Self-help legal center to open in Las Vegas

Thursday, Feb. 11, 1999 | 11:29 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- A self-help legal center is going to open in 60 days in Las Vegas to aid people involved in divorce or child custody court proceedings who can't afford a lawyer, the Assembly Judiciary Committee was told today.

Assemblywoman Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas, said 44 percent of the people who show up in the Clark County Family Court system don't have a lawyer. And 66 percent of the judges' time is spent on cases where the litigants are not represented.

Buckley was the lead-off witness as the committee started consideration of a package of bills to improve the much-criticized family court system. She headed an interim legislative study committee and detailed some of the improvements that have been made.

She called the center "one of the waves of the future," which will provide legal forms and other help -- but no legal advice. In addition, there will be a list of lawyers who will take cases from low-income people. It is being financed by Clark County. A director has been hired and a site has been selected.

One problem, she said, involves paralegals. While many of them are excellent, Buckley said some "are ripping off" low-income families. They take the money, fill out the form incorrectly and the litigant is left no better off.

Assemblywoman Sandra Tiffany, R-Henderson, said misunderstandings result often when people don't have lawyers in these family matters.