NEW PORT RICHEY, FL ---- Navigating the legal system can be quite challenging. All too often, pro se litigants come to our Legal Resource Centers (LRC’s) looking for legal advice, which Clerk’s Office teammates are not allowed to give. They may be looking to evict a tenant, seeking advice in a divorce proceeding, or trying to adopt a child. Our LRC’s are adequately equipped with law books and manuals, self-service court forms, and packets. Sometimes those resources are not enough.
Clerk Nikki Alvarez-Sowles, Esq. is pleased to announce the Office is partnering with Bay Area Legal Services to provide an attorney on one day a week at our LRC’s at the West Pasco Judicial Center and the Robert D. Sumner Judicial Center in Dade City. “I don’t want our customers to walk away from this Office feeling upset, frustrated, or defeated,” said Alvarez-Sowles. “Providing pro se litigants with information is helpful. Providing them with the proper means to use that information is even more valuable.”
Bay Area Legal Services Deputy Director, Jena Hudson, is equally excited about providing this service, “We are so grateful to partner with the Pasco County Clerk’s Office to provide legal information to residents of the Pasco community in family and civil court matters,” said Hudson. “Our partnership with the Pasco County Clerk will allow us to fulfill our joint goal of improving the public’s understanding of the law, the legal system and the role of lawyers.”
Appointments will be on a first-come first-served basis. Litigants can make appointments via phone or in person at one of the LRC’s. Appointments will be a maximum of 30 minutes.