The Legal Aid Society of Hawai‘i’s Kaua‘i office opened its new Center for Equal Justice yesterday in Lihu‘e. Using the Honolulu equal justice center as a model, Legal Aid Kauai staff will initially provide “brief services” to about 25 low-income
The Legal Aid Society of Hawai‘i’s Kaua‘i office opened its new Center for Equal Justice yesterday in Lihu‘e.
Using the Honolulu equal justice center as a model, Legal Aid Kauai staff will initially provide “brief services” to about 25 low-income individuals and families per month. Examples of “brief services” include: preventing an elderly or disabled tenant from being illegally evicted; supporting a victim of domestic violence in obtaining a Temporary Restraining Order; helping a single father modify an outdated child support order; assisting a homeless man in applying for and obtaining housing, and more.
“It’s the first one on the Neighbor Islands,” said Emiko Ryan, attorney in charge of the Center for Equal Justice, yesterday.
A grant of $25,000 from the G.N. Wilcox Trust helped fund the first center on Kaua‘i and the second in the state.
Yesterday was the grand opening to the general public.
On Kaua‘i, it is estimated that around 60 percent of family law and housing cases involve at least one unrepresented party. “Our primary goal is to reduce the number of unrepresented litigants who enter the courtroom ill-equipped and unprepared,” said Ryan, a Legal Aid AmeriCorps Attorney, in a press release. “The Center for Equal Justice will provide Kaua‘i’s low-income and homeless populations with legal advice, online resources, assistance with completing court documents, and other services that increase access to justice.”
Chuck Greenfield, executive director for Legal Aid said in the release, “A center in Lihu‘e will allow Legal Aid to increase our ability to meet the needs of Kaua‘i’s low-income population — most of whom face multiple barriers in accessing justice.”
Whether held back by lack of knowledge, inability to access resources, or just general apprehension, large numbers of low-income residents enter the courtroom without the slightest hint of what to do or how to do it. “Part of our mission is to empower unrepresented litigants as they attempt to break through the barriers of accessing justice,” said Greenfield, in the release. “We are thankful that the G.N. Wilcox Trust is supporting this important work, and proud that our Kaua‘i office is able to be next up in implementing a Center for Equal Justice.”
The CEJ office hours are Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.
