Legal clinic polishes non-lawyers’ civil suits

The Federal Pro Se Clinic in downtown Los Angeles, run by Public Counsel, is expanding the possibilities for self-represented individuals encountering the complex federal civil legal system.

The number of people in civil court representing themselves pro se, the Latin-derived term meaning “for himself,” has more than doubled in the last few years in the Central District of California. Many of these people can’t afford lawyers, and many of these cases aren’t financially lucrative enough for many lawyers to want to get involved.

“They don’t get the Judge Judy, what they think of as the judicial process,” says Janet Lewis of Public Counsel and director of the clinic. “You can get through your entire case without walking into a courtroom and explaining your case in front of people, face to face.”