Court increases staff, service hours for Self-Help Center

People representing themselves in legal matters will get increased access to legal advice, attorneys at office in San Jose

SAN JOSE » People representing themselves in Santa Clara County Superior Court in matters including domestic-violence cases and legal tenant disputes are getting a boost with increased staffing and hours at the court’s Self-Help Center, officials an- nounced Thursday.

The county is allocating $1.6 million over three years, on top of $936,000 fromthe governor’s budget, to restore service from three to five days starting in January and increase the number of staff attorneys assigned to the center located at the Family Justice Center in downtown San Jose.

In announcing the expansion, county and court officials — led by Supervisor Cindy Chavez — put a particular focus on how an increasing number of people are seeking public resources as a symptom of the ongoing housing crisis in the Bay Area.

“During the affordable housing crisis, you can imagine we have an increase in landlord-tenant disputes,” Chavez said.

In fact, a majority of le- gal tenant disputes and domestic violence cases in Santa Clara County Superior Court involve people who represent themselves. Statewide, about 70 percent of all court cases involve people representing themselves.

Reduced wait times are a primary goal of the new funding. According to the court, in the 2017-2018 fiscal year, the Self-Help Center assisted 3,900 people a month, but due to staffing shortages about 40 percent could only be partially helped or were told to come back on another day. The court will be hiring and training new staff and eliminating an existing backlog before expanding hours in January.

“Relief is coming,” said Supervising At torney Fariba Soroosh, who oversees the Self-Help Center. “Our goal is for response times to be (from) 30 minutes to 24 hours.”

Besides the boosts in availability and staffing, the center will be able to hold legal workshops on Friday afternoons aimed at issues including limited conservatorships for developmentally disabled adults. Other services at the center include assistance with cases involving restraining orders and domestic violence, civil harassment, elder abuse, caregiver authorization, domestic partnerships, divorces, legal separations, child support and child custody and visitation, and small claims.

Nishtha Jolly, an attorney who serves as legal services manager for the YWCA of Silicon Valley, recalled her own experience 20 years ago when she used the Self-Help Center in its earlier incarnation, as an 18-year-old single mother leaving an abusive relationship.

“The legal process can be daunting, overwhelming and downright scary. Trying to navigate that on your own seems like an impossible task to a lot of us,” Jolly said. “The help I received here was critical.”

Jolly added: “In a county as expensive as ours, hiring an attorney is a luxury many don’t have but that does not mean that the need is not there. This is especially true for survivors of domestic violence who may not always have the means or the access to the means they need.”

Presiding Judge Patricia Lucas said the expansion of self-help services is a welcome development after years of budget cuts significantly reduced their availability.

“We are delighted to be open five days a week starting in January of next year and to continue to serve the people of our community,” she said.

More information about the Santa Clara County Superior Court Self-Help Center can be found online at scscourt.org/self_help/shcflfo.shtml.