Montana State Law Librarian and Co-Chair, Montana Commission on Self-Represented LitigantsThe Montana Commission on Self-Represented Litigants, created in 2000 by order of the Montana Supreme Court, has worked to create and approve easy to use forms for pro ses, as well as explanations of how to proceed in court. We have [...]

Limited Scope Representation: Increasing Access for Pro Se Litigants

By Klaus Sitte, MLSA Litigation DirectorWho would have thought that the American Bar Association would participate in and encourage programs designed to help pro se litigants? After all, the ABA is a membership organization composed of lawyers, not pro se litigants, right? Well, that’s exactly what happened when the ABA Commission on Domestic Violence [...]

MLSA’s Self-Help Law Unit: Empowering Clients to Advocate for Themselves

By Jillian Haynal, Equal Justice Works AmeriCorps Legal Fellow, MLSA Self-Help Law UnitThe story is familiar. I hear it at least a few times every day. The client is crying. There is hurt, disappointment and panic in her voice. Her tears are justified because her world is crumbling. She’s just been served with court [...]

What’s Technology Got to Do With It?

By Liz Keith, Pro Bono NetIn Montana and around the country, legal aid organizations, courts and their partners are seeing a large and growing number of people facing legal needs on their own. These individuals either do not qualify for legal aid or cannot be served because of insufficient resources, yet they can’t afford [...]

Services for the Self-Represented: Every State Needs a Strategy

By Richard Zorza, Self Represented Litigation NetworkIn recent years national access to justice leaders have come to realize that the access problem will never be solved unless we put in place a broad range of services for the self-represented.  In some courts 80 or 90% are self represented, and in some types of courts [...]