S.T.A.N.D.ing through COVID-19: Wayne County’s Juvenile Drug Treatment Court Perseveres during the Pandemic

By the Honorable Karen Braxton, Third Circuit Court (Wayne County)

For more than 20 years, the Juvenile Drug Treatment Court known as the S.T.A.N.D. (Supervised Treatment for Alcohol & Narcotic Dependency) Program has been a staple in the 3rd Circuit Court - Juvenile Division for working with very troubled youth.

The S.T.A.N.D. Program is a highly-structured specialty court designed to provide an alternative to the traditional criminal justice system through comprehensive supervision and treatment services for youth who struggle with substance use disorders.  It provides opportunity, teaches responsibility, builds character, and produces success.  Cases are referred into the program by either the jurist, prosecutor, defense attorney, and/or case management organizations.  Youths are screened for eligibility by our Juvenile Justice Specialist.  Our team includes jurists, a coordinator, an administrative assistant, probation officers, defense attorneys, educational advocates, prosecutors, treatment providers, and mentors.

Michigan Legal Help’s Newest Feature: The Legal Clinics and Events Calendar

By Ramzi Badwi, Program and Outreach Coordinator, Michigan Legal Help

From Legal Information to External Referrals

The Michigan Legal Help (MLH) Program is always looking for ways we can better assist self-represented litigants in Michigan.  Although MichiganLegalHelp.org began providing solely legal information, many of our expansions since then have dealt with providing referrals to external organizations and resources.  For example, the Guide to Legal Help can screen a visitor for legal aid eligibility, allow them to start their online intake application for legal aid if they are eligible, find a private attorney through the State Bar’s Lawyer Referral Service, and more.  We also have a Courts & Agencies feature, which provides the visitor with court contact information, and a Community Services section, which can help the visitor find helpful organizations like fair housing centers and domestic violence shelters.  The latest addition to our website is a continuation of this trend: a feature that will help visitors find a legal clinic where they can potentially receive free legal advice and representation.

User Testing: Seeing From Your Audience's Perspective

By Ramzi Badwi, Program and Outreach Coordinator, Michigan Legal Help Program

MichiganLegalHelp.org is a website that depends on its ability to express information clearly and efficiently.  As a provider of legal information for those who cannot afford a lawyer, it is easy to imagine how desperate a visitor to the website may be to find what they need and thoroughly understand it.  We take several steps to ensure that our information is accessible and user-friendly, including writing our content at a sixth-grade reading level.  Another very important step we take toward accessibility is directly testing our materials on users and analyzing their feedback.

MichiganLegalHelp.org and the Ideal Referral

By Ramzi Badwi, Program and Outreach Coordinator, Michigan Legal Help Program

The Michigan Legal Help Program (MLHP) has enjoyed a great relationship with Michigan courts for some time.  Many self-represented litigants need assistance that court staff are not able to provide, so a referral to MichiganLegalHelp.org makes perfect sense.  That being said, MichiganLegalHelp.org is not ideal for every legal issue, nor for every scenario possible within a particular legal issue.  We’d like to share some information about what services the website provides, what types of content the website covers, and who may be a good candidate for handling their legal problems with MichiganLegalHelp.org.

MichiganLegalHelp.org and the Average Visitor

By Ramzi Badwi, Program and Outreach Coordinator, Michigan Legal Help Program

Michigan Residents and the Justice Gap

At its core, MichiganLegalHelp.org is a website designed to provide free legal information for those who are representing themselves in their legal matters.  In 2012, there was only one Michigan legal services attorney for every 21,625 residents who qualified for their services.  This disparity between the demand for and availability of legal resources meant that many eligible residents had to be turned away.  This “justice gap” is not only experienced in Michigan, but nationwide as well.  According to the Legal Services Corporation (LSC), “low-income Americans will approach LSC-funded legal aid organizations for support with an estimated 1.7 million problems (2017).  They will receive only limited or no legal help for more than half of these problems because of a lack of resources.”  The individuals and families affected by this gap comprise Michigan Legal Help’s (MLH) ideal audience, and so the question is who is an average MLH visitor and how do they compare to the population experiencing this justice gap?

Crafting a Better Self-Help Center

By Ramzi Badwi, Program and Outreach Coordinator, Michigan Legal Help Program

Humble Beginnings

MichiganLegalHelp.org is a website designed to provide legal information for self-represented litigants. The Michigan Legal Help Program (MLHP), although largely known for its website, has another, equally important aspect – its self-help centers (SHCs).  Self-help centers are brick-and-mortar extensions of MichiganLegalHelp.org – places where visitors can get free access to a computer and a high-speed Internet connection in order to use the website.  

Six Years and Counting: The Story of the Michigan Legal Help Program

By Ramzi Badwi, Program and Outreach Coordinator, Michigan Legal Help

The Legal Climate in 2010

On August 17, MichiganLegalHelp.org celebrated its 6th birthday!  In honor of that milestone, this article will explore the origin of Michigan Legal Help (MLH) and how far it has come since then. 

'Live Help' Offers Online Legal Assistance in Real Time -- and en Español

By Ramzi Badwi, Program and Outreach Coordinator, Michigan Legal Help

Visiting a website for the first time can be a frustrating experience.  It can take time for a user to find what they need, especially for those who are not very comfortable using a computer.  One of the ways we remedy this on michiganlegalhelp.org is by providing “Live Help,” an online chat feature similar to a customer service help desk.  Using this service, agents can answer a visitor’s questions in real time and provide links to our own content, quotes from our materials, or links to other trusted sources.

Michigan Legal Help's New Guide to Legal Help

By Ramzi Badwi, Program and Outreach Coordinator

The term “triage” is usually reserved for the process hospitals use to sort out the order in which patients will be treated based on the urgency of their wounds or illnesses.  Much like hospitals, legal aid offices can be overwhelmed with people who urgently need their assistance.  The triage concept can be adapted to the legal field to make better use of limited resources, just as it is used in the medical profession.

Five Years of Helping People with Legal Trouble: Another Milestone for Michigan Legal Help

By:  Martha Gove, Staff Attorney/Program and Outreach Coordinator, Michigan Legal Help Program

Can you believe we’re five years old this month? It seems like only yesterday that we were drafting our first articles and planning the original design of the Michigan Legal Help website.  Despite its youth, Michigan Legal Help (MLH) is recognized throughout the state as the single most reliable source for free, accurate, up-to-date tools and referrals for civil legal problems.  

What's 'Triage'? This and Other News from Michigan Legal Help

By Martha Gove, Staff Attorney/Program and Outreach Coordinator, Michigan Legal Help Program

The Michigan Legal Help website is approaching its fifth birthday in August 2017, and we’re pleased to share with you recent content updates, program news, and other exciting developments!

Exploring Process: The Viewpoint of the Self-Represented Litigant

By Angela Tripp, Director, Michigan Legal Help Program, and
Martha Gove, Staff Attorney/Program & Outreach Coordinator, Michigan Legal Help Program

Sometimes the best way to understand how others experience your product is to be your own customer.  Michigan Legal Help staff recently conducted user testing to get real-time, in-person feedback about the website – its layout, wording, and the new features we’re adding.  Similarly, an attorney colleague recently used Michigan Legal Help to represent herself in her divorce, moving through the courts for the first time as a self-represented litigant instead of as an attorney.  What she had to say about the experience was as illuminating as any user testing we could have done, and speaks a great deal to the experiences of self-represented litigants.

Pro Bono Contributions Fuel Michigan Legal Help

By Martha Gove, Staff Attorney/Program & Outreach Coordinator, Michigan Legal Help

Our justice system is only as fair and effective as it is accessible to those who need it.  Unfortunately, for many, access to justice is limited by a lack of financial resources.  The network of legal services offices throughout Michigan, among other programs, addresses this imbalance.  Michigan Legal Help was created to help bridge this gap for Michigan residents who can’t be helped by legal services and can’t afford an attorney.  There are approximately 22,000 Michigan residents eligible for the services of each dedicated legal services attorney.

Michigan Legal Help Adds and Improves Tools

Posted by State Court Administrative Office on Aug 15, 2016 1:30:43 PM

By Elizabeth Walz, Program & Outreach Coordinator, Michigan Legal Help

Over the past year, this column has highlighted the growth of the Michigan Legal Help (MLH)
program. On June 1, 2016, Tina Rosenberg of the New York Times wrote the column, “Legal
Aid with a Digital Twist,” which demonstrates the growing impact of online legal forms and the
importance of projects like Michigan Legal Help (MLH).