Public Service Award

July 9, 2003

Over the course of the past year, Steptoe & Johnson LLP has worked with a coalition of family law groups to develop the District of Columbia Family Court Self-Help Center. The efforts of many Steptoe volunteers who staff the Center were recognized when the firm received the 2003 Frederick B. Abramson Award for public service recently at the DC Bar Annual Dinner.

The Family Court Self-Help Center serves pro se litigants in domestic relations and in paternity and child support matters by providing individual assistance from family law facilitators, court forms, legal information, and access to free clinics and trainings.

The program has been an early success. It not only benefits many individuals, but is also an asset to the court system, which functions much more effectively with well informed and prepared litigants.

For more information, please see the press release below:

"One-Stop" Approach to Assistance in the Family Court System
Self-Help Center Opens To Guide People Through Family Court

There is a new resource at the DC Family Court available to people trying to navigate Family Court without a lawyer, making it a little more manageable.

On Thursday, April 24, the Family Law Section of the District of Columbia Bar, the DC Bar Pro Bono Program, the DC Women's Bar Association and Women's Bar Association Foundation, and the private law firm Steptoe & Johnson LLP will host an Open House celebrating the sixth month of operations for the Family Court Self-Help Center Pilot Project located in DC Superior Court.

The Center provides information and on-site assistance with family law matters to members of the public who do not have attorneys. The Center is operated by the sponsor organizations in partnership with the Family Court and is staffed entirely by volunteer attorneys, paralegals and law students.

The Self-Help Center is located in Room JM 165 at DC Superior Court, 500 Indiana Avenue NW.

According to Valerie Despres, Family Law Attorney at the DC Bar Pro Bono Program, the Center has completed a successful six-month pilot and the response from the community and the Court has been overwhelmingly positive. As a result, the Center is now opening on a part-time basis, and hopes to expand to provide services full-time in the near future.

"The Family Court Self-Help Center will serve as a convenient 'on-the-spot' courthouse-based source of information for anyone involved in or contemplating a family law proceeding in the District," Ms. Despres said.

The Center was created by a group of volunteer attorneys, in part, in response to the District of Columbia Family Court Act of 2001, passed by the US Congress. The Act charged the Court with ensuring that its materials and services are understandable and accessible to the individuals and families it serves. Nancy Lopez, Co-Chair of the DC Bar Family Law Section and one of the volunteers who helped to create the Center, stated "The expectation is that the Center will always rely on volunteers to provide an integral part of its services."

Barbara K. Kagan, Steptoe & Johnson LLP's Public Service Counsel, has been involved since the Center's inception. As the only private law firm which is a part of the founding partnership, Steptoe provided a volunteer attorney to serve as a Family Law Facilitator during the important pilot phase that began last winter. According to Kagan, the firm is committed to staffing the Center at least one session a month and hopes to have additional lawyers trained to serve at the Center. Kagan says, "I am optimistic that other law firms will participate because it provides a really worthwhile experience for attorneys who are interested in helping out with pro bono work and learning about family law issues."

Margaret J. McKinney, Co-Chair of the DC Bar Family Law Section and a private practitioner involved in the creation of the Center, added, "Although volunteer attorneys do not provide legal advice at the Center, they engage one-to-one with individuals who are representing themselves in a Family Court matter to help them understand the law and their options. Service at the Center is one very direct and personal way for attorneys in government or private practice to make a difference in local people's lives."

The Self-Help Center provides customers with information and assistance that includes:

Legal information in the form of materials and brochures;
Access to forms that can be used to file or respond to court actions;
Information about and referrals to legal and community service providers;
Free clinics, trainings, seminars and workshops; and
Personal, individualized assistance from a volunteer attorney or paralegal.