“The Courthouse Assistance Project will benefit the many who cannot afford an attorney, as well as judges and court staff. I am pleased that the Legal Aid Society of Hawai‘i and the Judiciary is providing this much-needed service,” he said.
The Legal Aid Society of Hawai‘i, a state-wide non-profit agency funded by grants and donations, has been offering similar services since it was founded in 1950.
“The difference is now we’ll be in the courthouse. It’s a matter of access,” said staff attorney Linda Vass. “When people get into court and find out how difficult it is to represent themselves, they will be able to come to us.”
An attorney will be at the first-floor courthouse office on Mondays between 8:30 a.m. and 12 p.m., Tuesdays between 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. and Wednesdays between 9 a.m. and 12 p.m.
Vass said that a similar program has been in use in Honolulu’s First Circuit Court and that the Kaua‘i office was trying to “use them as a framework.”
Services for income-eligible criminal or traffic defendants will not be included in the new program, but will still be provided through the public defender’s office.