PUHI — The Ask-a-Lawyer tent staffed with five volunteer lawyers popped up on Saturday at the Grove Farm Market in Puhi, part of Law Week.
PUHI — The Ask-a-Lawyer tent staffed with five volunteer lawyers popped up on Saturday at the Grove Farm Market in Puhi, part of Law Week.
The Hawai‘i State Bar Association said during Law Week that the Young Lawyers Division provides free legal information via virtual and in-person legal clinics across the state. Law Week was observed in Hawai‘i from May 22 through May 28.
“Don’t forget the legal hot line,” said Jasmine Wong, one of the volunteer lawyers. “People can call 808-537-1858 on Wednesdays from 6 to 7 p.m. and get free information. It’s just like this Law Week tent, except people ask their questions on the phone. And it’s available year-round.”
The goal of the Ask-a-Lawyer tent is the same as Law Week — to improve accessibility to free legal information, not advice. There is a difference. Volunteer lawyers were available to provide free in-person legal information to people on a variety of legal topics, including landlord/tenant law, family law that covers divorce and child custody, bankruptcy and estate planning.
The tent provided the extra measure of in-person responses to people who quizzically studied the new sign in the park.
“We’ve been doing this for a long time. It used to be held Friday afternoons in front of the old courthouse. Last year, we did quite well at this market,” Wong said. “We finished second in the number of visits from all of the sites in the state where the tents were set up. The other sites’ farmers market are open for four hours. Our market is just three hours.”
