Monday, March 02, 2015
10:00am to 10:00am
Bay Area Legal Aid is partnering with the Superior Court of San Mateo County to launch a Consumer Debt Clinic. The Clinic will hold weekly workshops on Mondays at 10 a.m. at the County Law Library starting on March 2nd. Claire Johnson Raba is BayLegal’s Consumer Project Director and will be taking the lead on the Clinic. RSVPs are strongly encouraged. Please call (650) 358-0745 for an appointment.
The Consumer Debt Clinic will provide legal information and assistance to self-represented litigants in limited civil, non-UD cases, in San Mateo County (i.e., consumer debt cases). To assist these litigants, BayLegal will conduct once per week Clinics. The Clinic starts with a 30-minute "Know Your Rights" presentations followed by one-on-one meetings with litigants.
The "Know Your Rights" presentation will explain the anatomy of a law suit and litigants' rights and obligations. The one-on-one meetings with a staff attorney, supervised law student, or pro bono attorney will assist litigants with preparing and filing answers, understand and effectively conducting settlement negotiations, including explanation of the consequence of the terms of settlement agreements, preparing discovery responses, preparing responses to discovery motions, and preparing responses to dispositive motions. The Clinic also will provide referrals to existing legal services agencies and low-cost private attorneys for affirmative cases, cross-complaints, and assistance with trial.