Columnist Sandra Thompson: Las Vegas legal aid facilities growing

Sandra Thompson

Sunday, March 19, 2000 | 9:44 a.m.

Sandra Thompson is vice president/associate editor of the Las Vegas Sun. She can be reached at 259-4025 or through e-mail at thompson@lasvegassun.com.

It may be the beginning of a new era for legal services in Las Vegas.

Last week a one-stop legal aid center moved into new downtown offices. Last month the self-help legal center at Family Court officially opened in expanded new quarters.

"The goal is to provide equal justice," said Supreme Court Chief Justice Bob Rose at the opening of the legal services center at 800 S. Eighth St. "And you can't provide equal justice unless you have equal access to lawyers or legal services."

The new building that houses Clark County Legal Services and Nevada Legal Services provides that access, Rose said. He added that the demand from people who need, but can't afford, legal services is "tremendous."

Nevada Legal Services handles cases involving denied public benefits and landlord/tenant issues. Clark County Legal Services handles landlord/tenant and housing discrimination cases, as well as senior issues and consumer fraud. It also oversees the Children's Law Project, which was approved by the 1999 Legislature to provide attorneys to represent children in abuse/neglect cases. The project began a few months ago with one attorney, who already has a caseload of 55. A second attorney will join the staff this week.

The Clark County Pro Bono Project, which handles family law and domestic violence issues, is considering merging with Clark County Legal Services and would be included in the downtown center. Merging the agencies, which often competed for the same dollars to survive, makes sense. The legal services building then would truly be a one-stop center for people needing legal help.

The Nevada and Clark County legal services agencies partner with the UNLV Boyd School of Law to provide free community legal education classes in family law, tenants' rights and small claims. Bankruptcy classes are being added.

The partnership also matches law students with experienced attorneys to work on cases, most of which involve consumer fraud.

Assemblywoman Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas, who runs Clark County Legal Services, cites one case of a 74-year-old homeowner who received a telemarketing call about refinancing his home. When all was said and done, the man agreed to refinance his home -- unaware there was a $10,000 fee and that the interest rate was higher than his current rate. Needless to say, the company is now foreclosing because he couldn't pay the new mortgage.

The new legal services building was made possible by a $424,000 Community Development Block Grant from the city. Buckley is looking for a benefactor to pay the rest of the mortgage so they can put that money into offering additional legal services.

Although it does not provide legal services or offer legal advice, the self-help center at Family Court guides litigants through the legal maze and provides forms they need in areas such as divorce, annulment, legal separation, guardianship and name change.

Since its unofficial opening on May 3, 1999, the center has assisted more than 21,500 people. Last month it moved into expanded quarters opposite the clerk's office on the first floor of Family Court.

According to court officials, the center has helped to quicken the pace of litigation among people who can't afford a lawyer. It's estimated that more than 44 percent of litigants represent themselves in Family Court.

All but one Family Court judge accept the handwritten forms. Family Court Judge Gerald Hardcastle says he accepts handwritten motions, but not handwritten final orders, which are often questioned as authentic by other jurisdictions. (The self-help center provides typewriters for litigants' use.) For contested cases, Hardcastle believes litigants should be represented by an attorney.

You'd expect places that offer free services to people without money to be on the shabby side. Not so for the new legal services building or the self-help center, which are modern, stylish and comfortable.

As Mayor Oscar Goodman noted at the opening of the downtown center: "When folks come in here, they won't feel like second-class citizens, but first-class citizens, because this building looks like a first-class law office."