Brooklyn Surrogate’s Court opens help center to assist pro se litigants
The old saying goes, “a person who represents themselves in court has a fool for a client,” but in New York state, an estimated 2 million people do exactly that every year.
That’s why the Brooklyn Surrogate’s Court has fought for years to open a pro se litigant Help Center, which it finally officially opened during a ceremony at the courthouse in Downtown Brooklyn on Friday.
“The need is tremendous,” said Hon. Edwina Richardson-Mendelson, the deputy chief administrative judge for NYS Justice Initiatives. “There are about 2 million unrepresented court users in our state. That’s a low estimate because so many people need help from the court system and don’t even know that they have issues of concern. This makes our 29th official help center in NYS, and the 4th help center in NYC Surrogate’s Court.”