Chief Justice LeighI. Saufley recently spoke before the Judiciary Committee of Maine. Among many
topics she mentioned Pro se representation. Presented here is the sound bite
dealing with Prose. Below is the transcription of the sound bite:
"To many people
who have to come to court without lawyers - and that is a very long
conversation, but we have all kinds of innovations we are working on. We're
watching other states to see what's working there. The bottom line is that people should have an attorney to help them
when something in their life has gone so wrong that they have to be in a court
room. Its not a good idea to not be represented, so we're working on plans to
help improve all of that... ummmm..."
The sound bite may
be found here: Chief Justice Leigh Saufley.
We would like to ask
Chief Justice Saufley if she could gave us an example of some of those
"innovations" she mentioned. How will they make the court system
better? Are some of these "innovations" simply a euphemism for more
money for Maine courts? The problems that the Judicial Branch have - go beyond
the mantra of more money and innovations. Our Judicial Branch is the foundation
to our system of justice here in this state and the structure that they are
trying to patch is beyond mere cosmetic changes for which they have proposed
before in the past.
Take for example the
Family Court system that the Chief Justice has admitted is in trouble.
Guardians ad litem that practice psychology, social work and law without a
license but sanctioned and encouraged by the court to do so. On a regular basis
we see the use of Consumers have been subjected to Judicial Out Sourcing; Junk
Science; Psycho-eugenics; Legal Abuse Syndrome and Moral Equivalency. There is
no scientific basis or history for these ideas - yet - the courts fully embrace
these ideas. There is no management of
the various parts and no oversight. 74% of the parents entering the Family
Court system who do so Prose and for the vast majority they have no idea how
to conduct them selves. We have court officers who provide the bare minimum of
help to the 74%. What "innovations" will help these customers of
Family Court services? More money will not help. Money has poured into finding
a solution and so far the investment has bared no fruit. Why are we
"watching" other states? Are we looking for a patch that is less
painful for customers? Once those solutions are found will the Judicial Branch
even be able to implement process and systems change? I mean we are talking
about a bunch of lawyers here. They know how to find innovative ways of
charging their clients - but do they know anything about systems and process
improvement?
As a foundation upon
which the various courts stand - the Judicial Branch cannot afford to continue
to make decisions that harm their consumers to the benefit of the 26% who are
not Prose. It may be time to stop patching the building(s) and bring in an outside
contractor for help. Someone who is not embedded in law, knows systems analysis
and can identify issues and ways to improve them so that we have a world class
court - as we did in the past.
Please contact us if you need help in filling out forms for Family Court. We are not able to provide legal advice (we are not lawyers) - just help. Contact us at MeProseWay@gmail.com. Also find us on Facebook.
