The Austin Bar Association will soon receive a $10,000 grant from the Texas Bar Foundation to create training videos for volunteer attorneys helping self-representing litigants, the association announced in a news release Tuesday.
The recently approved grant will fund the video project, which aims to streamline the training program for volunteer attorneys who assist pro se litigants at the Travis County Law Library and Self Help Center.
The improved training on how to fill out specific forms and how to assist someone through the uncontested docket will allow the volunteers to efficiently help the greatest number of people, Austin Bar representatives said in the release.
Many of the more than 600 people who go to the self help center cannot afford an attorney but also do not qualify for legal aid. The Austin Bar’s Self Represented Litigant Project, where volunteer attorneys assist the staff attorneys at the center, helps to bridge that gap.