A partnership with the Legal Aid Society of Hawaii will provide the public expanded access to self-help legal resources, state Judiciary officials said Wednesday. Legal Aid used state-of-the-art software to develop the interactive forms, which will help guide the public in how to identify and complete civil legal forms.
“Identifying and then filling out the correct court form can sometimes be a complicated process,” Hawaii Supreme Court Chief Justice Mark Recktenwald said. “Together, we have identified the 13 most frequently used civil legal forms and found a solution to assist self-represented litigants fill out these forms. This software is similar to computerized tax preparation programs and will assist users to fill out forms easily and correctly. This is a great resource for the public, and will help the courts process cases more effectively and efficiently.”
The Hawaii State Public Library System will provide access to the Self-Help Interactive Forms on their 800 library computers and 250 netbooks statewide. Legal Aid kicked off their first training session for library staff Wednesday, and will be providing similar trainings across the state to demonstrate how to navigate the new software. The software also includes a new chat feature to enable individuals to ask questions directly to Legal Aid about the self-help forms on its LawHelp website.
The Judiciary’s Self-Help Interactive Forms Expansion project was made possible by a grant from the State Justice Institute and builds on funding Legal Aid received from the Legal Services Corporation Technology Initiative Grant. The service is free to the public.
The new A2J self-help interactive forms are also available online at Legal Aid’s LawHelp website and the Hawaii State Judiciary’s website.