No lawyer? New centre set up to
help
Five organisations are joining hands to
launch the non-profit initiative
BY BRYNA SIM
FIVE groups signed a Memorandum of Understanding yesterday to
establish a new centre to help people who want to represent
themselves in court.
Called the Community Justice Centre, it will be located
at Level 1 of the Subordinate Courts and will open by the end of
the year.
The non-profit centre will give information on various
court procedures to unrepresented litigants. The centre's
volunteers may also attend court with them, and refer them to free
legal clinics for advice if necessary.
The five organisations are the Ministry of Community
Development, Youth and Sports, the Ministry of Law, the Subordinate
Courts, the Law Society of Singapore and the Tan Chin Tuan
Foundation, which is giving $250,000 a year to the centre for its
first three years of operations.
Chief Justice Chan Sek Keong said in his opening address
that work on the centre started in 2010 after a study was conducted
to give the courts a better understanding of the challenges people
face when representing themselves in court.
He said the study - based on interviews with more than
600 self-represented litigants in the district courts and
magistrate's courts here - revealed that more than 80 per cent of
the respondents needed more information and explanation on court
procedures, as well as access to some form of legal advice.
'Many litigants-in-person go to court alone,' said Chief
Justice Chan. 'Hence, it is clear that they need not just legal
help or enforcement of the letter of the law, but just as
importantly, assistance from social services.'
The existing Help Centre will be integrated into the new
Community Justice Centre.
Mr Chew Kwee San, council member of the Tan Chin Tuan
Foundation, said the new centre would help people who may find the
courts intimidating.
'Unrepresented litigants tend to be people who are not so
well-off, who may find coming to court intimidating.'
He added that the centre would help litigants be better
informed about their legal choices.
'The centre's integrated, not-for-profit, one-stop model
streamlines the type of help litigants receive and at an early
stage, before their legal problems snowball further,' he said.
Home, The Straits Times, Thursday, June 21 2012, Pg B7