Center to Help Poor With Legal Issues

NORTH HILLS — Gabriela Carballo stood inside the Monroe Self-Help Legal Access Center on Thursday, waiting impatiently for the first patron to step in.

“It’s almost like being a real lawyer,” she said.

The 17-year-old James Monroe High School senior and a group of about 50 students, teachers, volunteer lawyers and others celebrated the opening of what is being billed as a first-of-its-kind self-help legal center at the high school.

The volunteers, many of them high school students enrolled in the Law and Government Magnet program, will be guided by attorneys to help mostly poor community residents fill out court forms and to explain legal system rules and procedures, said attorney Mark Blackman.

Several organizations, including the San Fernando Valley Bar Assn. and San Fernando Valley Neighborhood Legal Services Inc., united to make the project a reality, he said.

A similar center will open at the Van Nuys Courthouse in mid- to late September, officials said.

The volunteers said they could not wait to put their skills to work. Students take courses in legal writing and learn how the court system works, teachers said.

“Our challenge will be making people feel comfortable,” Gabriela said. “We are young, but we know how the system works.”

Organizers said they hope the center will help cases move more quickly through Van Nuys Superior Court. Most people would be able to go to the courthouse with the necessary legal paperwork and with a better sense of direction, said Neal S. Dudovitz, executive director of Neighborhood Legal Services.

“So many people cannot afford a lawyer,” Blackman said.